Thousands of illegal immigrants smuggle themselves across the United States border each day. The Immigration and Naturalization Service, or the INS, concluded that the United States is currently a place to call home for a population of approximately twelve million illegal immigrants (Hayes 16). An American who has never been to Mexico, for example, may wonder why these people risk their lives to live in the United States. With the jobs, education, welfare, and unemployment compensation the American government has to offer, the United States appears as a lifeboat for these poor and uneducated immigrants (Hayes 16). The American dream is what all citizens of the United States strive to achieve. Everyone wants to get an education, a …show more content…
Employers are able to make money because production is fast and cheap for them. The Pew Hispanic Center concluded in 2001 classified an estimated 5.3 million workers in the U.S. as unauthorized workers in the labor force. These jobs include 700,000 restaurant workers, 250,000 household workers, and 620,000 construction workers (Murphy). This is a whole lot of cheap labor, and without it the U.S. would suffer. If 620,000 construction workers were gone, home improvement projects across the nation would quickly be hard to find. With a large number of these immigrants also earning wages working on farms, Americans would find much of their produce rotting in fields due to the lack of workers (Murphy 2). The positive effect of these immigrants on the nation’s labor force is well supported by Americans; however, the opinion of those rejecting these workers is accepted and taken into account as well. The main argument of Americans rejecting the idea of immigration is supported by the rising unemployment rate in America. There are hundreds of American natives who are unemployed. Harvard sociologist, Christopher Jencks, states, “ The reason that Americans will not take jobs washing dishes, cleaning hotel rooms, mowing lawns, and picking fruit is because immigrant labor has driven the wages down” (Taylor). Not only are the wages being driven down, but the working conditions as well. Without immigrants working it will open opportunities for low skilled
A common biased opinion on immigration is that immigrants coming to the United States are taking American jobs. According to the Immigration Policy Center, “research indicates there is little connection between immigrant labor and unemployment rates of native-born workers.” The jobs that immigrants are taking are the low-budget jobs that Americans do not want. They not only get less pay, but also less benefits in comparison to American workers. In fact, according to Forbes, “illegal immigrants actually raise wages for documented/native workers.” America is considered to be more productive when we have more trading partners, Undocumented workers with limited English skills allows more American workers
Joe Messerli published an article that addressed the positive and negative effects immigrants have on the U.S. Obviously, having a larger population causes there to be greater competition to obtain work, however, the majority of the positions obtained by illegal immigrants are those that are undesired by Americans; low-skilled, low-paying, labor-intensive jobs (Messerli 2). Illegal immigrants pursue careers like dishwashers, landscapers, field workers, housekeepers, and food-processing plant workers. Very few Americans have the desire to obtain these jobs, whereas, illegal immigrants fill those positions gladly and do so at decreased wages. They also stay employed in those positions for many years, normally without the possibility of promotion. Americans however, only remain in such low-skilled, low-paying jobs for a short time, seeking to advance to higher paying positions.
All around the world the United States of America is viewed as a place of freedom and equal opportunity for all people who settle in the country. Immigrants, especially from second or third world countries, view America as a chance for them to start over and a live the lavish lifestyles they are accustomed to hearing. However, this belief that everyone in the United States lives how they want to and has equal opportunity is false. Immigrants from countries all over the world face many different issues as they settle in the United States. Although these problems may vary, the message is the same; the American dream is a lot more difficult to achieve than previously thought. Although every immigrant is different in the problems
Illegal immigration it is a controversial issue for many years. Immigrants do not have the same benefits as Americans citizens. According to the article Illegal Immigration by Kathleen Brown states “In the past decade, the number of illegal immigrants has double, to 2.1 million, equivalent to the population of Arkansas” (Brown). In fact, illegal immigrants immigrate to America, but their main intention is to get better opportunities in life. The American dream is all over the world, which is the principal reason why people come to United States to make their American dream true. However, the epiphany is that Americans protect their country by implementing more laws and enforcing their borders secure.
