15th October 2012
Can Immigrants Come to America Temporarily?
Illegal immigrants working in America has its pros and cons. Jay Bookman and Robert J. Samuelson both wrote essays on this topic but both have different views. In Jay Bookman’s essay “Guest Workers and the U.S. Heritage” he believes that illegal immigrants are needed in America to help this country thrive and he wonders how Americans can have immigrants work for them but doesn’t want them to start a life here. Robert J. Samuelson’s essay “We Don’t Need ‘Guest Workers’”, states that America should help build jobs for the Americans already here and find ways to lower costs rather than getting immigrants through guest service programs. Both of these men have great points about the guest service program having immigrants work in America temporarily and both authors can have an effective impact on immigration whether bad or good.
In Jay Bookman’s essay he explains that when immigrants come to America to work they are not expected to dream of raising their family here or establishing a life but just to get their paycheck and return to their home country. Bookman writes, “ But we will not allow them to dream-for themselves or their children-of sharing in the future they help to build here” (Bookman, 219)
Bookman also tells how if we adopted the guest service program we would be stripping these individuals of the ability to become permanent citizens and how they would be moving their families here get settled and would have to up and leave. Robert J. Samuelson says that America should hire American skilled workers rather than hiring illegal immigrants that are not skilled just because they are willing to accept a cheaper wage. Samuelson writes “It’s a story worth remembering, because we’re being warned again that we need huge numbers of “guest workers”-meaning unskilled laborers from Mexico and Central America- to relieve U.S. “labor shortages”.” (Samuelson, 223) Samuelson states that American owned companies should be willing to pay Americans the higher wage desired based on their
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Works Cited
Bookman, Jay. “Guest Workers and the U.S. Heritage.” Short Takes: Model Essays for Composition. Ed. Elizabeth Penfield. 11th ed. Boston: Pearson, 2013. 217-223.
Samuelson, Robert. “We Don’t Need ‘Guest Workers.” Short Takes: Model Essays for Composition. Ed. Elizabeth Penfield. 11th ed. Boston Pearson, 2013. 221-225.
skills rather than hire illegal immigrants willing to work for less but the company has to put more time into getting them skilled.
Cited: Bookman, Jay. “Guest Workers and the U.S. Heritage.” Short Takes: Model Essays for Composition. Ed. Elizabeth Penfield. 11th ed. Boston: Pearson, 2013. 217-223. Samuelson, Robert. “We Don’t Need ‘Guest Workers.” Short Takes: Model Essays for Composition. Ed. Elizabeth Penfield. 11th ed. Boston Pearson, 2013. 221-225. skills rather than hire illegal immigrants willing to work for less but the company has to put more time into getting them skilled.
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