Immigrants Essays (1654 words) - Demography, Population, Free Essays

Immigrants Essays (1654 words) - Demography, Population, Free Essays Immigrants Should the United States take on more immigrants? Is the United States hurting from immigration problems? These issues have been debated on for generation. "According to the Immigration and Naturalization Service, approximately 300,000 illegal immigrants enter the United States annually" (Cozic 12). This large number of immigrants causes many different emotions. For some Americans, immigration is an adversity. Many Americans past and present have reacted to immigrants with fear: fear of unemployment and lower standards of living, fear of different religions and races, fear that immigration is spoiling the U.S. for those already here. The issues of immigration has three important topics: first, the understanding of the history behind immigration. Second, the effect immigration has on the United States. Third and finally, the economic issues associated with immigration today. The history of immigration in the United States is quite interesting. Between 1820, when the U.S. begin keeping count, and 1987, over fifty-four million people left their former homes and migrated to the U.S. (McClellan 12). With the exception of native Americans and African-American descendants of slaves, everyone in the U.S. today is an immigrant or is descended from immigrates. It is really quite interesting that Americans today feel so strongly against immigration when if fact they themselves are immigrants. "Today the United States takes in more immigrants than all of the other world's nations combined" (Dudley 13). However, even though these facts are true, Americans seem to continue to fear immigration. During the late 1980 the government passed a immigration act called the Simpson-Rodio Act. This allowed all illegal immigrates living in the country since 1982, legalization. "This allowed more than 3 million aliens to live here" (Griffin, 363). It also gave employers strict fines for hiring illegal immigrants without documentation. "The idea behind the employer sanctions was to diminish or eliminate the demand for undocumented workers, there by reducing their incentives to enter the country" (McConnell 731). This did in fact slow down the number of illegal aliens simple because their was no jobs that existed for them. However, some illegal immigrates were once legal, with a visa. This gave them the right to work in the United States; however, the visa expired making them illegal. "Experts say roughly 40 percent of the 200,000 to 300,000 people who become permanent illegal residents each year are actually people who overstay visas" (Griffin 372). Therefore, by legalizing ! a large number of illegal immigrates didn't help the situation nor did the strict laws on business. In fact it only caused people to come up with better way to get around the system. The problem with immigration isn't that the United States doesn't allow it. Right now the United States accepts about 700,000 immigrants legally each year, more than the rest of the world put together (McConner 733).However, what possibly could happen if the United States closed all of its boarders. Ruben Bonilla, president of the 100,000-member League of United Latin-Americans Citizens, argues that "undocumented workers, in addition to playing a positive role in the economy, actually increase tax revenue by paying for Social Security service they seldom use" (McClellan 42). The problem with just outlawing immigration is that, Mexico especially would self destroy. The economy of Mexico would fall and the United States could run the risk of a Socialistic society coming in. So to just outlaw of immigration would not benefit the United States in the long run. Therefore, in what ways are immigration benefiting the United States. Obviously, legal immigration has profoundly influences U.S. society. According to Rodman Griffin "Numerous studies conclude that migrants enhance productivity in a number of ways" (364). Legal immigrants take on seasonal jobs that most Americans won't do, immigrants work hard, and they pay taxes. All of these things are beneficial to the U.S. According to Dudley, author of Immigration; Opposing Viewpoints, Compared to natives, immigrants save more, apply more effort during working hours, have twice as great a propensity to be self-employed, have higher rates of participation in the labor force and are unusually self-reliant and innovation(81). However, their are the illegal immigrates that live a life of mystery. Meaning, that they don't benefit the economy in anyway. They usually get paid under the table and