In the last few years, immigration into the United States as well as many other countries has become widely politicized, and as a result, highly polarized. The rise of radically different viewpoints has given rise to a large amount of misinformation and misconceptions regarding the issue. Some of these include that immigrants bring down the economy and are a net fiscal cost, that they abuse the welfare state, they don't assimilate as well as previous generations of immigrants, and that they are especially crime prone. These arguments are not only untrue, some are the inverse of the claims being made. Immigration has recently become highly polarized in recent years and despite common misconceptions, they are a net positive not only to the economy, …show more content…
According to The New York Times, immigrants increase the total GDP of the US, help the job market, and increase mean income across the country. Many common misconceptions about the effects of immigration to the US can easily be countered with some research. A few of these misconceptions include that immigrants have an adverse affect on the US job market and take away jobs from native workers, and that they don’t contribute to the economy, rather, leaching off of it, and that they hold the country back in terms of innovation. These delusions are paper thin. Immigrants are absolutely a net positive to the economy. Not only are they “nearly 50 percent more likely to start a business than native-born workers.”, they (immigrants) or their children have founded just over 40% of the companies in the fortune 500 index (Why Immigrants). In addition, because of the fact that they are more likely to start a business than native born workers, they actually create more jobs than they take; let’s say that 25 immigrants come to the united states and start businesses and they only hire four employees, that's 100 new jobs: far more than they would take. Immigrants are misconstrued as invaders that have come to take our jobs and mess up our economy and our education system, nothing could be further from the …show more content…
Americans have a notorious reputation worldwide as not being concerned with other cultures, and when other nationalities come into their country, they often react with fear, hatred, or intolerance. This is called Xenophobia, and “xenophobia can lead to violence and discrimination.” (Staff). Violence, I’m sure we can all agree, is bad. Being exposed to more cultures and culture diversity could reduce the amount of hate crimes in the United States, it would also probably increase the intelligence of the average US citizen because they’ll have a desire to learn more about other cultures, and with that desire for more education on cultures, more education in
In the U. S today, the approximated population of undocumented immigrants stands at averagely 11 million. Therefore, this has created a hot debate in Congress about the action to take over the undocumented immigrants. Those opposed to illegal immigrants suggest that, their stay in the United States effects U.S citizens on the job market negatively . In addition, illegal immigrants are viewed in certain quarters as takers in the sense that illegal immigrants benefit more from public resources than the american-born citizens of the U.S. However, the reality is that immigrants contribute positively to the U.S economy and pay significantly into the system compared to what they send back home.
Immigrants have been a key part of The United States’ development into a first-world nation. Their impact on the nation is dichotomous; parts of society have actively sought to increase immigration, while other parts have actively fought against its expansion. The types of immigrants have changed throughout American history - the perception of immigrants has not. Economics has dominated the argument of immigration, as pro-immigration individuals seek to financially benefit from the influx of immigrants and anti-immigration individuals seek to limit the financial damages caused by immigration. The arguments made by opponents of immigrants reveal strong economic fears, while also revealing fears
The United States of America has the largest foreign-born population in the world. With nearly thirteen percent of the total population being foreign-born, one may find it hard to imagine an immigrant-free country (U.S. Bureau of the Census). Immigration has been an integral part of the United States’ overall success and the country’s economy since it was established and without it, would have never been founded at all. Although there are some negative issues associated with immigration and many native-born Americans believe to be more of a problem than a solution, overall it actually has a positive effect. Immigrants in America, among other things, fill jobs where native-born Americans may not want to work or cannot work, they contribute to Social Services and Medicaid through taxes and they help provide the backbone of America, especially by working jobs that natives may have not even considered.
In the United States, the cliché of a nation of immigrants is often invoked. Indeed, very few Americans can trace their ancestry to what is now the United States, and the origins of its immigrants have changed many times in American history. Despite the identity of an immigrant nation, changes in the origins of immigrants have often been met with resistance. What began with white, western European settlers fleeing religious persecution morphed into a multicultural nation as immigrants from countries across the globe came to the U.S. in increasing numbers. Like the colonial immigrants before them, these new immigrants sailed to the Americas to gain freedom, flee poverty and famine, and make a better life for themselves. Forgetting their origins as persecuted and excluded people, the older and more established immigrants became possessive about their country and tried to exclude and persecute the immigrant groups from non-western European backgrounds arriving in the U.S. This hostile, defensive, and xenophobic reaction to influxes of “new” immigrants known as Nativism was not far out of the mainstream. Nativism became a part of the American cultural and political landscape and helped to shape, through exclusion, the face of the United States for years to come.
