The effects of illegal immigration
Illegal immigration has been a problem for the United States for a long time. This phenomenon is not new and thousands of illegal immigrants have come into the US through either the Mexico border, the Pacific Ocean, or through many other ways. Illegal immigration is not good for America in my opinion. I for one am against illegal immigration for so many reasons for one illegal immigrants work for less than most natural born citizens, illegal immigrants attract crime and corruption when they enter the U.S., illegal immigration is bad for the U.S. because it dampens our education system, illegal immigration is also a social / political issue, it causes racism and can be used to exploit feelings or use of an excuse for current woes of the local population. Many immigrants will be perceived by individuals who get more benefits than local poor people.
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English: Bangladeshi illegals in India.Many other legal immigrants may have ill feelings toward the illegal immigrants causing hostility among the population. Many may argue that there are some upsides to illegal immigration like the economy increasing, and our
agriculture jobs being filled by many illegal's who can do the job that many citizens don't want to do anymore. In nations like Mexico and Vietnam, the same thing is happening today, they "are undergoing the same convulsive demographic and economic disruptions that made migrants out of so many nineteenth century Europeans", according to David Kennedy (Kennedy p 64). Those who are against the immigration of the 1990's also say that the European immigrants of the past were culturally similar to Americans, and that they were more willing to assimilate and become "American."
"Every day thousands of illegals stream across the 2,500 miles of the Mexico border. According to the U.S. Immigration and Naturalization Service, or INS, the total number of illegals in America from this source increases by 275,000 annually. Already the United States is host to an illegal population of 7 to 12 million, of whom the vast majority are Mexican or Hispanic in origin. These illegal and uninvited guests help themselves to jobs, education, welfare and unemployment compensation. Some people have entered the country legally through a visit visa, but then have stayed illegally and are working in various places.
The many whose wages are paid under the table pay little or no taxes. And they are easy prey for unscrupulous employers and politicians". (Hayes 2000). The U.S. population primarily is growing as a result of births in the minority and immigrant communities. We do not like to think about it as it is a political correctness problem but there is stratification of labor, mostly along education lines, where the tough jobs in agriculture, manufacturing, and
Services are taken by those without recourse into the white-collar world of employment. Especially when these low paying jobs do not require language ability, immigrants historically have jumped at these opportunities as a way to get their foot in the door. If you are here illegally, you clearly have a competitive advantage (Howell 2006). There are more than 10 million undocumented workers excluding their families in the United States. Most of these illegal workers are concentrated in California and Texas, although their presence can be felt all over the country.
About three quarters of these illegal immigrants come to the United States after crossing the US/Mexico border. Many of these illegal immigrants are hired by US employers as undocumented workers and this is done because they can be hired at a pay less than minimum wage. Many jobs are mostly opened illegally by US employers in order to save up on taxes and also save up on their costs by paying the workers less than minimum wage. There are many pros and cons to many illegal immigrants filling low paying jobs. Many native born citizens don't want to work for lower wages, and many citizens don't do agriculture work anymore. Many illegal immigrants do it and this would allow many of them to contribute to the overall economy if they are allowed to continue to stay and work. The Con to the illegal immigrants filling the agriculture sector is that many believe that illegals aren't citizens and they break the law when they enter the country illegally. Many other people who enter the country legally through proper channels are penalized.
The unemployment rate has been on a steady decline, which has started to level off in the past few years. With the addition of all these immigrants, the amount of people unemployed and on welfare is sure to increase geometrically, as the number of open work positions increases merely arithmetically; therefore contributing to our nation's national debt, tax, and unemployment rates crime is sure to exist. The rates at which immigrants are willing to work at further burden the citizen's hope of finding a "good paying job". Business and industry owners do not care who they have working for them, as long as they hustle. So why, one may wonder would anyone hire an American worker at a higher rate, when an immigrant will do the same work for less pay? This increased competition for jobs is certainly related to the saturation of unemployed immigrants in the U.S. Another problem that arises from immigration is racism. "The melting pot is melting down. The ethnic strife is tearing the country apart....This is destroying the social fabric of America. It's causing ethnic warfare."(Connif, 24) Along with the economic and social quandaries of immigration, political obstacles must also be conquered. The amount of money spent on keeping just Mexicans out of the United States are astronomical, about three hundred and sixty eight million dollars, on the border patrol alone. The government spending on just the illegal alien problem is about two billion dollars, in just California alone, not to mention the rest of the country. At this time, the United States has allowed more immigrants to enter the country than at any time in its history.
