What Are The Pros And Cons Of Illegal Immigration

Today, immigration is a big issue in the United States of America whether it is done legally or illegally. Being that there are two sides to every issue, immigration is no different. On one side, there are advocates from the free market or market capitalists that feel the borders should be wide open. They feel as though immigration should be free however, these immigrants should not be entitled to any kind of welfare or benefits at all. On the other hand, you have some the Republicans and other conservative activists who feel that immigration laws should be tightened. They also feel as though deportation should be taken much more seriously. These illegal immigrants violate the law and can very well contribute to the character of the country

Many women come over the borders pregnant in order to exploit the fact that if the child is born on the soil of the United States, the child will be a citizen legally. This leads to medical costs, benefits for the child, and much more. Even more so, illegal migrants come to work in the United States. They are willing to work for a low wage which benefits companies allowing them to cut overall labor costs. “In 2007, the share of undocumented workers employed in construction reached 18 percent, making it the country’s largest source of jobs for illegal laborers” (Hanson 2010). If these immigrants came over legally, even though the process is long and difficult, they could be working for a better wage while working towards earning their citizenship. Take one group of migrants for example: “Recent decades have witnessed dramatic increases in U.S. immigration, especially from Mexico. Mexican immigrants are the largest national origin group living in the United States. In 2005, approximately 11 million Mexicans had migrated to the United States and they represented 31% of the U.S. foreign-born population” (Donato 2008). This particular group alone had made the biggest impact to immigration within the United States of America. Enforcing policies and tightening standards could help to fix this problem. Making deportation standards that are realistic and limiting the amount of people who can come into the country to work could help significantly. This will allow a migrant the opportunity to not only become a citizen, but protect their human rights that are likely non-existent in the country they migrated