In recent discussions, the topic of immigration and the fundamental question of what is to be done with immigration? has been circulating in many american homes today, especially the closer we get to election day. As David Cole puts it in his essay Five Myths about Immigration “But just as in the 1850’s, passion, misinformation, and shortsighted fear often substitute for reason, fairness, and human dignity in today’s immigration debates”(185). Despite misconceptions of immigrants, Cole believes that immigrants positively affect society in several ways. In addition, Cole challenges and questions the beliefs of others in his essay. Whereas, Victor Davis Hanson’s essay Our Brave New World of Immigration focuses
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...
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.
The American dream, as some may call it, is a cherished idea by those who may lack opportunities. For those in Mexico, it is something that is sure to have crossed their minds sometime in their life. The United States, to foreigners, has been looked at as a sign of opportunity and freedom from oppressive governments or unfortunate living conditions. The Other Side of Immigration takes a look at the Mexican nation and provides thought-provoking interview segments about the people still living in the nation who experience and observe the effects of immigration to the United States.
The United States has often been referred to as a global “melting pot” due to its assimilation of diverse cultures, nationalities, and ethnicities. In today’s society, this metaphor may be an understatement. Between 1990 and 2010, the number of foreign born United States residents nearly doubled from 20 million to 40 million, increasing the U.S. population from almost 250 million to 350 million people. With U.S. born children and grandchildren of immigrants, immigration contributed to half of this population growth. These immigrants, consisting of mostly Asian and Hispanic backgrounds, have drastically changed the composition of the U.S. population. In 2010, Asians and Hispanics made up 20 percent of the U.S. population, in contrast to a 6 percent share of Asians and Hispanics in 1970. It is predicted that by 2050, the share of immigrants in the United States will increase to one half of the entire population. With this rapid increase in diversity, many citizens have opposing views on its impact on the United States. In my opinion, an increase in immigration does contain both positive and negatives effects, but in general it provides an overriding positive influence on America’s society (“Population”).
America is sometimes referred to as a "nation of immigrants" because of our largely open-door policy toward accepting foreigners pursuing their vision of the American Dream. Recently, there has been a clamor by some politicians and citizens toward creating a predominantly closed-door policy on immigration, arguing that immigrants "threaten" American life by creating unemployment by taking jobs from American workers, using much-needed social services, and encroaching on the "American way of life." While these arguments may seem valid to many, they are almost overwhelmingly false, and more than likely confused with the subject of illegal immigration. In fact, immigrants actually enhance American life by creating, not taking jobs, bolster social service funds through tax payments, and bring valuable technical knowledge and skills to our country. If we are to continue to excel as a nation, the traditionalists who fear an encroachment of foreign-born Americans must learn to accept that we achieved our greatness as a result of being "a nation of immigrants."
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
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...
Immigrants have always been an important part of United States’ population. Each year, there are hundreds of thousands of immigrants, from all around the world, including legal and illegal, come into the United States for job opportunities, new life, or the American Dream. “Immigrants have contributed significantly to the development of the United States. During the Lincoln administration, immigrants were actually encouraged to come to America, as they were considered valuable to the development of the country.” (Soylu & Buchanan, 2013). They believe that the US will give them more freedom, protection, and opportunities, which sometimes it becomes the major issues for immigrants. That’s why “the U.S. population is becoming more racially and
Economically, immigrants greatly boost an economy by providing new job outlets, more money to companies, and reducing the unemployment rate. A large influx of immigrants will help many companies because of supply and demand, more people equals more needs to be provided. With the average immigrant worker working at lower wages, immigrants reduce the amount of money a company loses when paying their employees. A writer at The Fiscal Times connects this idea by claiming, “Without the immigrant labor, prices consumers pay for hotels and restaurants would be substantially higher (Furchgott-Roth).” Other than keeping vacations and dinners cheaper, immigration has yielded great results in the field of education. With a majority of immigrants relocating with their family or having a family in the new country, it is highly likely for them to send their offspring to school so that they can have a good education. This bodes well for the high school and/or college they attend because the children increase the graduation rate, which is one of many factors people use to determine how good a school is. Once acquiring a higher education, many of them will decide to open up their own business or wander into the job market. The former option has yielded excellent results for the United States, with immigrants owning almost one in five of the small businesses in America (Bass). The latter keeps a
While immigration for our country is good, the ability to become a legal citizen has become insanely hard, therefore leading immigrants to illegally cross our border, which negatively impacts our country. Immigration is positive for our country’s economy, although illegal immigration is negatively impacting our country. Resolved to join the American way of life, a large number of outsiders have ventured to this extraordinary land to have an existence based upon “life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.” Determined to join the American lifestyle, thousands of immigrants have journeyed to this great land to have a life based upon “life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.” This country’s backbone is immigration and it started when this country was made.