The United States of America, being a country founded by immigrants, is known all over the world as the land of great opportunities. People from all walks of life travelled across the globe, taking a chance to find a better life for them and their family. Over the years, the population of immigrants has grown immensely, resulting in the currently controversial issue of illegal immigration. Illegal immigrants are the people who have overstayed the time granted on their US, visa or those who have broken the federal law by crossing the border illegally. Matt O’Brien stated in his article “The government thinks that 10.8 million illegal immigrants lived in the country in January 2009, down from a peak of nearly 12 million in 2007.”(Para, 2) While some argue that illegal immigrants burden the United States of America and its economy, others believe that they have become essential and are an important part of the US, economy. Illegal immigration has helped in the nation’s economic growth by enabling businesses to prosper as the illegal immigrants have provided cheap labor and long hours of hard work. Businesses benefit from illegal immigration by saving a large amount of money since they are not providing insurance both medical and retirement plans for their illegal workers. This results in a lower production cost for the companies and lower prices of goods and services for everyone. Although illegal immigrants may not contribute directly to the economy of the nation in the aspect of paying taxes like income tax, they contribute to the economy in the form of sales taxes by purchasing the supplies they need in the same way a native citizens or legal immigrants do in order to survive and live comfortably. Illegal immigrants do not dr... ... middle of paper ... ...unity College. find.galegroup.com.librus.hccs.edu/ovrc/infomark.do?&contentSet=GSRC&type=ret rieve&tabID=T010&prodId=OVRC&docId=EJ3010173279&source=gale&srcprod= OVRC&userGroupName=txshracd2512&version=1.0>.21 Sep. 2011 O'Brien, Matt. "Illegal Immigration Population Has Plunged Since 2007, Federal..." Contra Costa Times (Walnut Creek, CA). 02 Feb 2010: n.p. SIRS Researcher. Web. 28 Sep 2011. Madeline Pelner Cosman. "Illegal Immigrants Threaten U.S. Health Care." At Issue: What Rights Should Illegal Immigrants Have?. Ed. Lori Newman. Detroit: Greenhaven Press, 2006. Opposing Viewpoints Resource Center. Gale. Houston Community College. .28 Sep. 2011
To begin, an illegal immigrant is defined as “an alien (non-citizen) who has entered the United States without government permission or stayed beyond the termination date of a visa.”(“illegal immigrant”,def.1). It is important to first define “illegal immigrant” before continuing this discussion. Illegal immigration has progressively gotten worse throughout the years, and has lead some Americans to believe that illegal immigrants have caused major economic problems and continue shrink the domestic job market for foreign workers or more importantly United States citizens. But is that really the case? The current positive economic impact made by illegal immigrant workers is tremendous, if we decided to mass deport all of them, it would cripple the United States economy. Illegal immigrants provide the United States with low-wage workers that are difficult or even scarce to find. Which allows our businesses to provide us with products at a
While tangible reasons exists for the need to cut on undocumented immigration, the benefits that illegal immigrants bring to the U.S economy still surpass the arguments against providing undocumented immigrants with legal status. The undocumented immigrants are found in all sectors of the U.S economy and their input needs to be recognized by providing them with legal status to work and improve the economy. They in fact, add circulation to the economy and many benefits that most of american-borns don’t see.
The mass deportation of undocumented immigrants categorizes them as second class citizens. People assume they provide a burden to society, and many policy makers have taken steps in order to oust them. The first being IIRIRA. In reality undocumented people have every right to be here. The economic slump of their native countries is a consequence of US actions and policies, and undocumented workers provide a great economic benefit to the US. In “Border America: illegal but essential, experts say undocumented immigrants are a driving force in the economy despite a toll to public services and unskilled workers,” by David Streitfeld the benefits undocumented workers provide for the economy are outlined. Streitfeld writes that economist agree that undocumented workers contribute to consumer spending and instead of replacing workers actually create jobs. Undocumented workers have a negative stigma that they misuse resources and steal jobs from citizens, but they do the opposite. The influx of undocumented workers has stimulated the
In 2007, the White House issued this statement in hopes to influence a Congressional debate: “Immigration has a positive effect on the American economy as a whole and on the income of native-born American workers” (Pear). This statement relates to the idea that immigrants actually enhance the productivity of American workers and increase their earnings in a significant amount, estimated at $37 billion a year (Pear). This is just one way in which immigrants support economic development in the United States. Since the U.S. is an i...
