Immigration-Amnesty For Illegal Immigrants

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Amnesty for Illegal Immigrants The problem of illegal immigration is one of the most discussed and argued about. The reasons behind it are different, but the main question stays the same: should illegal immigrants receive amnesty or not? The arguments against it mention increased levels of income for citizens, shadow economy and cultural barriers. Nevertheless, the research made for this paper aims to demonstrate that an amnesty brings more benefits than losses, such as high payroll tax revenues, educated and aware citizens (children of legal immigrants), and immigrant incorporation into American society.
First, one should consider economic advantages of an amnesty. If immigrants legalize their status, they are able to move to better jobs, …show more content…

Undocumented immigrants do not have the access to English schools, they prefer to stay in the enclaves created by other illegal immigrants. This isolation leads both to their own loneliness and to conflicts with the natives, as pointed out by Chavez: "the police officer asked Hector for his driver's license, which he kept, and then called the immigration authorities " (184). In this story, Hector believes that the police office did it just to be cruel (Chavez 284). If Hector was a citizen of the USA, would this story even happen? The illegal status allows the natives to perceive those immigrants almost as criminals, and this perceiving leads to constant conflicts and immigrants' isolation. At the same time, when the natives demand the immigrants to become part of the American society, many of them cannot do this, and therefore prefer to communicate only with other illegal immigrants, creating enclaves, where poverty, gang activity and economical hardship can easily flourish (Chavez 140). An amnesty could resolve those problems, and improve the immigrants' life and the image of …show more content…

This observation has its point, but overlooks the fact, that there will not be fewer immigrants when an amnesty is prohibited; they will still escape their country and try to look for other ways (e.g. illegal) to get the money (Chavez 150). Language and cultural barriers are another issue that concerns the natives, and the xenophobia risen because of it lead some citizens "to view illegal immigrants as potential terrorists" (Laque 10). The problem of the language barrier resides on the impossibility for immigrants to attend English courses or schools, which is also the consequence of their unauthorized status (Orrenius and Zavodny 100). Shadow economy is a common problem that appears with illegal immigrants; it creates a labor market that relies on illegal workers (Laque 8). It could be prevented though, if most immigrants were legal citizens of the USA and had the permission to stay there. The problems named are consequences of the illegal status, and an amnesty could help to solve

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