Thursday, April 26, 2007

Illegal Immigration: An Annotated Bibliography

Illegal Immigration: An Annotated Bibliography
Are illegal immigrants from Mexico doing more damage than good to the United States; or are they helping us in the long run? What can we do to better both situations? Should they continue to be able to just walk (drive, etc) across our border illegally? Or is there something we can do about that problem? Should we make a barrier and make just a couple ways in and out of our state along the Mexican border; making it harder for illegal immigrates to get into our country?
In the following annotated bibliography my sources range from the years 1988 to 2007. This gives me a bit of history on my topic, and it gives me up to date information on what’s happening today with illegal immigration. Some of my sources tell of what may happen or what may become of the future. I found it helpful that not all my sources told about the history of illegal immigration, and not all of them tell about the future of it. There is a nice variety of information through out my eleven sources. I organized my sources in alphabetical order because I found it to be the most helpful way when I was had to look up a source. I was able to scan over my sources very quickly until I found what I needed. I think that other people will find my sources being in alphabetical order to be the easiest way to find the information they are looking for.
I found all my book sources at the public library, and I found all my Internet sources from yahoo.com’s local news page. The local news page gave me a variety of different web sources to look through. I checked this website every day and I usually found one or two new articles regarding illegal immigration. I didn’t have any difficulties finding information; there are a lot of books and other sources regarding this topic out there for the public to view. I just had a bit of trouble trying to find the up to date information I was looking for. I found quite a few books that were written in the 1980’s or 1990’s that didn’t have up to date information, most of those books just helped me with the history part of my topic. Overall, I found illegal immigration to be a very easy topic to research.
So far in my research I have come to the conclusion that illegal immigration has been a problem for a long time, and I feel that we need to figure out a way to stop it. According to the information that I have found thus so far, I have determined that illegal’s are getting away with stuff that not even U.S. born citizens are allowed to get away with. The one thing they can get away with that really bugs me, is the fact that illegal immigrates know they won’t be turned away for medical care, so they use emergency rooms like a regular doctor’s office. Taxpayers have to pay for all the bills that illegals leave behind. I don’t feel that is right and we need to change it, because U.S. citizens can’t go to the emergency room and get away with not paying our bills. We need everything to be fair.
Barbour, Scott, ed. Immigration Policy. San Diego: Greenhaven Press, 1995.
“By 2050,…whites may be near a minority in an America of 81 million Hispanics, 62 million blacks and 41 million Asians…The United States will have become a veritable Brazil of North America.” They say that the United States has and always will be peopled by immigrants. “In 1882, Congress came up with the first immigration Act, defining national immigration policy.” It goes on to tell about immigrations through out the years i.e. the 1980 Refugee Act etc. It also says that we need to stop immigration now for many reasons, one being environmental reasoning, and the United States population is already growing so fast.
I didn’t find this book to be helpful for me. It didn’t have the information that I was looking for. The publisher is a very well known publisher, so I thought it would be a good book, but it gave to much detail about the immigrants from the 15th century and I needed something a little more up to date.
Borjas, George J. Friends or Strangers: The Impact of Immigrants on the U.S.
Economy. New York: Basic Books Inc., 1990.

