The United States is known as the land of great opportunity. People from all over the world traveled to America in hopes of finding a better life for themselves and their families. Oscar Handlin of Harvard wrote: “One day I thought of writing a history of immigrants to America. Then I discovered that immigrants were part of American history” (Daniels). Over the years, the population of these immigrants grew enormously and some of them became illegal, leading to immigration reform. Immigration reform is a term commonly used to improve laws regarding illegal immigration. It is one of the most controversial issues in the United States today. In 2011, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) estimated the number of undocumented immigrants. A 2013 report from the Federation for American Immigration Reform (FAIR) shows that the annual cost to American taxpayers of providing illegal immigrants with social services and schooling is estimated at approximately $113 billion. In addition to being a burden on the country, some believe that illegal immigrants contribute significantly to the crime rate. The Federal Bureau of Prisons reported that 26.4 percent of federal prison inmates are not U.S. citizens (Vaughan and Camarota). “Most studies comparing crime rates and immigration levels across cities show no clear correlation between the share of immigrants in a city's population and its crime level. This is one of the strongest arguments that immigrants do not have high crime rates. However, such studies typically only measure overall crime, not crimes specifically committed by immigrants, so their value is limited” (Vaughan and Camarota). This proves that crime should not be a factor in denying citizenship to illegal immigrants due to the low crime rate attributable to illegal immigrants. Many also believe that illegal immigrants take over citizens' jobs for lower wages when in reality many of these jobs become unwanted by the authorities. Recent studies have shown that the higher incomes of legalized workers will generate more tax revenue, more purchasing power for consumers. and more jobs. A study by Raúl Hinojosa-Ojeda, founding director of the North American Center for Integration and Development at the University of California, Los Angeles, estimates that in the first three years after legalization, earning capacity more The high level of newly legalized workers would generate an income of $4.5 to $4.50. $5.4 billion in additional net tax revenue, which would generate enough consumer spending to support 750,000 to 900,000 jobs (American Immigration Council). “Additionally, “if unauthorized Latino workers were granted legal status, the state government would benefit from a gross increase of $310 million in income taxes and the federal government would gain $1.4 billion dollars in income taxes each year” (American Immigration Council). Another study by Manuel Pastor and colleagues at the University of Southern California's Center for the Study of Immigrant Integration found that California's unauthorized Latino population was losing $2.2 billion in wages every year due to lack of legal status. By granting citizenship to illegal immigrants, it allows legalized immigrants to earn higher wages and access better-paying jobs.