Holden's Happy Geography Blog

1. Rate your effort as a percent from 0% to 100%. (1 pt.)

I believe that I gave 90% out of 100%.

1. Rate the quality of your work as a percent from 0% to 100%. (1 pt.)

I think that the quality of my work is 87%.

1. What part of your work makes you most proud? (3 pts.)

My introduction is a paragraph that I am most proud of.

1. What part of your work would you most like to improve? (3 pts.)

I would like to improve transition sentences.

1. Look at the academic goal you set for yourself at the start of this essay.  Please write the goal.  Explain why you think you did or did not meet it. (3 pts.)

My goal was to find out how many illegal Mexican immigrants cross the border each day.  I think I met that goal because I found out that 300-400 illegal Mexican immigrants travel across the border each day.

1. Look at the organizational goal you set for yourself at the start of this essay.  Please write the goal.  Explain why you think you did or did not meet it. (3 pts.)

My goal was not to procrastinate.  I think I met this goal near the begging  of the project but not near the end because I waited to edit and revise.

1. Look at the skill goal you set for yourself at the start of this essay.  Please write the goal.  Explain why you think you did or did not meet it. (3 pts.)

My goal was to write a good introduction.  I think I met this goal because I had a lot of back round information to inform the reader about the subject.

1. What strategy did you use in your introduction to grab readers’ attention? (3 points)

I used an interesting question and statistic put together.

1. What is the most important learning will you take away from this project? (3 pts.)

How to write a good introduction, take good notes, and have a good bibliography.

1. Please write one more thing I should know about your work/learning for this project. (2 pt.)

I always like how you, Mrs. Roth, tell us exactly what to do.

Opportunity… I Think Not.

Is it Really Worth it Having Illegal Immigrants Come to The United States?

Are Immigrants Really Helping the Economy?

The United States is being affected by all of these illegal Mexican immigrants.  The immigrants are really changing the economy, American politics, and are a big safety issue.  Who wants to pay 12 billion dollars for illegal immigrants kids to go to school?  Or have an unfair presidential election.  Have you ever gotten the swine flu?  If you have, it came from Mexico.  The United States should close its Mexican border.

Did you know that over 300 illegal Mexican immigrants die crossing the United States Mexico border each year?  There are over three billion people in the United States and over ten million of them are illegal Mexican immigrants.  About 3,000 illegal immigrants cross the border per day.  In the past there has been a cycle to them coming and leaving.  That cycle is that when we have a good economy, they come and with a bad economy they leave.  The border is 1969 miles long with a 601-mile long fence.  The fence is made of many different materials and is about fifteen feet tall.  They come here because in Mexico, there is a low standard of living and 53% of Mexicans are living in poverty.  Also the United States provides free education and free emergency care.  The illegal immigrants are taking a ton of money that the United States really needs.  The United States should close its Mexican border.

When illegal immigrants cross the border it also affects the economy.  One way it affects the economy is that they could lower wages for the United States.  Lets say that an American is working at a grocery store.  They are being paid ten dollars an hour.  Then an illegal immigrant comes and only works for seven dollars an hour.  Then the boss lowers the Americans wage.  The American is mad and says that he/she is going to quit if you don’t change it back.  The bosses response is, I don’t care. I can just hire another one of them.  This is hurting many Americans.  Another reason that the United States should close the border is because Mexicans are taking jobs that some Americans need.  The United States unemployment rate is 10%.   This has gone up 6 percent since 2000.  As you can see, Illegal Mexican immigrants really change the economy.

Letting illegals come over the border is also a safety issue.  First of all, thousands of immigrants have died crossing the border.  In 2000, 369 people died crossing the border.  Half of them die of heat exposure.  Some die of drowning in canals, hypothermia in the mountains, of suffocating in the trunk of a car.  You are risking your life if you choose to cross the border illegally.  Also if they are sick with an illness that has not his the United States yet, they would bring it over to Americans.  For example, the swine flu (h1n1) was brought to the United States.  Another reason is when they come over the border, some have to get past the fence.  Some use ladders to climb over.  Others ruin the fence to get past.  Every time the fence is damaged, it cost $1,300.  Since 2005, 1,400 illegal immigrants have been discovered as gang members.  This is dangerous because generally gangs do bad things.  One more reason to close the border is that it could reduce terrorism.  It could reduce because right now the border is fairly easy to cross if you survive.  300-400 people cross every day.  The United States needs to do a better job of having a closed border.

Some people believe that a few politicians us Hispanics for votes.  For example, About.com believes that President George W. Bush didn’t enforce border control so he could have more people to vote for him or more people to influence their friends or family to vote for him.  They believe this because in 2006 Bush only provided enough money for 210 workers instead of the 2,000 that were wanted.  Also, American taxpayers wouldn’t have to pay 3.3 million dollars to pay for the illegal immigrants to be in federal prison.  30 percent of prisoners in the United States are not United States citizens.  Americans are very upset that their money is going towards prisoners, and especially mad that their money is going towards non-U.S. citizens.  Another reason keeping the border open is a bad idea is that American taxpayers also have to pay for illegal immigrants kids to go to school.  Taxpayers pay 12 billion dollars every year for illegal aliens to go to school.  Even though some Americans cant even go to school.

Outline

The United States should close the Mexican border.

I.  Introduction

II.  Political Reasons

A.  Votes

B.  Prisons

C.  Taxes

III.  Safety/Security Reasons

A.  Death

B.  Sickness

C.  Fence Damage

D.  Gangs

E.  Terrorism

IV.  Economic Reasons

A.  Wages

B.  Unemployment

C.  Emergency care

V.  Conclusion

Outline

The United States should close the Mexican border.

I.  Introduction

II.  Political Reasons

III.  Safety/Security Reasons

IV.  Economic Reasons

V.  Conclusion

The United States should close its Mexican border to immigrants.