Philippe Legrain Immigration

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In recent times, immigration in the United States has become a topic of debate. Opposing sides can agree immigration as having a dynamic impact on society and economics. The disagreement comes in when analyzing whether the impacts are positive or negative. Philippe Legrain argues that immigration is the cause of emergence of global markets in the United States. He also dismantles the fallacy that immigrants are both stealing jobs and dependent on welfare. Lastly, he credits immigrants as vibrant thinkers who offer a unique perspective on ideas. This paper will expand on and discuss points Legrain mentions in his paper. To begin his paper, Legrain likens banning movement of people to banning the free trade of goods. He uses this hypothetical …show more content…

However, there are no statistics to back up this claim. Studies on immigrants’ welfare participation showed immigrants who work illegally are not eligible for certain programs, and it is a more difficult process for an immigrant to receive various benefits (Hao & Kawano, 2001). Furthermore, it does not make sense for a person to both be stealing working opportunities, and thus making money, while also receiving large sums of government aid. Moreover, analysis has shown in some cases, such as in single-mother households or the elderly population, immigrants receive more welfare than their native counterparts. However, it should be noted the immigrant counterparts are poorer or participate more, respectively, therefore their right to receive more government aid is reasonable (Hao & Kawano, 2001). Additionally, immigrants are not stealing jobs. This belief stems from the idea that there is a fixed number of jobs available. Legrain likens this idea to women joining the workforce and creating jobs, not replacing their male counterparts (2007). Also, the notion that immigrants are stealing jobs is unfair due to the fact that many immigrants are actually working jobs that Americans would consider undesirable. This is because many immigration policies and polarizing political debates have left immigrants as undesirable unless they are “hard workers,” and many immigrants have begun to fulfill this stereotype by being willing to do any type of work (Gomberg-Muñoz,

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