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. 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. Illegal immigrants do not dr... ... middle of paper ... ...unity College. find.galegroup.com.librus.hccs.edu/ovrc/infomark.do?&contentSet=GSRC&type=ret rieve&tabID=T010&prodId=OVRC&docId=EJ3010173279&source=gale&srcprod= OVRC&userGroupName=txshracd2512&version=1.0>.21 Sep. 2011 O'Brien, Matt. "Illegal Immigration Population Has Plunged Since 2007, Federal..." Contra Costa Times (Walnut Creek, CA). 02 Feb 2010: n.p. SIRS Researcher. Web. 28 Sep 2011. Madeline Pelner Cosman. "Illegal Immigrants Threaten U.S. Health Care." At Issue: What Rights Should Illegal Immigrants Have?. Ed. Lori Newman. Detroit: Greenhaven Press, 2006. Opposing Viewpoints Resource Center. Gale. Houston Community College. .28 Sep. 2011
In the article “Illegal Immigrants Do Not Harm America's Economy” the authors, Brian, Grow, et al used issues to portray current illegal circumstances in American, the situations which demonstrated the necessity of undocumented aliens. Although, the articles lacks of evidence from the other side, but it had a well organized structure and logical supporting evidence; however, the writers did create a remarkable view at the illegal refugees’ benefits on the economy for the others.
There are over twelve million undocumented immigrants living in the United States. Many came to America to work, go to school, or be reunited with family members who are already residing here. Most migrants want to work and pursue the “American dream”. There are many barriers for residents to achieving success at the work and life balance. The immigrants fall back on public assistance to support them.
The United States is admitting more than 800,000 legal immigrants a year, with at least 200,000 more illegal immigrants settling permanently as well (National Review 12.13.93). This figure can also be bolstered by the "commuter" immigrants, illegal immigrants which cross the border for a period of time to work in low-paying, labor intensive jobs. These immigrants are creating one of the biggest burdens facing the government of the United States today, unemployment.
Preston, Julia. "Number of Illegal Immigrants in U.S. May Be on Rise Again, Estimates Say." The New York Times 24 September 2013: A16.
The other aspect is that illegal immigrants have positive effects in the U.S economy by decreasing consumer cost. Most of the illegal immigrants came to the U.S to fill the secondary labor market; therefore products and services become cheaper because illegal immigrants work for lower wages, thus providing a kind of subsidy to American consumers. Nadadur Ramanujan in his article “Illegal Immigrants” states that, “Because illegal immigrants serves to allow businesses to minimize their cost of production in the secondary sector, it positively impacts income of all native workers by decreasing
There are an estimated 11.1 million undocumented immigrants currently residing in the United States. The current healthcare model pertains to all U.S citizens, but what are the parameters and regulations regarding those who live here illegally? The purpose of this paper is to not only answer this question, but also to address concerns regarding the provision of health care benefits, rights, and our ethical responsibilities to this population.
Alexiev, Alex. “Catching up to Mexico: illegal immigration is depleting California’s human capital and ravaging it’s economy.” National Review 24 Aug. 2009: 22.
U.S. Census Bureau, (2010). Cumulative Estimates of the Components of Resident Population Change by Race and Hispanic Origin for the United States. Retrieved from http://www.prb.org/Publications/PopulationBulletins/2010/latinosupdate1.aspx
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...
Nalle, Dave. "Basic Facts on Illegal Immigration." Web log post. BC Blog Critics. 7 July
Gomez, Alan. “Illegal immigration levels off in ’10.” USA Today n.d. (02 February 2011): 02a. Academic Research Complete. Web. 25 March 2011.
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...
is not a right answer to the illegal immigration issue because it is not a long-lasting solution. The United States could legalize all of the current workers here now, but then who would be a demand from employers looking for illegal workers. Illegal immigrants generate revenues as well as costs; these revenues offset some of the expenses that our government incurs. Research studies indicate that many illegal immigrants pay taxes, including federal and state income taxes; Social Security tax; and sales tax.(1) However, researchers disagree on some revenues illegal immigrants "generate and the extent to which these revenues offset government costs for benefits and services."(1) The Center for Immigration Studies attests that illegal immigrants, who make up less than five percent of the American population, are found to perpetrate almost 25 percent of all of the
"As Growth Stalls, Unauthorized Immigrant Population Becomes More Settled." Pew Research Centers Hispanic Trends Project RSS. N.p., n.d. Web. 05 Oct. 2014.
Haines, David W and Rosenblum, Karen E.: Illegal Immigration in America: A Reference Handbook. Westport, Conn: Greenwood Press. 1999. EBook. , Database: eBook Collection (EBSCOhost).