Illegal immigration (Blog #5)

      Within the past twenty years, illegal immigration in the US has become a huge issue. Raising questions of what needs to be done to solve this issue? Does anything need to be done? Is there even an issue at hand?
      Illegal immigration is "the migration of people across national borders, or the residence of foreign nationals in a country, in a way that is illegal according to the immigration laws of the destination country" as defined by Wikipedia. In the US there is an estimated 11.5 to 12 million foreign nationals living illegally, consisting of mostly of people who have entered the country without proper documentation, or who have out-stayed temporary visas. Majority (about 75%) of illegal aliens originate from Latin America, largely including Mexico, el Salvador, Honduras and Guatemala, which have increased five times since the 1980s.
     Physical border security is not as secure as many Americans have been led to believe. In the recent years their has been  steel fence built, covering 670 miles of the border, leaving around 1,000 miles of US-Mexico border open. This fence (at around $2 million a mile) a fourth generation farmer on the border of Mexico says that the fences easily climbed. Also in the flooding season sections are lifted to allow mud to flow freely, allowing even trucks to pass freely. Covering the 2,000 mile line   are only 20,000 agents most located at security check points, are not doing much to stop or slow down the flow of un documented immigrants.
     Once in the US, most aliens choose to go to work that do not require much education or talent, the jobs that few Americans strive to have after being educated for higher positions. These jobs largely include, farming, cleaning, construction, and production. While wrongfully residing in this country, they do however benefit it. keeping industries alive by doing the "dirty" work. Immigrant worker account for around 30% of the workforce. Providing a necessary backbone.  Under President Obamas authority, provisional legal status to immigrants  brought to the country as children
     In my opinion, border patrol should be increased, however this may not be necessary if the ability to get visas and permanent residency in the US was a bit easier to obtain. Or if children brought to the US could receive citizenship under lenient documentary.