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On the Statue of Li�erty there is a plaque with a poem written by Emma Lazarus. It <br />reads "Give me you tired, you poor, your huddled masses yearning to breathe free." This is <br />saying that we will welcome people, whatever situation they are in. You can come here to live a <br />better life. It is a very pawe�ul message that the government shouldn't ignore. The rest of us, as <br />Americans, should live up to these words too, by being welcoming and helpful to immigrants. <br />Even before the US was formed, immigrants have been seen as a source of cheap labor. <br />Humans were rounded up in Africa and forced to move to America. They were sold and <br />threatened with whippings and other horrible punishments into working for very little reward. <br />Starting during the 1$50's, Asian men were recruited to come and work in ihe US. These were <br />some of the people that really helped develop this country into what it is today, by working as <br />miners, railroad builders, farmers, factory workers, and fishermen. We wanted them here and <br />were supportive of them until the depression in 1876. People who were nativc to the US and had <br />more power started claiming that the Chinese were taking their jobs, causing violence to breal{ <br />out along the west coast. In 1882, a law, the Chinese Exclusion Act, went into effect to prevent <br />Chinese immigration. Although this act is no longer in effect, Chinese don't make up a large <br />percent of our immigrants. Today, it is Latinos that come and work at the low — paying jobs <br />most Americans don't want. <br />The main problem with a lot of these Latino immigrants today is that they come here <br />illegally. I think that, to help deal with tl�� pz�o��ena of illegal immigration, the US should <br />develop a program for people that �van1: to work here, focusing especially on the Latinos that now <br />make up so much of our undocumentedworker population. They would have a pass so that they <br />would be able to live here for a designated amount of time and work while living in the housing <br />the government has organized for them. There are many jobs that Americans don't want that are <br />