Does the Right to Live Need To be Legal?

This is one of the questions I had when I was watching the You Tube broadcast of the Republican debate on November 28th. I asked my self this question because the first five question asked were all relating to immigration. According to Time.com in an article by Joe Klein he has noticed that there has been a significant increase in the relevance of immigration in the presidential race. This issue is becoming an inflammatory one as the article points out.
To hear the candidates on Wednesday one would think that illegal immigrants are coming the U.S. as an invasion force. To hear them speak one would think that all those who are coming here illegally are criminals that have committed heinous crimes. You also get this feeling that people believe that immigrants are part of the problem. Well, what problem?
Are illegal immigrants responsible for the countries economic woes? Not likely. They are not responsible for the mortgage crisis, the foreclosures, and the credit crunch. Are illegal immigrants taking jobs from Americans? Not likely. Seeing that in order for immigrants to get good jobs, to obtain fulfilling careers they must have the proper documentation. Seeing that large portions of the illegal immigrant population is in fact illegal there is very little chance that you will find them jockeying for a white collar job.
Are illegal immigrants responsible for crime? Not likely. People don’t emigrate from one country to another to commit crime. So what is all the hubbub about? Why are people so afraid of immigrants? Why have words like amnesty and sanctuary become terrible, terrible words? All that people are trying to do is live a better life. Illegal immigrants are not trying to take that precious American dream and run away with it, they are not trying to corrupt the American dream. Many of them don’t even want the American dream for themselves but for their children.
Historically this has happened many times in the U.S. Every time there has been economic crisis compounded by an influx of immigrants, the people of the U.S. seem to think that all their economic woes is “their” fault. Never mind that the economy was in turmoil prior to immigration being a problem. Never mind that capitalism, modern economies, are cyclical and there will be highs and there will be lows. But for some reason it’s the immigrants fault. I urge those who think this way to look at the history of the U.S., look at the reasons as to why people are coming here and ask yourself, does the right to live need to be legal?