Andrew Greenberg
Dr. Sternheimer
SOCI-150
24 February 2011

Critical Analysis: Illegal Immigration in the United States I. Introduction and Background Illegal immigration from Mexico to the United States is a social problem that has caused a great deal of debate. There are several pros and cons to having illegal immigrants in the U.S., and many people have very strong opinions on the topic. From traditional news organizations to members of special interest groups, there have been a great deal of news articles published on this issue. I chose this topic because it has recently become a very popular social problem in California, which is where I currently reside. Particularly in my hometown of San Diego, illegal …show more content…

The article posted on Darwin’s Money is very similar to the ABC article in many respects. The article starts out by saying, “There are two sides to every story…” and states that the article will attempt to be as objective as possible. The purpose of this article is to address both sides of the illegal immigration dispute and make the audience aware of this social problem. As stated in Best’s book “Social Problems,” these two articles attempt to have balance because they are written about a very controversial issue (Best, 2008). The articles want to address and bring up a problem without upsetting anyone in an effort to keep the largest possible audience. My next article from a traditional news source, “Illegal Immigration Problems,” takes a slightly different approach. All but the last paragraph of this editorial are focused on the problems with illegal immigration. What Best calls domain expansion is used to draw attention to the fact that illegal immigration is a problem (Best, 2008). In this article, the problem is expanded to include disease, crime, deprivation of rights, and insufficient recourses. However, at the end of the article, the author says, “Is there a need to solve the issue of illegal immigration or are there illegal immigration pros and cons? Is it right to take immediate action about illegal immigration?” (Borkar, 2010). These questions imply that illegal immigration might not be a problem at