StephanieGaray

I really liked the movie "The Visitor", because it showed the true situations illegal immigrants face in the United States. They fear for their lifes especially avoiding of being deported. Prof.Vale really tried to help Tarqui, like how many other people try to help illegal Americans. Sometimes I feel sorry for the illegal immigrants because the only thing they are trying to do is provided a good home for their family in the USA. Like Tarqui when he got arrested in the subway was very easliy, meaning that then illegal immigrants have to be cautious of what they do. The law is very hard on them, and during the time they are in detention, they are treated as criminals. Criminals of wanting a better life and opportunities. Their dreams are crushed when they feel hopeless and have the feeling of not coming back, because it is too dangerous. Some illegal immigrants manage to travel that dangerous journey again of crossing the border.

Illegal immigrants are warriors and are people who would do anything for even low wage to accomplish a better living in America. Many illegal immigrants work three or more jobs for very low salary. They suffer working in difficult, dirty, and dangerous jobs that risk their lives. This demonstrates how much they want to accomplish the American dream, and live better then they lived in their countries. But sometimes by working in dirty and dangerous places they are contiagued with disease making the environment for the people living in the US more vulnerable of getting infected. Thats why illegal immigrants have to be careful of what they do. 

It's tough to say how many people are in the U.S. illegally, let alone how many are working or using public resources. Every study uses rough estimates. Still, we do have some clues. Illegal immigrants contribute to the economy whenever they pay sales tax and, indirectly through rent payments, real estate taxes. Also, those who use false Social Security numbers pay taxes into the system they don't get back, since people here illegally aren't eligible to receive Social Security payments. In 2003 alone, the government received Social Security taxes on $57.8 billion from wage reports that couldn't be matched to the person filing. Illegal immigrants are excluded from most federal and state entitlements such as subsidized housing or food stamps, and a 2007 congressional report found they appear to contribute more than they use in services. But the money they contribute often goes to federal and state coffers, while many services they benefit from, such as health and law enforcement, come out of local government budgets. Several studies show more than half of the country's estimated 12 million illegal immigrants are uninsured (out of a total of 47 million uninsured people in the U.S.) and thus likely to use public emergency rooms that treat everyone regardless of ability to pay. It's difficult to calculate the amount of free health care - or, for that matter, free public-school education - they benefit from, since it simply isn't known what proportion of these services go to people who are in the country illegally. Another cost of illegal immigrants: Their willingness to accept low wages drives down wages in some industries. Then again, if immigrants didn't take these jobs, some of them might get outsourced overseas.