In this book, the author tells about how the “immigration market works,” “the impact of immigrants of native earnings and employment,” and “a statistical portrait of immigrants.” “America’s poor performance in the immigration market, suggests a need for reevaluation of our immigration policy.” “The skills of immigrants entering the United States have declined during the past few decades.” There are also a lot of charts and pictures that help you better understand just what they are talking about.
Despite the fact that this book is old, I found it to be helpful. I don’t know much about publishers so I am not sure if this publisher is a good one or not, but publishers aren’t that important to me in determining if a book is good or not. I just read the information that it provides, and this book provided some good information. I like that at the back of the book there are about 25 pages of notes that help you better understand just what the author is talking about.
Chriswick, Barry R. Illegal Aliens: Their Employment and Employers. Chicago:
W.E. Upjohn Institute for Employment Research, 1988.
This book tells who they believe are illegal aliens. It tells of the “current” Immigration Law. (The “current” law it states has been changed and updated within the last five years or so). It tells of the wages that they are receiving for working here. “The average Mexican receive more than the minimum wage was at the time of $3.35 per hour, they received approximately $4.42.” This rate was in Chicago, but for Mexicans in the states along the border they received at or about minimum wage.
I found this book to be way too outdated. It was written in 1988. The information isn’t that helpful. The one thing I did like was the fact that this author did you quite a few outside sources in this book. I also like that this book had a lot of charts and pictures to help me better understand just what they were talking about.
Grado, Gary. “Prop. 100 execution hits snag with justice’s order.” 4 April 2007. 4
April 2007 <
http://www.eastvalleytribune.com/story/ 7182?source=rss&dest=STY-87182>.
“Arizona’s chief Supreme Court…ordered that a judge must hold a special hearing to determine whether someone falls under Proposition 100, the voter-approved measure that denies bail for illegal immigrants accused of high-level felonies.” “Maricopa County Attorney Andrew Thomas and Rep. Russell Pearce, R-Mesa, who authored the legislation, accused Maricopa County Superior Court of intentionally circumventing the law, citing a pair of memos directing court workers not to ask about or report on a person’s citizenship.” Chief Justice Ruth V. Mc-Gregor’s order requires police and prosecutors to provide the court with a “detailed explanation of the facts that cause an officer to believe that the defendant is in the country illegally.” “McGregor also concluded that employees with Pretrial Services, which conducts interviews and criminal background checks on people booked into jail, may ask about citizenship.” “Under McGregor’s order, the court has to have an evidentiary hearing to determine whether a criminal suspect falls under Prop. 100 within 24 hours of arrest, and the defendant can be held in jail during that period.”
I found this article to be very helpful. It was a relatively short article compared to some of the other articles I read, but this particular article was very beneficial to me. I think Prop 100 does have some loop wholes in it, and they need to be addressed.
Hauser, Pierre. The Immigrant Experience: Illegal Aliens. Ed. Sandra Stotsky.
Philadelphia: Chelsea House, 1997.

“Illegal Aliens didn’t become a significant problem until WWII. When the United States started importing temporary Mexican laborers to ease its labor shortage.” Many people argue that we are all immigrants, whether from another country or continent, or the descendant of immigrants. There are lots of definitions for “alien.” “By basic definition, an alien is a person living in a country other than the one in which he or she was born.” “To many Americans, the term ‘illegal alien’ conjures up a stereotypical image of a ragged young Mexican sneaking across the U.S.-Mexican border…”
I think this book is a little outdated. It was written ten years ago and a lot has changed in that amount of time. Overall, I think this book was written well, it wasn’t hard to find information it was just too outdated for what I needed. I like that this author has a bibliography at the end of this book, it is a great place to look for other sources.
Hayworth, J.D., and Joseph J. Eule. Whatever It Takes: Illegal Immigration,
Border Security, and The War on Terror. Washington D.C.: Regnery Publishing Inc., 2006.
“Arizona has become the new illegal gateway to America.” Illegals might have been innocent in behavior a few years ago, but now days they are extremely dangerous. They have been known to cut down fences, steal vehicles, and even break into peoples home’s to steal their property. “So how much does illegal immigration cost America? According to the Bear Stearns Study, a lot. An estimated five million jobs have shifted to the underground economy, where workers collect wages on a cash basis and avoid income taxes. People born in this county can’t get free health care, but illegals can get free medical care. They know they won’t be turned away for medical care, so they use emergency rooms like a regular doctor’s office. Taxpayers have to pay for all the bills that illegals leave behind.
I like that Arizona Congressman J.D. Hayworth wrote this book. He is one of us (Arizonans) so he sees and experiences what we deal with also. I believe that the information is accurate, and I know that it is current, it was only written a year ago, so overall I found this book to be very helpful.
Holstege, Sean, and Daniel González. “Bush touts 4-point border plan:
President again pays visit to Yuma area, hails improvements.” 10 April 2007. 10 April 2007 <>
President Bush was in Yuma on Monday (yesterday) to inspect improvements made along the United States- Mexico border. “Although the stepped-up security is working, it alone is not the answer to the country's immigration problem, Bush said. Comprehensive immigration reform, which would include more resources for borders and a guest-worker program, is the solution, he said.” Yuma's decrease doesn't necessarily translate to the rest of the state. The border patrol has put up “3 1/2 miles of primary corrugated-steel fencing and an additional 3 1/4 miles of secondary wire-mesh fencing near the San Luis crossing.” That is what translates to less illegal immigrates coming into the US, but it is also hurt the farmers in that part of the state. “But Yuma farmers say tighter border security has also scared off legal workers who live in Mexico and cross daily to pick lettuce…(they) lost 5 to 10 percent of their lettuce crop this winter because they couldn't find enough workers to pick vegetables.” That is also something the Bush addressed.
I liked this article. It was informative, current, accurate, and the writing style was easy to read. These authors quote outside sources, mainly politicians.
Illegal Immigration: Opposing Viewpoints. Detroit: Greenhaven Press, 2002.
This book has four chapters with lots of subchapters per chapter. This book tells both sides of if illegals threaten America or not. It examines whether illegal immigrants are being victimized or not. It gives ways of how America should deal with and respond to immigration. And it asks, “Should U.S. Immigration and Refugee Policies be changed?”
This book is fairly new, meaning most of the info is up to date. I really liked that it gave both sides to some very important issues; it allowed me to better understand certain things. I think this book is good; the publisher is a well-known publisher so that makes this book a little more credible than some other books. I really like that at the back of the book there are a few pages about further questions to examine. There are also about six pages of organizations that I could contact for further information.
“Most illegal border-crossers are never prosecuted.”AZCentral.com 6 April 2007. 6 April 2007 .
“For all the tough talk out of Washington on immigration, illegal immigrants caught along the Mexican border have almost no reason to fear they will be prosecuted. Ninety-eight percent of those arrested between Oct. 1, 2000, and Sept. 30, 2005, were never prosecuted for illegally entering the country, according to an Associated Press analysis of federal data.” Those that were caught and weren’t prosecuted, were just dropped off on the other side of the border and told don’t come back. But few politicians are seriously suggesting the government prosecute everyone caught slipping across the border. They say about 1 million immigrants cross the border each year, and “The Justice Department have higher priorities and too few resources to go after every ordinary illegal immigrant. Instead, the department says it pursues more selective strategies, such as going after immigrant smugglers and immigrants with criminal records.” Instead they are going after the employers who hire illegal immigrants. ” Under federal law, illegally entering the country is a misdemeanor punishable by a fine and up to six months in prison for a first time. A second offense carries up to two years. If an immigrant has been prosecuted and deported and then sneaks back into the country, he can be charged with a felony punishable by up to two years behind bars. Those with criminal records can get 10 to 20 years.”
I really liked this article; I found it to be very helpful. It was up to date, and it didn’t just involve one state, it talked about Texas, Arizona, and New Mexico. I also liked that the author of the article used outside sources and quotes from people that are directly related to this issue and are all over the United States. The level of detail on the subject was good. The author really knew what they were talking about.
Newman, Lori, ed. What Rights Should Illegal Immigrants Have? Detroit:
Greenhaven Press, 2006.