First, immigrants come to the U.S. to work and bring valuable skills which help grow the economy despite the negative views surrounding their part in the U.S. economy. Since the 2008-2009 recession the view on immigration and its effects on the economy has been more negative than positive (Peri, 2012). A study done by Harvard’s Kennedy School of Government found that about 50 percent of American adults believe that immigrants burden the country because they, “take jobs, housing, and healthcare”, while the other 50 percent believe that, “immigrants strengthen the country due to their hard work and talents” (Delener & Ventilato, 2008). Over the past decade, “over half of the increase in the U.S. labor force,… was the result of immigration-l...
Immigration has been the major source for America’s growth.The United States has the most immigrants in the world ("Nation of Immigrants"). Russia has the second most with only one fourth the number in America ("Nation of Immigrants"). The United States currently has over 40 million immigrants (Kirkwood). About 28 percent of immigrants in America are illegal (Kirkwood). Those 11 million illegals make up about 3.5 percent of the U.S. population (Kirkwood). This huge number grows every day as more and more people cross the border illegally.
Most of the United States (U.S) is comprised of immigrants—including those who have migrated to the States from another country and those whose ancestors freely travelled to the States in search of a fresh start. Every year, the U.S. grants a limited number of people around the world the opportunity to immigrate to the States each year. As a result of the restriction, citizens from neighboring countries cross the border illegally. According to an article by Jens Manuel Krogstad, 11.3 million unauthorized immigrants reside in the U.S. in 2014. This whopping number has stirred controversy both politically and economically for America’s government officials. As a result, many people argue whether illegal immigrants should or should not be aided
Nalle, Dave. "Basic Facts on Illegal Immigration." Web log post. BC Blog Critics. 7 July
Gomez, Alan. “Illegal immigration levels off in ’10.” USA Today n.d. (02 February 2011): 02a. Academic Research Complete. Web. 25 March 2011.
Those who support immigrants being protected by the law believe that immigrants help the economy by creating lower wages which enables companies to make better profits. According to Becky Akers and Donald J. Boudreaux, immigrants “should be allowed to contribute to the United States economy in the Constitutional and legal precepts that guarantee all immigrants the opportunity to pursue life, liberty, and happiness in the United States” (22). If immigrants were not here in the United States, the jobs they do might not even get done by anyone else (Isidore 103). Immigrants fill up the jobs that many Americans do not want. “Specialization deepens. Workers’ productivity soars, forcing employers to compete for their time by offering higher pay” (Akers and Boudreaux 25). As researcher Ethan Lewis said, “Economics professor, Patricia Cortes, studied the way immigrants impact prices in 25 large United States metropolitan areas. She discovered that a 10-percent increase in immigration lowered the price...
is not a right answer to the illegal immigration issue because it is not a long-lasting solution. The United States could legalize all of the current workers here now, but then who would be a demand from employers looking for illegal workers. Illegal immigrants generate revenues as well as costs; these revenues offset some of the expenses that our government incurs. Research studies indicate that many illegal immigrants pay taxes, including federal and state income taxes; Social Security tax; and sales tax.(1) However, researchers disagree on some revenues illegal immigrants "generate and the extent to which these revenues offset government costs for benefits and services."(1) The Center for Immigration Studies attests that illegal immigrants, who make up less than five percent of the American population, are found to perpetrate almost 25 percent of all of the
In some ways illegal immigrants do contribute to the economy. They generate extra income for our economy but do lower some wages (Hanson). Illegal immigrants generate extra income because their labor increase brings an increase in output which leads to more income for U.S. businesses (Hanson). (par.)Another positive illegals bring is that they allow the economy to use domestic resources more efficiently. Highly skilled immigrants have a positive net tax contribution and increase a business’s productivity. Illegal immigrants also hold jobs that would be undesirable and that most people wouldn’t want to work these jobs. Another thing to consider is that if all the illegal immigrants jobs were taken away “not all jobs would be taken by natives some would be automated or outsourced.” (Ruark)
Illegal immigration also does not benefit the economy due to all the crime that a large majority of the immigrant’s cause. The discover the networks website says, “In Los Angeles, 95 percent of all outstanding warrants for homicide target illegal aliens, as do approximately two-thirds of all fugitive felony warrants” (2014). Many illegal immigrants, especially in Los Angeles, have committed crimes due to the high amount of gang related activities. The cost of court cost, law enforcement, and keeping immigrant criminals in jail requires a lot of
Passy, Jacob. "5 Things to Know About Immigration and the U.S. Economy - NBC News." NBC News. N.p., n.d. Web. 03 Nov.
Haines, David W and Rosenblum, Karen E.: Illegal Immigration in America: A Reference Handbook. Westport, Conn: Greenwood Press. 1999. EBook. , Database: eBook Collection (EBSCOhost).