Illegal Immigration Problems

Every nation has borders. It defines a specific geographical area that acts as a common home  to people. People within that border have a common race, a common culture and creed. They are the citizens of that country. Along with giving an identity to the people of that region, it also allows a governing body to have a specific location to work under as well.

All which falls within the borders, needs to be taken care of. The people that share the geographical space have to be provided with basic amenities like water, electricity, and certain basic rights. Each citizen holds a citizen card which proves that he is a part of that nation and therefore has the right to expect the provision of basic and other services.

Illegal immigration takes place when citizens of one country go into another, without any proper documents to validate their stay there. This leads to several illegal immigration problems. What are these problems, what are their repercussions, and how to solve them, is what we will be looking here.

What are the problems that caused as a result of illegal immigration? Illegal immigration statistics show that this act of jumping borders  puts tremendous pressure on the resources of a land. Due to which, citizens have to go without facilities which form their basic rights. Problems do not stop there. There are several other problems dealing the same.

Resources will include everything from something as basic as water and electricity to something like admissions in schools, getting jobs or treatment in hospitals (among others). Basic amounts of funds have been allocated for all these amenities after a careful calculation of the amount that will be needed.

When there is illegal immigration, it puts direct pressure on the resources. The arranged resources need to be shared with those people who have not been accounted for (illegal immigrants) and therefore the citizens of that country do not get their deserved share. There is less when earlier there would've been more, or worse, not at all.

When an illegal immigrant gets treated at a hospital or gets an education in a school, it means that he has deprived some legal citizen the right to education or treatment. What could've  been, could not be because someone else got there first and was provided the service. This means that they have directly cut into the citizen's share.

When there is an influx of illegal immigrants, they bring with them their culture and practices. Many argue that this leads to their ideas and practices getting stronger and the native practices being lost in the process.

When immigrants come into a nation, they usually do so looking for better opportunities. And it is not necessary that they'll always get what they are looking for. In certain  cases when this does not happen, frustrated immigrants take to crimes like terrorism and kidnapping. 

Legal immigrants are screened before they are allowed into another country but there is no scope to do the same for illegal immigrants. Therefore there are chances that they might carry with them diseases like malaria, dengue and hepatitis A and E. This compromises the smooth functioning of the society.

Illegal immigration leads to the rise of societal problems at several levels. Some of these can be seen at a direct level, while others come about as a result of existing problems.

The whole society is thereby affected at some level or the other. Some of these problems include inadequate waste disposal, document fraud, lesser job opportunities, increased taxes, petty thefts, general unrest and anger towards particular groups in society.

Is there a need to solve the issue of illegal immigration or are there pros and cons to illegal immigration? Is it right to take immediate action about illegal immigration? As some argue, if this is not done, it will only result in unrest and slow degeneration of society. In that case, what are some of the things that can be done to solve this issue?

Here are some points worth considering:

► Efforts have to be made  to increase the security at the borders. The borders need to be carefully guarded. While this seems like the most obvious solution, to get this into order is not always possible and that is why we face this problem in the first place.

► Stricter laws need to be  devised by governments. These will discourage the immigrants from making an entrant with the fear of being taken to task. This is only possible if the laws are really strict and the punishment severe.

►People should be discouraged  from hiring illegal immigrants for work. If opportunities continue to be provided for them, then there are fewer chances that illegal immigration will stop. Adopting a two-fold approach also becomes important in this scenario.

This means that stricter laws need to be put into place, not only for those who cross the border illegally, but for those who hire them as well. It has to be made mandatory that a person has to be documented in order to find work.

► Illegal immigrants have a catastrophic  effect on society because they tip the balance for the worse. They take without contributing anything in return and that is what needs to be corrected. They need to be held responsible, also asked to pay for what they take and made aware of the fact that they can't simply take things for granted.

All this seems pretty simple when it is put down in writing like so, but it is equally difficult to make it work in reality. Yet, these are some of the solutions that have been devised for curbing the issue of illegal immigration. Are they strong enough to work? Or will they simply be another document? That is what we need to seriously think about.