Our President Barack Obama has announced a major changes to the United States of America’s immigration policies. These changes will affect millions of people who entered the country without permission. On November 21, 2014, Our President Barack Obama announced an immigration accountability executive action. President Obama took the action through an official declaration, known as an “executive order”. According to this nation “Executive order are legally binding orders given by the President, acting as the head of the Executive Branch, to Federal Administrative Agencies.”(This Nation) Obama was quoted by voa saying “his order will help immigrants to come out of the shadows.” (Obama Orders) President Obama immigration executive action temporarily …show more content…
His action is probably one of the most sensible approach from an economic, social, and security perspective. By allowing those to become citizen it would boost the nation’s economy, increase consumers to purchase more, states would also benefit, benefit certain industries that require high-skilled workers, and it also would keep them and their families together. According to thinking progress “More than two-thirds of the immigrants working without papers in the United States have contributed to our economy and culture for more than a decade.”(Thinking Progress) Thinking progress also said “Bringing these hard-working immigrants off the economic sidelines would generate a $1.5 trillion boost to the nation’s cumulative GDP over 10 years and add close to $5 billion in additional tax revenue in just the next three years.” Legalizing these undocumented immigrants in the United States would boost the nation’s economy. By adding these immigrants’ would a thing progress said it would “cumulative $1.5 trillion to the U.S. gross domestic product—the largest measure of economic growth.”(Think Progress) Higher wages and even better jobs would increase a consumer to purchase more, which would also benefit the U.S. economy as a …show more content…
According to Thinking Progress “The federal government would accrue $4.5 billion to $5.4 billion in additional net tax revenue over just three years if the 11 million undocumented immigrants were legalized.” (Think Progress) States would benefit from allowing immigrate become citizens. Thinking Progress stated “U.S Texas, for example, would see a $4.1 billion gain in tax revenue and the creation of 193,000 new jobs if its approximately 1.6 million undocumented immigrants were legalized. “ (Thing Progress) Another benefit would be the significant reform of the high-skilled industries that require high-skilled workers. “Immigrants make up 23 percent of the labor force in high-tech manufacturing and information technology industries, and immigrants more highly educated, on average, than the native-born Americans working in these industries. For every immigrant who earns an advanced degree in one of these fields at a U.S. university, 2.62 American jobs are created.”(Thinking Progress) Lastly, the final benefit would the drop in child well fare. Letting undocumented immigrants gain legal status would keep them and their families
In 2012, President Obama introduced the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program for young people who had been residing in the United States at least five years prior to the bill’s passing. DACA was the most significant provision from the Obama administration that aimed to help undocumented youth be integrated in the American society. It protected them from deportation and allowed them to obtain a state identification, work permit, and Social Security number. The immigrant communities celebrated this bill as it had been a long time since there was a significant change in the country’s immigration policy. However, the current administration and government pose a serious threat to the beneficiaries of the DACA program as well as
In June 2012, President Obama announced an immigration policy that would grant deportation relief to qualifying immigrants. The policy, Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA), would also give these undocumented immigrants the right to work. Although DACA has changed since President Obama’s initial announcement, the policy still has stringent requirements. Beneficiaries must have immigrated at a young age, and they need a high school education. Yet despite DACA’s restrictions, the policy has proven controversial. While Democrats have cheered DACA as a step towards immigration reform, Republicans have denounced DACA as an example of executive overreach. The conservative organization Heritage Action for America, for instance, has accused DACA of leading “residents of foreign lands [to] illegally enter the U.S.” Indeed, according to Heritage Action, Obama’s amnesty policies make undocumented immigrants believe that “they will not be returned home.”
Currently, there are 11.7 million undocumented immigrants in the United States; 6 million of those immigrants are Mexican-born (Preston). Within that undocumented population are individuals who were brought to the States as children. These individuals have grown up in the American culture and consider themselves American, but struggle with being treated as second class citizens due to their undocumented status. On June fifteenth of 2012, the Obama Administration announced the executive order Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA). This order will allow immigrants who were brought illegally to the U.S. as children to apply for work permits and avoid deportation (Hennessey and Bennett). President Obama’s Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals is not only beneficial to it applicants but also to the United States as a whole.
Undocumented immigrants are not legally permitted to work in the United states. The undocumented immigrants tend to get jobs that have low payment occupation like farming, and cleaning services. This jobs are where their legal status is less likely to be discovered. (Lynch and Oakford) Undocumented immigrants are now free to get the jobs deserve base on their skills. For example, an undocumented immigrants have a job like a cleaning service, but his or her skills are beyond that. After the legalization, he or she will have chance to apply for the higher
Probably the largest contribution that immigrants given America’s economy - whether they are illegal or legal - is that they spend the money that they earn and put it back into the economy (Davidson). According to Costa, Cooper, and Shierholz, “immigrants’ share of total output was about 14.7 percent over 2009-2011.” This is true even though they make up 13 percent of the total U.S. population, because a majority of immigrants are working age, compared to the diverse ages of the general U.S. population (Costa, Cooper, Shierholz). Another point that is brought up in “An Immigration Stimulus: The Economic Benefits of a Legalization Program” is that if the U.S. legalizes more “illegal” immigrants, they are then able to earn more. When Immigrants are able to earn more, they can then pay more in taxes, and their ability to spend more money to put it back in the economy grows (“An Immigration Stimulus: The Economic Benefits of a Legalization Program”). And on the point of Social Security, illegal immigrants have contributed $15 million a year to the Social Security Trust fund. And while they are contributing such a large amount to Social Security, very few of them are able to get the benefits from it (Davidson). So as a group, they are giving much more into the Social Security system than they are taking out. After taking into account all of
In conclusion, I believe that the current immigration system is broken. Millions of illegal immigrants are living undocumented in the United States. This leaves an unfair system for all current citizens that pay taxes and immigrants looking to migrate into the country legally. Clearly there is a dire need for reform, and the proposal presented offers many solutions that can boost our economy and create various new jobs. The national GDP will increase heavily over the years and tourism profits will skyrocket as well as boosting our economy upwards. This reform can create new opportunities for the betterment of this country and allow room for growth in a variety of different aspects.
