The Negative Impact of Illegal Aliens on the American Economy

The Negative Impact of Illegal Aliens on the American Economy
Kristi Van Eaton
Kaplan University
CM107

The Negative Effects of Hiring Illegal Aliens on the American Economy

I. Introduction A. It is established that entering the United States illegally is a crime. B. Illegal aliens negatively affect the United States in many ways; one being, weakening the American economy. a. Illegal aliens steal jobs away from American citizens, receive free education for their children at the expense of taxpayers, and receive health care at the expense of American citizens. C. A common sense solution to the problem of illegal immigration is for American employers to not hire illegal aliens. II. Illegal aliens send their children to public schools which costs American taxpayers. III. Illegal aliens cost American citizens money by using hospitals and not paying their bills; this makes the cost of health care rise and therefore, the cost of health insurance increases. IV. Illegal aliens receive welfare and other government aid, including billions of dollars in tax credits each year. V. Illegal aliens find it easy to gain employ employment while the percentage of unemployment skyrockets for U.S. citizens. A. The propaganda that Americans do not want these jobs in hard laboring fields is simply a myth. B. American companies have a difficult time resisting the lure of cheap labor. C. American businesses do not realize the high cost of cheap labor. a. Most of the moneys paid to illegal workers are sent abroad to their families in other countries instead of being circulated to back into the American economy. b. Business owners and employers who are caught hiring illegal aliens are punished by having to pay high fines; repeat offenders face jail time. c. American businesses should take more precautionary steps to avoid hiring illegal aliens, such as the national database (E-Verify) and this would deter illegals from crossing our borders. VI. Conclusion
The ever growing epidemic of illegal aliens is bleeding the American economy dry. Reducing the number of illegal aliens would strengthen our economy and secure our nation.