This book gives both sides to the question of whether illegals should receive health care for free or not. It also tells both sides of whether illegals are threatening U.S. health care or not. It says that undocumented immigrants are entitled to in-state tuition, and how they shouldn’t be entitled to it. It also says “strict immigration laws are necessary to fight terriosm.”
This book was helpful. It was written in 2006, so it is up to date. The publisher is a popular publisher so that makes me think this book is accurate. The author uses lots of outside sources also, so that allowed me to better understand this topic. I also like that at the back of the book there is a few pages about organizations that I could contact about this subject. I feel the information in this book will help me with my next essay I have to write on this topic.
Pitzl, Mary Jo. “Petitions target immigration: Group seeks tougher Arizona laws
Against illegal migrants.” AZCentral.com 28 March 2007. 28 March 2007 <
http://www.azcentral.com/news/articles/0328immigration0328.html?>.
“Saying that they will do what the government has failed to do, a group of citizens spearheaded by a lawmaker and a former gubernatorial candidate on Tuesday launched twin petition drives to create tougher immigration laws in Arizona.” The first bill that they are trying to get past is aimed at the employers who “knowingly” have illegal immigrants working for them. And the second bill is to try and give local police more tools to crack down on illegal immigration. They are trying to get it on the statewide ballot in November 2008. “But not all police agencies want that authority. Nor do they believe they have the authority under federal law to enforce federal statutes, said Lt. Eric Edwards, a Phoenix police officer and legal counsel to the Arizona Association of Chiefs of Police.” The decision will have to wait to see if it gets on the ballot, and even then the decision may be up to Congress.
I really liked this article; I found it to be quite interesting. I hope that this goes on the ballot in November 2008. I do think that it will be hard to prove if someone “knowingly” knew they had illegal immigrates working for them or not, we will just have to wait and see. Overall I think this article was current, accurate, and very relevant to my topic.

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