We have been reading in the news for the past month or so about the thousands of Central Americans coming by foot from El Salvador, Honduras, and...

We have been reading in the news for the past month or so about the thousands of Central Americans coming by foot from El Salvador, Honduras, and Guatemala north to the U.S. border.

The majority are fleeing dangerous conditions in their countries. Our president has increased the border patrols and has asked the National Guard to send troops to the border to prevent these refugees from entering the country. American reporters and newscasters are with these people and have said that most of them are families or women with children, etc.--not criminals, as depicted by our president.

They want to enter this country and make a claim for asylum. To thwart their efforts, our president has said you must enter at a border crossing only. The court has said no, this is not necessary. You only need to enter the country at any point and make your claim, then an investigation will be conducted to verify the truthfulness of the claim. They may be held in a detention center or temporarily held and then released to appear in Immigration Court later. That part is not clear.

Present an argument pro or con if these people, based on our U.S. Constitution, be given the right to enter the country and make a claim for asylum.

Your argument should be approximately one page to one page and a half, double-spaced.

I am going to quote the portion of the poem "The New Colossus," written on November 2, 1883, by Emma Lazarus and which appears on the Statue of Liberty:

     Give me your tired, your poor, Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free,

      The wretched refuse of your teeming shore. Send these, the homeless,

       tempest tost to me, I lift my lamp beside the golden door.