As a final blog I just wanted to sum up what I have learned about immigration and controlling borders. Before this class I had very little knowledge about the issues surrounding immigration. Probably like many Americans, I did not have a positive perception of immigrants in general. Of course I did not, and still do not think people should be in this country illegally. However I now have a better understanding of why many immigrants are forced to come to America illegally. The fact that conditions in Mexico are so horrible and legally entering the United States is sometimes quite difficult, people feel there is no other way than to cross the borders illegally. I would do the same thing to help my family and to survive and create opportunities for myself. Assimilating into America, I have learned, can be a very difficult thing for immigrants to do because they don’t want to lose their own identity, however they want to belong and be successful in this country. Although I do believe Huntington is somewhat harsh in his beliefs, I do agree that we need to somewhat preserve our American “identity” and people who come to this country should try to speak our language and follow our laws. I think language is going to the biggest obstacle because many immigrants do not want to learn English. However I feel that if they are going to live and work in America they should at least try to learn the English language. I do not think Americans should have to change their way life to accommodate people from other countries. With everything that we have learned this semester, I have a much better understanding of the issues surrounding immigration and I do not think we should close our borders, but there must be something done about the increasing numbers of illegal immigrants coming into this country.

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