Social+and+Cultural+Impact

=Illegal Immigration and Its "Positive" Cultural Effects =

By Bess
America is recognized as a country full of different cultures, ways of life, and religions. Illegal immigrants bring their different types of foods and spiritual experiences to our country making it an overall richer cultural journey. They bring different skills and craftsmanship that our country needs and are helping give good family values such as conversation at the dinner table and attending church every Sunday.

=How Illegal Immigrants Should Adapt to American Culture= By Bess The immigrants need to learn how to assimilate into American culture. The laws are different here, the political aspects are different here, and it is important that the illegal immigrants come to understand that. While in America it is important that illegal immigrants find work. Though they may over populate our country, if they work they are not relying on the US government for food and medical services for their families.

=Illegal Immigration and Its "Negative" Cultural Effects= By Bess

Many immigrants who do not work receive free medical treatment and food which is not fair to all the hard working citizens in our country. Immigrants who do not have jobs hurt our country thru crime rates. Some immigrants trade illegal substances for money and steal items causing the Untied States crime rates to rise.

Many illegal immigrants drive without licenses or auto insurance which is dangerous and highly illegal. They say threatening phrases that they will drive without auto insurance and so we should give them licenses. People who come to our country illegally are a drain to our economy and economic resources.

=toc Illegal Immigrants and Their Affect on Crime=

Violent Crime
The research states over and over again that when immigration increases, legal or illegal, that crime rates go down. Between 1994 and 2005, violent crime declined by nearly 35% and property crimes by 26%. During that time the number of illegal immigrants to the US doubled. Cities, like Los Angeles, that had a higher percentage of immigrants, had crime rates lower than cities with less immigration. This was also true for border cities with large immigrant populations such as San Diego and El Paso. During the 1990s immigrants increased by more than 50% to 31 millions and America's cities became markedly less dangerous.

Prison Rates
Even though all research points to the fact that immigrants are less likely to commit crimes or be behind bars than those born in the United States, there is a very strong bias that immigrants increase crime rates. In 2000, among men age 18-39 (who are most of the US prisoners), the percentage of those in prison for those born in the US (3.5%) was five times **higher** than the rate for immigrants (0.7%). In fact, immigrants have the lowest rates of imprisonment for criminal convictions in American society. This kind of prejudice may possibly stem from how immigration from Europe to America in the early part of the 20th century was linked with an actual increase in crime.

Testing Biases
An experiment was done in Chicago to see if the proportion of blacks and Latinos affected people's perception of the neighborhood. 3,500 Chicago residents were asked about certain neighborhoods and criminal activity and disorder. There was a strong connection in people's minds with crime and disorder and the proportion of blacks and Latinos and it didn't match the facts. Sampson, author of "Open Doors Don't Invite Criminals," states that it "makes sense in light of popular stereotypes and subliminal associations." = = =Illegal Immigrants and Their Affect on Schools =

By Ryan Middleman
As people emigrate to America, more children enter school. Studies have shown that the majority of illegal students do poorly in school. Many are just learning English and have never been to school together. Although, there is a small population of immigrant students that try really hard because they want to succeed. With the exception of those few students, the affect of illegal immigration on public schools is inadequate. Illegal immigration brings more students to each classroom, possibly lower grades, and takes more taxes.

The statistics of illegal immigration for schools are surprising. The numbers of illegal students in schools is very high. Most illegal immigrants come to Arizona, California, Colorado, Nevada or Texas. In these states, children of illegal immigrants account for more than one in 10 students. Nationwide, these children are about one in every 15 elementary and middle school students. The majority of these children were born in the United States. According to the Constitution, that makes the children American citizens.

=Sources =
 * Kingsbury, Kathleen (February 27, 2008). //Immigration: No Correlation With Crime//. www.TIME.com []
 * <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif;">Castillo, Mariano (April 29, 2010). //Crime Stats Test Rationale Behind Arizona Immigration Law//. www.CNN.com []
 * <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif;">Sampson, Robert J. (March 11, 2006) //Open Doors Don't Invite Criminals//. NY Times Editorials/Op-Ed []
 * <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif;">Press, Eyal. (December 3, 2006) //Do Immigrants Make Us Safer?// NY Times Magazine []
 * <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif;">Immigration Policy Center (IPC) Publication (December 2007). //Immigrants and Crime: Are They Connected? A Century of Research Finds that Crime Rates for Immigrants are Lower than for the Native-Born//. []
 * <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif;">Rumbaut, Rubén G., Roberto G. Gonzales, Golnaz Komaie, and Charlie V. Morgan, University of California, Irvine (June 2006). //Debunking the Myth of Immigrant Criminality: Imprisonment Among First- and Second-Generation Young Men//. []
 * <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif;">Brooks, David (March 30, 2006). //Immigrants to Be Proud Of.// NY Times Editorials/Op-Ed [|http://select.nytimes.com/2006/03/30/opinion/30brooks.html?_r=1&amp;ref=davidbrooks]
 * <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000099; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; vertical-align: baseline;">__[]__  <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000099; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; vertical-align: baseline;">__http://www.cis.org/mortensen/corruption__ <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000099; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; vertical-align: baseline;">__[]__ <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000099; display: block; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; vertical-align: baseline;">[|__http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-bloggers/1616294/posts__]