More than a Barrier

Illegal immigration has been a problem in America in recent years. Many solutions have been proposed from a vast amount of viewpoints. Three different men wrote blogs about what they think should be done to solve the problem of illegal immigrants coming into America. Victor Davis Hanson, Senator Mike Crapo, and Trapper John wrote "The Global Immigration Problem," Immigration Policy Must Help Economy While Preserving Ideals," and "The Progressive Case Against the Immigration Bill" respectively. These three blogs state each authors arguments of the reason they believe what they believe.

Victor Davis Hanson writes the blog "The Global Immigration Problem" and gives his idea that immigration is not just a problem that Americans are experiencing, but that immigration is a global problem. Also, Hanson believes that the solution to illegal immigration is for countries such as Latin America, Africa and the Middle East should encourage family planning and get smarter about using their plentiful natural wealth to keep more of their own people home. Hanson targets everyone as his audience. His message is that immigration is a global problem and needs to be sorted out at the roots. Hanson uses historical data to support his argument and make it more credible.

In the excerpt from "Immigration Policy Must Help Economy While Preserving Ideals," Senator Mike Crapo explains his support for a temporary guest worker program. Crapo believes that a guest worker program will stimulate the economy and will preserve American consumer goods and agriculture products. Crapo is arguing the case that a temporary guest worker program will help our economy. Crapo is targeting the group of people who are unsure on what to do about the issue, because anyone who knows about the guest worker program has probably already formed an opinion either for or against it.

Finally, "Trapper John,"the online identity of Jake McIntyre, expresses his opposition to the temporary guest worker program in his blog "The Progressive Case Against the Immigration Bill." McIntyre argues that a temporary guest worker program will change the current H-2B work visa, by having no requirements that employers pay the federally determined federal prevailing wages, and bring around 500,000 immigrants in the country with no chance at citizenship. McIntyre targets both the group of people who are undecided on what to do about immigration and also those who are already in support of the temporary guest worker program. McIntyre also uses specific numbers to make a better argument. McIntyre is opinionated in his blog, but not overbearing to the point where someone would want to stop reading. "Trapper John" ends with saying that something definitely needs to be done regarding the immigration problem, but is left unsure of what to do.

Jordan Engel