Valeria MartinezMr. Government LonnemannAP1/02/2014Grow up or go home?In 1886, the Statue of Liberty was created and included a poem by Emma Lazarus. She included a quote that read: “Give us your tired, your poor, your huddled masses yearning to breathe free.” These engraved words gave hope to all immigrants who would enter the United States. Do we as a nation still support or follow what this statement says? Immigration has existed in the United States for many years, dating back to when Christopher Columbus emigrated here and “discovered” America or even before he “discovered.” As of January 2011, there were 11.5 undocumented immigrants living in the United States, an increase of one-third since 2000, when there were 8.5 million undocumented immigrants. Each year since 2000, approximately 850,000 people have immigrated to the United States legally, but 275,000 illegal immigrants have also come to the United States each year. America boasts about the "freedom" it contains and many immigrants from various countries may have the illusion of "creating a better life for themselves and their families" in America. I use the word “illusion” because immigrants do not have the opportunity to find a better life without a path to citizenship. Acts of aggressive investigation and expulsion, for example, negate the possibility of opportunity creation. The central debate within the US government on immigration is whether or not to allow the 11 million illegal immigrants to stay. People are divided on whether or not these immigrants should have "a path to citizenship." Democrats and Republicans, as federal governments, have different views on this issue of i...... middle of paper ...... ll, the federal government, that it acts of a House of Republicans or a House of Democrats, has the power on the question of immigration which is set forth in Article 1 of the Constitution, in annotated terms, says: "That the Government of the States- United, through the action of the legislative department, can exclude foreigners from its territory is a proposition which we do not consider. open to controversy. Jurisdiction over its own territory is, to this extent, a fact specific to any independent nation. This is part of his independence. If it could not exclude foreigners, it would to that extent be subject to the control of another power. This essentially says that the federal government has the right to exclude any “illegal” immigrant from its territory. The federal government has the power to answer the question of whether this nation will have immigrants "grow up or go home ».”.