Arugment Essay: Immigration

Argument Essay: Immigration

Even a brief glance at our nation's history shows that the United States, as we know it, was founded by immigrants. Since then our culture has grown through a succession of immigration waves. Immigration is cornerstone to the cultural identity of our country. However, immigration, as a political and social issue has been continually distorted through uninformed debate and media attention. Some look at immigrants as the personification and cause of many, if not all, contemporary social problems. Over time immigrants themselves have become a targets of blame for complex and challenging social and economic questions that they could not possibly to responsible for creating..

Many of these concerns relate to the economy. Some answers emerge from research by William Foster. He concludes that "No significant evidence can be found on any of the traditional indicators that immigration has done harm to the modern economy. There are indications, moreover, that it has done some good, in terms of its evidently favorable, albeit small, effects on the unemployment rate and average income."

Foster goes on to say "The effect of immigration on unemployment is negligible and that immigrants create at least as many jobs as they fill. Immigrants may increase unemployment in certain regions or among certain occupations during a recession, but this is offset by their raising the overall level of demand, particularly for housing and household-related goods and services. This promotes both a higher level and a wider range of goods and services produced, stimulating both the economy and job growth."

The article written Varno et. al concludes that "Immigrants bring new skills and experience to our workforce. They help to reduce labor shortages for skilled personnel (which keep labor costs lower); promote exports through language skills, knowledge of and contacts in foreign markets. Most skilled...