There are pros and cons to illegal immigrants and crimes. Many citizens believe that illegal immigrants flee over to the United States to bring drugs and murder. Many immigrants are hard working individuals and come to the U.S. to start a better life, a life without worry or corruption from their homeland. Many illegal immigrants bring massive drugs into the U.S. to make money causing high crime in some areas and endangering many families in the process. Many immigrants are criminals. Almost eighty percent of all aliens in prison were incarcerated for drug charges. Over 25 % of today's federal prison population are illegal aliens. In some areas of the country, 12% of felonies, 25% of burglaries and 34% of thefts are committed by illegal aliens. In Los Angeles, 95% of some 1,500 outstanding warrants from homicides are for illegal aliens. About 67% of the 17,000 outstanding fugitive felony warrants are for illegal aliens. The overall financial impact of illegal alien crimes is estimated at between $14.4 and 81 billion or more per year. Factor in the crime as a result of the cocaine and other drugs being smuggled in and the number may reach 150 billion per year.
In addition to the economic problems that arise with immigration, there are also many social issues as well. Some of these issues include education, communication, and assimilation. There are different pros and cons towards social/ political avenues for illegal immigrants and citizens. Over a million legal and illegal immigrants take up residence in the United States each year fulfilling the demands of this country by keeping apartments rented and many landlords in business. Many citizens believe that illegal immigrants live differently than American low income families. They house four or five adults in a small apartment and share the rent without concern to cramped living quarters and bleak conditions. Immigrants pool their
resources so that they can easily manage the high cost of living in America. As a result, landlords increase the rent because the supply is being filled by immigrants. Low income families who have one or two wage earners with wages of eight, nine or ten dollars find it increasingly difficult to compete with immigrants who have four or five adult incomes contributing."
There are many political, social, and economic reasons why restrictions should be put on immigration. The United States Government and the welfare of its citizens are chaotic enough, without having to deal with the influx of thousands of new immigrants each year. Along with the myriad immigrants to the U.S., come just as many economic problems. Some of these problems include unemployment, crime, and education. There are numerous amounts of U.S. citizens who are currently receiving welfare benefits from the government, many of whom are immigrants. Over a million legal and illegal immigrants take up residence in the United States each year. Immigration at its current magnitude is not fulfilling the interests or demands of this country. A research organization called Urban Institute revealed that immigrants use more welfare and earn lower incomes than natives, which results in immigrants paying fewer taxes. The Urban Institute is a non-profit organization that investigates the social and economic problems of this country. Statistics from a Federation of American Immigration Reform (FAIR) newsletter shows, ". . . the share of immigrant households below the poverty line (29 percent) is much higher than the share of native households that are poor (14 percent)--more than twice as high." Due to the large numbers of poverty stricken immigrants, they are more likely to take part in means-tested programs such as AFDC.
Another problem with illegal immigration is education. Nationally, there are an estimated 5.1 million ESL students speaking 145 languages. 80% of ESL students speak Spanish. If 90% of the ESL students are children of illegal aliens then the education costs for children of illegal aliens is about $34.5 billion per year. The public school systems of the U.S. today are inadequate enough, without the hassle of trying to cope with immigrants. Assuming that the immigrant children are bilingual(most of which are not), they will still have much trouble adjusting to the curriculum, and most likely will need to be taught in separate classes; this requires more teachers, space, and desperately needed money. It cannot be expected of teachers, the backbone of society today, to coach all immigrants through their troubles, and set aside extra class time to the sole purpose of further explaining matters to the ignorant immigrants. A large percentage of these immigrants will drop out of high school, about 33.1% of recent immigrants.
