Immigration is an issue that is a fiercely debated topic in the United States. Some believe that it is detrimental to the economy as a whole and affects our overall wages in a negative way. Others argue that it actually keeps the economy moving in a positive direction and increases wages over time for people in the United States. On Thursday April 17, 2014 we debated this topic in class in order to shed light on both sides of the argument. Both sides used case studies, articles, quotes and data to prove their case.
Many undocumented immigrants are happy as long as they have a job. This is why it is important for those immigrants to be able to gain a legal status. This would help to fill up the vacant jobs in those farms and meat packing plants. A post released by “The Washington Post,” named “Immigration Lifts Wages, Report Says; White House Asserts Only Least-Skilled Native Workers Are Hurt” it is stated that after an economic review president Bush’s council in 2007, concluded that undocumented immigrants contribute about $80,000 more per person when paying taxes, and are unable to claim benefits offered to
Study after study fails to find evidence that immigrants harm American workers. A recent National Bureau of Economic Research study by Ottaviano and Peri finds that the influx of foreign workers between 1990 and 2004 raised the average wage of U.S.-born workers by 2 percent. Nine in ten American workers gained; only one in ten, high school dropouts, lost slightly, by 1 percent (Dangelo 236). Recent studies found that immigrants are a net economic gain for the nation in times of economic boom as well as in recession. Despite national gains, immigration may be an economic burden or create unw...
Nadadur, Ramanujan. “Illegal Immigration: A Positive Economic Contribution To The United Sates.” Journal Of Ethnic & Migration Studies 35.6 20090€: 1037-1052. Education Source. Web. 18 Apr. 2014.
The United States cannot afford to lose the economic gains that come from immigrant labor. The economy would be suffering a greater loss if it weren’t for immigrants and their labor contributions, especially during the 2008 U.S. recession. The U.S. economy would most likely worsen if it weren’t for the strong labor force immigrants have provided this country. Despite the mostly negative views native-born Americans have towards immigrants and the economy, their strong representation in the labor forces continues today. Immigrants aren’t taking “American” jobs, they are taking the jobs that Americans don’t want (Delener & Ventilato, 2008). Immigrants contribute to various aspects of the economy, including brining valuable skills to their jobs, contributing to the cost of living through taxes, and the lacked use of welfare, healthcare, and social security when compared to native-born Americans, showing that the United States cannot afford to lose the contribution immigrants bring into the economy.
I think children of illegal immigrants should have the right of going to school like the other children in America. I think they should have the right to education because if they to America with their family when they were a baby small child they didn't have the choice to leave or stay that was up to their parents. The child also probably didn't know what was happening when they left their home. The reason I think they should be able to go to school to get an education about the country they were brought into and when they turn eighteen they could make the decision if they wanted to become a U.S. citizen and take the test or decide if they want to back to the country they came from. Since it wasn't their choice to come into this country they
The lack of enforcement of immigration policies will cause the greatest impact on America’s economy. One of the most controversial topics is how immigrants affect jobs and wages. Many argue that immigrants help the economy by working for the people that will not, but in reality they are taking Americans jobs and legal immigrants that have earned their rights. The main issue is wages: illegal immigrants are desperate for jobs and will do anything. Businessmen will take advantage of this and pay them significantly lower wages. Cheap labor negatively affects other workers. Studies show that immigrants push down wages and may cause other workers to leave a certain industry.
Recently, the U.S. government has been cracking down on illegal aliens and employers are in danger of raids and lawsuits for hiring illegal immigrants. Many employers either do not require any documentation or accept copies of documents (Rousmaniere 24-25), regarding legalization. Immigrants are desired employees and companies continue to hire them even with the risks. By working for lower wages, they keep the costs of goods and services down; the illegal alien work force helps improve the U.S. economy (Nadadur 1037-1052). However, illegal immigrants can have a negative effect when they encroach on American job opportunities (Carter 8). Some economists argue that illegal aliens actually help the host-country’s economy by adding to the labor force. However, other economists state that too many illegal...
The other aspect is that illegal immigrants have positive effects in the U.S economy by decreasing consumer cost. Most of the illegal immigrants came to the U.S to fill the secondary labor market; therefore products and services become cheaper because illegal immigrants work for lower wages, thus providing a kind of subsidy to American consumers. Nadadur Ramanujan in his article “Illegal Immigrants” states that, “Because illegal immigrants serves to allow businesses to minimize their cost of production in the secondary sector, it positively impacts income of all native workers by decreasing
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 immigrants use up taxpayers' and the government's money. Illegal immigrants are allowed to go to school, get healthcare, and get social security. They don’t pay any money to have these benefits. Our government can't even support our own people who came to or were born in this country. The children born here are unable to find jobs, school is expensive, and health insurance cost continue to rise. America simply cannot met the demands of millions of illegal immigrants. There is no possible compromise for immigration. Some people believe that amnesty is a possible solution. Amnesty is defined as giving a group of people citizenship even if they are living in a country illegally. Proponents of amnesty say that amnesty allows people
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...
Illegal immigrants are viewed as a burden by many, but not many see how they benefit us. Many farms employ illegal immigrants, and depend on them to make profit. The United States Department of Agriculture stated, “about half of the hired workers employed in U.S. crop agriculture were unauthorized, with the overwhelming majority of these workers coming from Mexico”. It also stated that, “any potential immigration reform could have significant impacts on the U.S. fruit and vegetable industry.” These unauthorized workers are part of the backbone holding the agricultural economy up. If all of them were deported, like some
Use of illegal labor detrimentally affects the economy, job availability, and the wage gap. According to Michael Telzrow (2007) “The costs associated with uncontrolled immigration and flooding the U.S. job market with low-wage laborers far outweigh any savings to be had.” (p. 27) Americans without higher education are being pushed out by illegal immigrants willing to work the same jobs for lower pay. The economy is being affected by the prolific use of illegal immigrants in low paying jobs. In the 1980’s, the wage gap between low- and high-skilled workers increased between 15 to 25 percent due to the use of illegal immigrants. (Lind, 1998, p. 60) The idea that American workers will not do hard labor for low wages has become a false commonplace argument for the use of illegal
When it comes to immigration in America, there are always pros and cons to this question, and it is very depressing how the situation takes to extremely lighten. There are two types immigrants in the Untied States (high-skilled and low-skilled workers). The US economy benefits the immigration because the immigrants contribute by taking jobs that American citizens don’t to work at. For instance, they worked jobs that pay low wages, such as job's chauffeurs, butlers, housekeepers, dishwasher, janitors, etc. In the article, Open Border Improves US Economic mention that the mobility of low-skilled immigrant workers also smoothes economic fluctuations in struggling communities. Some companies are benefiting from immigrants by paying them despicable