Illegal immigrants in the United States (US) have long been a topic of debate for policymakers and the public. The rationale about them is that they do not pay taxes; they add to the costs of taxpayers and use up funds in resources meant for assisting citizens and legal immigrants (the legal citizens). Therefore, they are perceived as a threat to the US economy. The true impacts of illegal immigrants on the US economy are discussed by debating over the economic benefits as well as economic costs of these immigrants. The negative impacts, discussed first, presented the decreases in low skilled jobs’ wage rates for legal immigrants and citizens instigated by illegal immigrants, the social services such as educations and healthcare that they utilize and add to taxpayers. Then contrary to the negative impacts, the positive impacts reveal benefits of low production costs, increases in the local market sales, undocumented tax generation, impact on growth and employment brought forth by illegal immigrants. These impacts, both negative and positive, are independently analyzed and weighed against each other. The discussion does show a slight net positive impact on the US economy in contrast to the normal belief about illegal immigrants.
Illegal Immigrants and the United States Economy: Is It that Big of an Issue?
The journey from a few cave people to seven billion humans on this planet has been characterized by the physical movement of Homo sapiens from one place to another, sometimes over thousands of miles, either individually, or in the form of flocks, both voluntarily as well as involuntarily. This act of leaving ones’ ground and moving to another land with a motive is known as migration. The motive can be anything such as better living conditions, educations, jobs, and religious reasons. People who migrate are called immigrants.
There was a time when people came freely and settled within the land, but as societies became more civilized