Illegal Immigrants In Sonia Nazarios Enrique's Journey
676 Words3 Pages
In 2013 it was estimated there were approximately 11.5 million – 12 million illegal immigrants in the United States, 6.7 million were from Mexico. The largest migrant group in the US is from Mexico. Although some Mexican immigrants do settle elsewhere the vast majority settles in the United States. Sonia Nazarios’ novel Enrique’s Journey demonstrates the very real issue of illegal immigration and what people desperately do in hopes of finding a better life and the consequences of those actions on both the country and individual.
How many people migrate and why? There is an estimated amount of 232 million people that live outside of there country of origin. While we now know many people migrate the next question we should be asking is why exactly do these people leave their countries. Some people have simply come due to lack of work as illustrated in Sonia Nazarios’ Enrique’s Journey “Lourdes cannot afford uniforms or pencils. Her husband is gone. A good job is out of the question. So she has decided: She will leave. She will go to the United States and make…show more content… Undocumented workers add to our America’s $18 trillion debt by using social programs, such as, schools and hospitals. Illegal immigrants hurt parts of our economy by adding to Americas debt by using schools and hospitals and even the financial burden it is to deport these people. “The Department of Labor reports that of the 2.5 million farm workers in the U.S., over half (53 percent) are illegal immigrants. (The Hill)” The amount of undocumented farm workers often lowers the wages for Americans in the same career path, due to the fact they are illegal so they get paid less than they would if they were citizens. Without undocumented workers we would then have a labor shortage since they make up over half the farming work force. So while they do hurt the economy they are also, in a way, helping it at the same