The Negative Impact of Illegal Aliens on the American Economy

Millions of foreigners cross our borders in search of the “American Dream” but, instead of applying for citizenship, they enter illegally. They knowingly and willfully come into our country “through the back door” and this is a criminal offense. For this reason, these people will be referred as, by the proper label, illegal aliens. Referring to them as undocumented workers, or any other label, diminishes the criminality of them being in the United States and would be like calling a drug dealer an “unlicensed pharmacist” or calling a burglar an “unwanted guest”. Illegal aliens cause many problems for the United States; one of them being, the American economy. Illegal aliens are like parasites that feed off American citizens by stealing jobs, receiving free education for their children, and free health care. There is an estimated 12 million illegal aliens in the United States and while politicians and legislators spread their propaganda that our economy would suffer without illegal aliens, American employers should understand how detrimental illegals are to our nation and take every precaution to ensure that the employees they hire are, indeed, legal to work in the United States. One of the ways that our economy is negatively impacted is the burden placed on taxpayers for the cost of educating illegal aliens and their children. It has been estimated that over 65,000 illegal youth graduate American high schools each year (www.dreamact.info). Not only are free classes to learn English offered to illegal aliens across the nation, but their children are placed in America’s public schools at the expense of American taxpayers. These children come to school every week; receive a free breakfast, receive a free lunch, are provided an interpreter, and are often provided after school programs. Because 62% of all illegal aliens in the United States are paid “under the table” and do not pay taxes, American citizens are left with a tab of $52 billion every year for educating children of illegal aliens (Thorn, 2012). The cost of educating children of illegals is bankrupting our nation; yet, amnesty was granted to more than 800 thousand of these children through and executive order, July 15, 2012. President Obama has been pressuring Congress to pass a major piece of legislation known as the DREAM Act which legalizes all children of illegal aliens in this country. These children are commonly referred to as “Dreamers”. The executive order, that was just recently made granting amnesty to these children, was an effort to circumvent Congress and enact the DREAM Act. When asked if the parents of the children that were just granted amnesty would still be subject to deportation, Janet Napolitano replied: “No. We are not going to do that. We have internally set it up that parents are not referred for immigration enforcement if the young person comes in for deferred action.” (Thorn, 2012). Now, in addition to educating illegal children, Americans are expected to pay for their parents to be here as well. Illegal aliens also cost American citizens by receiving free healthcare and other government aid. America has had the best healthcare system in the world, however, the cost for health care and health insurance has dramatically risen over recent years. This is because illegal aliens can walk into any hospital and demand treatment for themselves and their families without any intention to pay, nor risk of deportation. Many illegal aliens use U.S. hospitals for most of their health care needs; a range covering the common cold, giving birth, and medical emergencies. The overcrowding of emergency rooms by illegal aliens is obviously a nuisance to legal citizens who desperately need medical attention, but is also a direct cause for the increase of health care and insurance costs. By law, hospitals can not refuse any patient seeking treatment despite their being in the United States illegally, nor their non-payment for services. Hospitals have to compensate for the massive amount of care that is given without payment; therefore, they must increase the price charged to others. Many hospitals have been forced to close their doors as a result of so many illegals and non-payment for services. Health insurance companies then need to compensate for the higher bills they receive from hospitals and must increase the cost of premiums. Once again, the average American citizen foots the bill for illegal aliens. Now, with the passing of the universal healthcare law, commonly known as Obamacare, illegal aliens will have even more access to healthcare professionals at the expense of Americans. In 2009, a provision was passed that makes “documentation requirement optional” for states. In addition to making it optional for states to require applicants to provide legal documentation, the federal government provides incentives for states to forego proper documents by offering “performance bonuses”. States that pay roughly half the cost of CHIP and Medicaid can now reduce its share to as little as 5% per new person added to the program (Streiff, 2009). In order to fund Obamacare which provides healthcare to one and all, including illegal aliens, Americans are taxed once again. The United States government also provides welfare and other government programs such as rent subsidies and food stamps to illegal aliens. Even though illegal aliens have never paid a single dime into Social Security and other government programs, 51% of illegal households from Mexico use at least one major welfare program, while 28% reported using more than one welfare program. This study was performed and confirmed by the Center of Immigration Study (Thorn, 2012). Some illegal aliens even receive tax credits and get money back from the Internal Revenue Service. Illegal aliens, of course, can not receive a Social Security Number; however, even though they are working illegally, they are still required to pay taxes. The IRS thought it would be clever to offer an Individual Taxpayer Identification Number (ITIN) for those who are illegally but still want to report their earnings and pay taxes. This idea has backfired and is now costing Americans even more billions of dollars each year. The loophole is the Additional Child Tax Credit that offers a credit of $1,000 per child and is meant to help working families with children living at home. Illegal aliens take advantage of this credit and report dozens of children (nieces, nephews, neighbors) that not only do not live with them in their house , they still live in Mexico and have never even visited the United States. On average, the IRS pays out $10,000-$12,000 per claim for illegals and sometimes up to $30,000. Illegal workers filed 3.02 million tax returns in 2010 and 72% of those returns (2.18 million) claimed