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The Immigration Laws Should Be Repealed

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Paolo S. Mutia
J. Richardson
AP Government 2nd Period
11 March 2015
Currently, one of most debated policy issues in America is immigration. Starting with the Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882, the American government created several immigration laws that sought to put an end to illegal immigration by mandating workplace regulations, employer sanctions, internal enforcement mechanisms, and border security (Nowrasteh 2). According to immigration policy analyst Alexander Nowrasteh at the Center of Global Liberty and Prosperity of the Cato Institute, by the 1990s, legal immigration was essentially impossible to the United States unless the immigrant was highly skilled, had a close American citizen or legal permanent resident relative or friend who could sponsor him or her, or was a refugee. The Arizona immigration laws should be repealed due to damage done to the state’s economy, the benefits of immigrants to the American economic structure, and the societal harm imposed upon citizens.
Illegal immigration is an unintend¬ed result of federal immigration restric¬tions from the shortage of green cards (permanent residence) and temporary work visas available for migrants (Nowrasteh 2). Currently, 73% of the 11.5 million illegal immigrants nationally are located in ten states, including Arizona (Nowrasteh 2). Between 2000 and 2008, Arizona experienced a large increase of illegal immigrants from 330,000 to 560,000 (Nowrasteh 2). The costs of the housing bust and the Great Recession

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