Are They Doing Anything To Help Us Now?

In 2004, many people were still worried about immigration. After 9/11, many immigration laws had been put in effect, but the opinion of many was that they were still not being implemented. Many were worried that there was nothing being done to stop terrorists from entering the United States.

Heather MacDonald, a writer for the City Journal, address this issue in her article The Illegal-Alien Crime Wave. She says, “Some of the most violent criminals at large today are illegal aliens. Yet in cities where the crime these aliens commit is highest, the police cannot use the most obvious tool to apprehend them: their immigration status” (par. 1). MacDonald realized that using by using an example of growing crime and then pointing out how the police are doing nothing to stop the illegal immigrants that congress passed laws to insure that crime like this wouldn't happen again. By writing this article at a time when many people were wondering how the laws were being enforced, it would’ve fed off of people’s curiosity about whether or not the laws were doing their job. It would’ve answered the question as to whether or not another terrorist attack would be prevented by these laws.

One thing that Heather MacDonald failed to do in this article was use more recent examples. She starts off promising with getting the reader’s attention, but then fails to give concrete recent examples of failed law enforcement. She instead brings up events that happened in 1995 through 1997. When she does mention more recent events it is to quote government officials. The only mention of the devastating attack is to say “On September 5, 2001, his handpicked charter-revision committee ruled that New York could still require that its employees keep immigration information confidential to preserve trust between immigrants and government. Six days later, several visa-overstayers participated in the most devastating attack on the city and the country in history” (par. 20). A fact that while interesting does nothing to answer reader’s questions about whether or not the immigration laws in force now are being enforced and if so to what success. MacDonald never mentions the facts that most of her American readers would be interested in– whether or not the immigration laws are going to protect their country from being attacked again.