Illegal Immigration Dbq

Have you ever stopped to think if illegal immigrants help or harm the economy in the U.S.? Today there is a large debate over this one question. Some Americans believe that illegal immigrants harm the U.S. economy by using public services, while other americans believe that illegal immigrants help the economy by increasing the GDP. The truth is illegal immigrants do help the U.S. economy grow. I believe that illegal immigrants do not harm the U.S. economy. Illegal immigrants do not harm the economy, on the contrary they help the U.S economy by increasin the gross domestic product of the U.S. In Source 4 "Careful What You Wish For: Here's What California Would Look Like Without Illegal Immigrants" states, "A recent report

economy is by doing all of the jobs that most Americans don't want. By working in jobs that has you breaking a sweat. Source 4 states,"The study found that the estimated 2.6 million immigrants who are living in California illegally account fo as much as 38% of the agricultural industry. Farming insiders put the figure at over 50%. Illegal immigrants also constitute at least 14% of the construction industry." This means that the illegal imigrants in California are working and contributing to the U.S. economy. Source 2 states "He concluded that legalizing the immigrants would be more beneficial to the economy by generating additionaltaxes, increasing consumption and allowing immigrants to climb the occupational ladder, among other things." Illegal imigrants being legalized and no longer having to work in constuction or farming, being given the opportunity to get a new occupation will increase/help the U.S.

but their reasons why are. While some Americans like myself believe that the illegal immigrants help the U.S. economy other Americans believe hat illegal immigrantys harm the economy. In Source 3, "Why Americans Think Immgration Hurts The Economy" it states, "Native low-skilled workers suffer most from the competition of foreign labor." This is not a valid reason for why illegal immigrants are believed to harm the economy. The low skilled workers in this case would be harming the economy because the U.S. would be losing money if the low skilled worker didn't do things like a foreign worker. The same source also states, "There illegal immigrants also make contributions , through property and sales taxs, but on balance, they use more in public services, such as schools, health benefits, and welfare assistance." I believe that this is not a good reason eiother because they are generalizing. Not every imigrant has health benefits or have welfare