Arguments Against Illegal Immigration

| Illegal ImmigrationAlbert Leos ENG/102June 23, 2013Susan Stewart | | | |

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Illegal Immigration The general public must understand the importance of illegal immigration and how it affects our country. To have an affirmative path to citizenship is in the best interest of not only the American people but also our economy and our government. Once the Democratic and Republican parties agree on a more suitable solution for legal immigration status, the outcome will draw down the U.S. debt by more taxes paid to the government. There are 11.1 million and counting of foreign born who are not U.S. citizens. (Pew Research, 2011) Their immediate citizenship would add 1.4 trillion to the country economic growth.
Nearly two-thirds of Americans favor giving illegal immigrants in the country in this country an opportunity for legal status. 71 percent of Democrats are in support of an earned path to citizenship where only 53 percent of Republicans are. One of the options that drew the least support was the option with no path to citizenship, but a larger minority was 21 percent said that illegal immigrants should be identified and deported. (New York Times 2013: A: 17) Most Americans said the Republicans party had been hurt in recent elections by its position on illegal immigration. In the 2012 Presidential election the Republican candidate Mitt Romney supported self deportation which would have made it very difficult for illegal immigrants who would have thought they would be forced to leave the United States on their own. According to this poll most Americans disagree with this strategy. (Pew Research, 2011) During the election of 2012 it seemed as though the Republican stance on immigration hurt the party as badly among Hispanics as voting results suggested. After, President Obama won the Hispanic vote by 71 percent. According to the poll, 39 percent of Hispanic Americans believe that the Republican Party’s stance of immigration hurt them in the elections, 41 percent said it would not make a difference. However, polls showed that Republicans will run big risk among the Hispanic voters. Only 19 percent of Hispanic Americans said that they trusted Republicans over Democrats to handle issues on immigrations.(New York Times, Mar 2013:A.17) However the President has outlined a proposal that would require immigrants who had been in the country to wait at least 13 years before they could apply to become full citizens. A bipartisan group in the Senate is working on a legislation that also includes a path to earned citizenship. Majorities of all religious groups in the poll supported giving earned citizenship to immigrants in the country illegally, but support was especially strong among Hispanics, with 74 percent of Hispanic Catholics and 71 percent of Hispanic Protestants Favoring that proposal.
“Support for the citizenship options was also strong among black Protestants, 71 percent, and Jewish Americans, with 67percent. A majority, 56 percent, of white evangelical Protestants, the most conservative group in the poll, also favored offering citizenship to illegal immigrants after they met certain requirements.” The New York Times, Late Edition 22 Mar 2013:A.17 Americans now want immigration legislation to become a top priority for Congress and the President to find a reasonable answer. A National survey by the Pew research center for the people and the press finds continuing partisan differences over immigration policy. Twice as many Republicans as Democrats say priority for dealing with illegal immigration should only be border security and harsher law enforcement, 42% versus 22%. There are also differences among Democrats and independents that lean democratic. Fifty-two percent of Democrat and Democratic leaner say we should find a way for illegal immigrates who are already here to become citizen if they meet certain criteria. Only about ¼ of non Hispanic white and African Americans agree. The American people need to understand that the current administration has no intention of honoring any enforcement commitments that might be included in an amnesty bill. Both the administration and leading lawmakers are making it clear that enforcement will either be delayed endlessly or ignored altogether. Undocumented immigrants contribute to the U.S.
economy as workers and tax payers. They account for 5 % of the total U.S. workforce in industries like construction, agriculture, ground keeping meat processing, and textile production. A study done in 2006 by the Texas State Comptroller estimated that the 1.4 million undocumented immigrants in Texas also added almost $18 billion to the state’s economic output and more than paid for the 1.2 billion in state services they used by generating $1.8 million in the new state revenues. Contrary to popular belief most undocumented immigrants pay sales and property as well as state and federal taxes. Undocumented immigrants also spend billions of dollars that supports the US economy each year. The contribution could be much higher if undocumented immigrants were able to earn legal status. That translates in to higher wages, more taxes and more money to spend. This would be all the Yes part of illegal immigration. Immigration is increasingly shaping the experience of many Americans. “Of those polled, 50 percent said they often come in contact with immigrants who spoke little or no English, while 60 percent said they had close friends who were born outside the United States.” (New York Times, Late Edition 22 Mar
2013:A17) Younger generations of Americans are significantly more ethnically mixed that older ones, the poll found, in ways that the political parties will have to take in account. In the poll, nearly one quarter of Americans age 18 to 29 identified as Hispanic, while only a slim majority of 52 percent identified as white. The New York Times, Late Edition (East Coast) 22 Mar 2013:A.17 In the No part, in purely economic terms illegal immigration is harmful because it floods our economy with low skilled workers. Almost 60% of illegal of illegal’s lack a high school education that is more than 9 times the rate of native born Americans. Workers with little education do not earn much money. They pay little in taxes and use many government services. For example: at least half Mexican immigrant’s family uses some type of welfare program. New York Times, Late Edition (East Coast) 22 Mar 2013:A17). It is not a question of not wanting to work. It is that they drop out of high school and cannot support a family in a modern society without some type of assistance. Another problem is it reduces the wages of low skilled Americans. When they flood the market with entry level job seekers will lose the demand for higher salaries. Research shows that illegal immigrants have cut Americans earning by 7%. According to the annual budget reports from the US border patrol their budget has increased by 714% since 1992 from $366.2 million to $2.7 billion in 2009. The border patrol has grown by 390% from 355 in 1992 to 17,415 in 2009. Immigration population roughly has tripled in size from 2 decades ago to 3.5 million in 1992 to 11.9 million in 2009. Tightened border has created new opportunities for people who smuggle illegal aliens. The cost has gone up from $2000 to $3000 per person. An overhaul of our immigration policies must be accomplished with measurable steps to secure our borders but also ensure effective workplace enforcement. Every employer is required to use the E-verify system designed to ensure that workers are not using fake or forged identity documents.
Employees could face steep fines or jail terms for not hiring legal citizens. In the year of the bubble economy it can be argued that illegal’s were doing the jobs that no Americans wanted. A case can be made that allowing a path for citizenship for most illegal immigrants in the United States would be preferable. With a mass unemployment rate for years even with the economy slowly recovering makes not sense to pay to unemployed Americans while employers hire illegal immigrants who have sneaked into the United States and are taking the unemployed jobs. The United States has not only a undocumented Illegal immigration problem it has an illegal employer problem. Any type of action not based on strong legal action is nothing but a political
ploy. Once the general public understands the importance of legal immigrations and how it affects our country and its economy they will obviously be one board. We have to focus on the lawmakers as the general public to push them to make a path to citizenship achievable with not many time constraints so it will pull the U.S. economy out of the red. If the Democrats and Republicans cannot come to a common agreement on path to legal immigration they will hold back an entire generation that are willing and able to pay into the U.S. economy.

References
CNN.com. To stem illegal immigration, cut labor demand in U.S.
The New York Times: Path to Citizenship for Immigrants draws support across party lines.
Late Edition (East Coast) [New York, N.Y.] 22 March: A.17.
U.S. Newswire [Washington] 22 Mar 2013. Obama Administration affirms “Border Security” is not a condition for illegal alien amnesty.
Pew Research December 6, 2011.