the additional child tax credit (Segall, 2012). Illegal aliens cost Americans billions of dollars each year through free education, free healthcare and tax benefits; and as a nail to the coffin, they steal American jobs. Illegal aliens cross the border looking for work and are willing to work for low wages and little to no benefits. Many American businesses cannot resist this lure of cheap labor. In the agricultural industry alone, illegal aliens represent 75% of the work force (Jordan, 2011). The hiring of illegal aliens is not restricted to just agriculture; many other companies, such as Verizon, McDonald’s, Wal-Mart, and Krispy Kreme Doughnuts, have been found guilty of hiring illegal aliens. An audit of Pro’s Ranch Markets in May, 2010 resulted in the firing of over 300 illegal aliens and it was discovered that over 20% of the company’s workforce were illegals (Gibson, 2011). The construction industry is another field where you will find many illegal aliens. It has been estimated that illegal aliens comprise up to 36% of construction workers in the United States; the percentage is even higher in Texas (Coats, 2006). The percentage of illegal aliens in the construction industry has undoubtedly risen since the number of illegal aliens in the United States has now risen to almost 12 million. Businesses not only benefit from paying lesser wages, but also lesser taxes as well. The wages paid “under the table” are not reported to the government and therefore, no taxes are taken out. It seems that the benefits of hiring illegal aliens are just too good to pass up for many companies in multiple industries across the country. Businesses, politicians, and social activists try to justify their criminal activity of hiring illegal aliens by stating that Americans do not want these jobs and the American economy would suffer without them. This paints Americans as lazy and treats them as second class citizens. It is not that Americans do not want these jobs; it is that Americans want to be paid a fair wage. Most Americans are more skilled and more qualified for these jobs and want to be paid for what they are worth. Also, American citizens pay a high percentage of their earnings in taxes and in order to support their families, they cannot afford to work for lower wages that they pay illegal aliens. Another example of how Americans get beat out of gaining jobs is in the construction industry. Sub-contractors are required to carry general liability and workers comp but, a ghost policy for workers comp can be written if the sub-contractor is a one man company and avoid paying the 18-20% per $100 of insurance. Many sub-contractors purchase ghost policies and then hire dozens of illegal aliens. American citizens want these jobs, especially with the high unemployment rate, but they can’t compete with the illegals that come to the United States to work. Employers who fall for the temptation of cheap labor do not realize the high cost they will pay in the end. They do not realize that most of the money that is paid to illegal aliens is sent abroad to their home countries. Without that money being circulated back into the local economy, local businesses suffer. When local businesses suffer, the entire community is affected. The local businesses have to start laying off employees, the employees who are fired buy fewer products, and the spiral continues. Companies who try to save money by hiring illegals only hurt themselves in the end for eventually consumers will end up without jobs and be reluctant to buy these companies products. Another cost of hiring illegals is that many of them are not as skilled and it costs the companies to have to go back and fix their mistakes. In addition, companies that are caught by the authorities end up paying a high price for hiring illegal aliens. For example, Champion Windows, a Houston company, ended up paying 2 million dollars in fines after an audit found that 269 of its 451 workers (over 60 %) were illegal aliens (Carroll, 2012). Companies who are caught repeating this offense could face jail time. The risk is greater than the reward. Business owners should take more steps to ensure that their employees are legal to work in the United States. To make this process easier for employers, there is a system called E-Verify which they can run a check on a potential employee to see he/she has proper papers. The E-Verify system is easy to use and is available for any American business to use. Companies that take advantage of E-Verify can save themselves time, money, and prevent themselves from legal trouble. Illegal aliens are bleeding the American economy dry. With the unemployment rate at 15% and millions of citizens without work, the ever increasing tax burden placed on America’s shoulder, and illegal aliens rolling into the United States like an ocean tide; America is going bankrupt. Many have pondered as to how to correct this epidemic of illegal aliens, offering solutions such as stronger border control, enforcing current immigration laws, and shutting down “sanctuary cities and states”. These are excellent ideas, in addition, there is a common sense solution that American employers can perform themselves; that is to simply not hire illegal aliens. If more businesses checked for proper documentation, less illegals would be hired. The number of illegal aliens crossing the border would diminish if they found it harder to find work. Radically reducing the number of illegal aliens in the United States would both strengthen the economy and secure the nation.

References

Carroll, S. (January 24, 2012) Companies pay millions for hiring illegal immigrants. Houston Chronicle. http://www.chron.com/news/article/Companies-pay-millions-for- hiring- illegal-2684214.php
Coats, W. (December 2006). Potential effects of immigration enforcement. Law/Courtroom. http://texas.construction.com/opinions/law/archive/0612.asp
Dream Act Portal. Retrieved from July 14, 2012. www.dreamact.info.
Gibson, D. (January 2011). How many Fortune 500 companies pad their profits by hiring illegal aliens. Examiner. http://www.examiner.com/article/how-many-fortune-500-companies- pad-their-profits-by-hiring-illegal-aliens
Jordan, M. (February 2011). Feds target illegal hires. Wall Street Journal. http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703961104576148590023309196.html
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Segall, B. (April 2012). Tax loophole costs billions. Channel 13 News WTHR. http://www.wthr.com/story/17798210/tax-loophole-costs-billions
Streiff, (2009). Democrats support free healthcare for illegals. Red State. http://archive.redstate.com/stories/the_parties/democrats/democrats_support_free_health_ insurance_for_illegals/
Thorn, V. (July 2012). Cooking the immigration books. American Free Press. http://americanfreepress.net/?p=5043