Allowing immigrants in the country needs to be viewed in terms of what they can add to the economy, not the burden. This is because undocumented immigrants’ contributions is very significant compared to the burden they bring to the United States as argued in some quarters. Most immigrants come to America with an intention to earn money and improve the living standards of their families. As such, the undocumented immigrants provides the economy with the most mobile and efficient pool of workers who are ready to work in a 24/7 economy (Becerra, Androff and Ayon 116). In addition, the U.S government needs to allow the undocumented
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
“What makes someone American isn’t just blood or birth but allegiance to our founding principles and faith in the idea that anyone from anywhere can write the next chapter of our story.” - President Barack Obama. The United States is the melting pot of the world. The great country of American was built on immigration. Look around, so many people have ancestor that risked everything to come to the United States to make something of their lives, and the lives of their children. If it weren’t for immigration, we may not be where we are today. Immigration reform is the term used in political discussion regarding changes to current immigration policy of a country (Immigration Reform, para. 2). In 2013 the Senate passed the immigration reform bill that would give a path to citizenship to the estimated 11 million undocumented immigrants living in the U.S. If the government passed Immigration Reform there would be many benefits to our economy, and to the individuals looking for a better future. For example, immigration increases the efficiency of the U.S. economy, it enables entrepreneurs to come to America, it brings increased national security, and immigration reform can reduce the deficit (Furchtgott-Roth, 4
In the first article, The Economic Benefits of Comprehensive Immigration Reform, Raúl Hinojosa- Ojeda argues that if the United States government moved from an ‘enforcement only policy’ to a comprehensive immigration reform, both individuals born in America and immigrants would increase benefits. The comprehensive immigration reform that Ojeda describes “legalizes current unauthorized immigrants and creates flexible legal limits on future immigration in the context of full labor rights…” (Ojeda page 175). Ojeda further argues that the current U.S. policy creates a wage floor, and if undocumented immigrants gain citizenship, the wage floor will rise, increasing the wages of all workers. The rise in wages cited in the 1986 Immigration Reform and Control Act (IRCA) states that a comprehensive immigration reform would increase consumer consumption and wages and would increase the creation of jobs and tax revenue. This is mainly based on the concept that IRCA was implemented during a time of recession, but was still able to raise wages and investments made by immigrants. Ojeda explains, through the example of the IRCA, it is estimated that comprehensive reform, over 10 years, would create 1.5 trillion dollars in United States gross domestic product (GDP) (176). However, they add that one of the issues with the IRCA, is the lack of flexible limits set on the number of workers allowed to enter the United States. In the 1990, therefore, U.S. labor demands were not met.
Whether it may have positive effects or negative ones, there’s no question that illegal immigration is an issue that cannot be ignored. And the problem isn’t necessarily finding a solution to help slow or prevent illegal immigration. It’s figuring out which solution will work the best for us. We will always encourage foreigners to come to our country, just as long as the proper steps are taken to do
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.
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 legal status. This would help fill up the vacant jobs in those farms and meat packing plants. A post released by “The Washington Post,” titled “Immigration Lifts Wages, Report Says; White House Asserts Only Least-Skilled Native Workers Are Hurt” 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 native-borns.
As an effect legal immigration would make way for new jobs and if more people had more jobs they would more likely invest in the economy. Many immigrants remain illegal due to the long and rigorous applications and tests required to become a legal citizen. As well as hard tests, the fee to apply is a substantial amount especially for poor immigrants looking to immigrate for economic reasons (Swain). Many immigrants protest to lower fees to allow for a more efficient way to gain citizenship. Politicians debate on whether to lower fees often (EdTech). Many politicians believe if the fees where lowered it would allow a large number of immigrants into America. Allowing large number of immigrants could have both positive and negative effects. Crime rates could be increased, at the same time jobs would be created and the economy would begin to increase due to the amount of money spent in
Obama Administration proposed what is called Comprehensive Immigration Reform. It is composed of six sections aimed at fixing the current immigration system. It includes enhanced border enforcement, interior enforcement and the most controversial section; an amnesty program to legalize undocumented immigrants. In other words, it creates a pathway to citizenship for unauthorized immigrants that is fair and feasible. Many argue that even though Comprehensive Immigration Reform is good for America because it addresses important issues like creating a committee to adopt the number of visas available to changing economic times, preventing people from working without permits and creating programs aimed at helping immigrants adjust to life in America. Yet it rewards violators of current U.S. laws who entered the country illegally, and those who entered the country legally but overstayed their visas. Opponents of the Comprehensive Immigration Reform proposal claim that immigrants have a negative impact on the economy; overwhelming social services of many states, and posing a threat to American workers as a result of big corporations exploiting immigrants with low wages and poor working conditions. With the recent economic downturn and the severe recession that hit the U.S, many individuals blame immigrants for their economic misfortune and lack of employment. For both the opponents and proponents of the Comprehensive Immigration Reform Proposal, for the millions of the undocumented immigrants and their families, and lawmakers; immigration has become an emotional political issue. Despite the resistance of many, America should embrace comprehensive immigration reform.