By Victoria Bauer
Round Table reporter

It’s safe to say that some American citizens are getting “fed up” with the amount of increasing illegal immigrants that cross the border between Mexico and the United States. It’s estimated that 10 to 12 million illegal aliens are currently living inside the U.S. today.

These illegal immigrants create more damage to our economy then they do productivity. They contribute to an excess amount of crime and violence as well as adding to the nations still rising 13 trillion dollar debt.

According to an immigration statistics website, experts have found that nearly one third of all federal prisons are illegal immigrants, costing tax payers over 1.6 billion dollars annually.

Not only do these illegal immigrants threaten the safety of American citizens, they also cost them billions of dollars each year. Some people believe that the people crossing the border are innocent, and simply only looking for a better life, but this is not always the case.

According to the John W. Pope Civitas Institute, in 2005 as much as 2.2 million kilograms of cocaine and 11.6 million kilograms of marijuana were smuggled into the United States via the Mexican border.

Even “small town” areas are worried about the increasing crime inside their counties. One North Carolina Sherriff estimates that 80 to 85 percent of the drug trade in his county is because of the work of illegal Hispanics in the area.

To make matters worse, these aliens also play a large role in the amount of gang violence erupting in the United States. Nationally, Hispanics count for 49 percent of all gang membership.

These Mexican gangs, such as MS-13 and Surenos-13 are part of the horrific activities of human trafficking and human smuggling. According to Deborah Schurman-Kauflin of the Violent Crimes Institute, “Mexico is the number one source for young female sex slaves in North America.”

Something needs to be done about this ongoing issue. Tighter laws should be enforced, similar to the one made in Arizona. Or obtaining citizenship should be made easier so that illegal immigrants can begin to pay taxes like the rest of American citizens.

I don’t believe in discriminating against a race for no particular reason. I understand that not all illegal immigrants are guilty of crime and violence, but illegal immigrants are adding unnecessary amounts of money to our national deficit each day, and potentially threatening the safety of U.S. citizens.