SOCIAL AWARENESS POST

An article from the Los Angeles Times, "No work, No Reason to Go North" discusses how illegal immigration has decreased over the past few years due to the poor economy. The article explains how work in the U.S. is getting more and more difficult to find, forcing many immigrants to return to their home countries. The article states that there is no point going north because you will find yourself in a dead end shortly after you do. Jobs are becoming scarce both north and south of the border. Because of less jobs, illegal immigrants have stopped entering America as much as they had previously. Statistics show that illegal immigration from Mexico has dropped from over 7 million in 2008 to 6 and a half million immigrants in 2010. This is most likely due to a decrease in jobs, which leads to discouraging future immigrants from coming to America.

Another Los Angeles Times article, "An Education Gap for Illegal Migrants' Kids," analyzes how children of illegal immigrants in the U.S. fare compared to legal residents. The study found that children of illegal immigrants averaged 11 years of education, due to financial, anxiety and work issues, compared with approximately 13 years for those whose parents were legal residents. Addressing the education gap is important otherwise as the article states, "By not providing pathways to legalization, the United States not only risks creating an underclass, but also fails to develop a potentially valuable human resource." Studies have shown that once children of illegal immigrants become legalized, their level of motivation to succeed in school increases dramatically as they feel like they have a better chance to succeed in society.