The controversies of immigration have been a problem in the past and continue to be a problem today. Some people think that immigration is important and plays a big factor in America while others think immigrants without proper documents take unfair advantage of the rights of citizens. In my opinion, immigration is a necessary part of the entire foundation of America because of America’s foundation of immigration, America’s reliance of immigration, and immigration’s strengthening of the economy and foreign relationships.

To begin, America was founded by immigration. From the very beginning, the settlers from Europe immigrated to America. (It can be argued who was actually the first to “discover America”, but, regardless, the foundation of America came by immigrants from Europe.) As Europeans took over and declared themselves independent, they formed America. America was founded on the right to freedom, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. The first amendment states that all citizens have the right to free speech, assembly, press, religion, and petition. Even before all this, the entire reason people went to America was for more freedoms. To this day, freedom is  still a primary reason for settling in America. So, given that America was founded by immigrants practically for immigrants, why should immigration be stopped?

Anti-immigration people argue that because it is illegal to enter the US without proper documents that they should not be allowed in. They argue that immigration should be done with legal documents because otherwise it is unfair to all the other citizens. However, history clearly shows Europeans doing practically the same thing: Finding America and entering illegally. Except, of course, we pushed out the Natives and settled here. This is definitely not fair and I think, due to this, we have no more right than anyone else to live here.

It is also very important to look at the economy of the US relating to immigration. Immigrants work for very low wages and enjoy few rights, but still happily contribute to society (except for those working in horrible living conditions, such as sweatshops). Deporting illegal immigrants does many negative things to the US, including hurting the economy and destroying relationships between America and Mexico. This is not theoretical as when this happened in the 1930s America’s economy was indeed damaged and America’s foreign relationships, as well, were hurt. This is due to the simple fact that America relies on immigrants. Although it may not seem like it, America was founded this way by immigration. Though some may find it embarrassing that illegal immigrants disrespect the orderliness of what legal immigration should be, they still help contribute to the economy and also strengthen foreign relationships.