The direct cost of educating the children of illegal aliens is somewhere between $29 and 35 billion dollars a year. Many legal immigrants to the U.S. are highly educated something that is highly desired in an immigrant, which most illegal immigrants aren't in most cases causing a burden on our education system. In the Elements of Argument the article entitled 'The Invasion' by Patrick J. Buchanan, talks about how the illegal immigrant numbers have constantly skyrocketed causing a strain on Americas criminal, education and workforce.
Immigration should be restricted in the United States people migrate to the United States with pipe dreams of financial securities not crime, disease, low wages and a ruined educational system. When the illegal immigrants enter America, they do so without any papers or any
authorization. This means that there is no record of where they come from or what sort of a background they have. They might be infected with a hundred diseases, such as polio, tuberculosis, etc. These diseases can spread and cause a lot of problems for the American citizens. There are more costs that are added for a state because it has to pay for education etc. for illegal immigrants. In already under funded programs illegal immigrants give services a heavier burden to deal with. With the country struggling to support the huge intake of new comers, life in America has been suffering tremendously. The excessive stress put upon the welfare system, overuse of the family reunification laws, and the exploitation of employment based immigration in the computer industry are reasons for immigration reform. The United States welfare system has difficulties supporting the huge numbers of immigrants coming into the country each year. A majority of the immigrants are from poor countries and come to the U.S. looking for work. .
It can be concluded that the immigration reforms are a good practice for both the immigrants, and more importantly, for the US. The illegal immigrants pose many problems for our country and they should not be allowed to enter in the first place. But since it is very hard to implement total security, steps should be taken to reduce the illegal immigrant inflow into our country and the first step is to implement immigration reform. Much of what these people earn in the US is sent to their homes in their own countries and the US economy is deprived of their taxes. By staying in the US, they are spending each second doing an illegal act as just their
presence inside the US borders is an illegal act. Interdiction can be effective because of the nature of the flow of illegal migration. Over 95 per cent of illegal border crossers come through Mexico, where the terrain funnels traffic into several crossing points. By far the busiest crossing point in the nearly 6,000 miles of land border is the 13 miles near San Diego. Over 40 per cent of the Border Patrol's total interdictions occur in that 13-mile strip of land. Moreover, the Border Patrol estimates that over 90 per cent of its total apprehensions occur in just 100 miles of border segments. The concentration of illegal traffic means that interdiction efforts can be focused for greater effectiveness. Physical structures such as lights, fences, and anti-automobile barriers can be placed along the high-traffic crossing points. Without new legislation, the Administration can build these structures and add Border Patrol officers at the hot spots (Lempres 1994).
Works Cited
Daniels, Roger. Coming to America a History of Immigration and Ethnicity in American Life. New York, NY: Perennial, 2009. Print.
Howell. Gardners, 2007. Print.
"Michael Lempres | LinkedIn." LinkedIn - World's Largest Professional Network. Web. 26 May 2011. <http://www.linkedin.com/pub/michael-lempres/14/472/b84>.
Miller, Debra A. Illegal Immigration. Detroit: Greenhaven, 2007. Print.
"USA Today (Society for the Advancement of Education) Articles | Find Articles at BNET." Find Articles at BNET | News Articles, Magazine Back Issues & Reference Articles on All Topics. Web. 26 May 2011. <http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m1272/>.
Zehmer, John G. Hayes: the Plantation, Its People, and Their Papers. Raleigh, NC: Office of Archives and History, NC Dept. of Cultural Resources, 2007. Print.
Lempres, Michael T. (1994). "Getting Serious about Illegal Immigration," National Review, 46, (3): 52+
Howell, Llewellyn d. (July 2006). "Ironies of Illegal Immigration," USA Today, 135, (2734): 19
Hayes, Ted, (September 25, 2000). "Illegal Immigration Threatens U.S. Sovereignty, Economy and Culture," Insight on the News, 16, (36): 46
Buchanan, Patrick J. "Elements of Argument." The Invasion (2006): 715-18. Print.