In the United States of America there are an estimated 11 million illegal immigrants currently residing in the U.S. Many industries depend heavily on immigrant labor , legal and illegal, to achieve productivity. The construction industry, nationally , employ at a fast rate about 1,000,000 illegal immigrants; almost one in five illegal immigrants work major industries. (Passel,2006). Immigrant reform will undoubtedly reduce the supply of illegal immigrant by encouraging enforcement of current laws by creating new legislation with harsher penalties for illegal immigration. The enforcement of the new laws will allow for industries to allow employers to recruit and hire foreign born workers only with signs of identification. However for the industries
The US labor force would not survive if it was not for illegal immigrants. If there were no illegal immigrants our labor force would decrease by four percent (Isidore 5). “We could not have grown as much as we did in the 1990s if we did not have immigrants… our growth would have been slower (Isidore 5).” Having illegal immigrants in our labor force increases the amount of resources we have, which increases the amount of production in the country. “Some economists discuss that not only do U.S. consumers benefit from lower prices as an outcome of the low wages most immigrants are paid, but that the convenience of lower-wage labor helps create more work for higher-skilled, higher-paid workers who are generally born in the US (Isidore 14).” Illegal immigrants are opening up higher wage jobs, because they take over the lower wage jobs. Many immigrants take jobs in the field of construction, agriculture
The first institution that plays a major role in immigration is the Department of Homeland Security (DOH). John Francis Kelly is the fifth and current United States Secretary of the Department. Within the Department of Homeland Security lies the U.S. Citizenships and Immigration Services (USCIS). According to “Who Does what in U.S. Immigration”, the USCIS, “…is responsible for providing immigration-related services such as processing immigrant and nonimmigrant benefits; adjudicating refugee, asylee, and naturalization petitions; and granting or denying work authorization”. USCIS has four eligibility requirements:
From the moment of its inception, the United States has always been a nation of immigrants. Throughout American history, the numerous immigration waves have undeniably defined the infrastructure of America. By bringing a different set of views and innovative ideas, immigrants injected the economy and advanced technology through innovative work. However, the United States has not kept up its immigration policies with the changing times for the past three decades. The faces of this broken immigration system are the estimated eleven million of undocumented families, including two million children, who are living an American lifestyle as they work, live and study in American soil (Garcia, 2013). Although undocumented individuals have adopted American
There’re taking our money. There’re killing us” (Hoban, 2017, para. 2). What they don’t know is that immigrants often fill the jobs Americans don’t want. In many cases the impact of immigrant labor on the wages of American workers is low, either way undocumented workers often work the unpleasant, back breaking jobs that American workers are not willing to put up with. Illegal immigrants come to the United State seeking jobs that offer them greater opportunities, and they are often welcomed by U.S. employers who are able to hire them for wages lower than they would have to pay to hire Americans. By the law enacted in 1986 it is illegal for U.S. employers to hire immigrants, but many employers ignore it and hire immigrants in the underground economy. In other cases employers accept fake employment documentation to hire illegal as legal. Many other immigrants arrive with a visa and stay illegally to find a job that is supposed to better than the ones at home. When hiring an illegal immigrant worker, it is prevalent in a sector of the economy, as it has become the case in seasonal crop agriculture, the willingness of foreign workers to accept lower wages because of their illegal status acts to depress wages and working conditions for all workers in that
The US Citizenship and Immigration Services (UCIS) oversees lawful immigration to US. They ensure the security of the nation by providing information to possible immigrants about citizenship benefits. Services provided by UCIS are Citizenship, Family member immigration, employment for foreign nationals, verifying an individual’s legal right to work in the US, Humanitarian programs, Adoptions, and civic integration. UCIS faces an ongoing challenge to maintain integrity and innovation while dealing with potential terrorist exploiting the US immigration system.
As a developed nation, the United States infrastructure is dependent on the labor of immigrant. The fault lies in the decline of a population that is declining and growing older as fewer children are being born. Additionally, the younger native inhabitants’ standards concerning jobs reject those that are low-status, poor paying, and have unstable conditions. As a result, immigrants fill in these positions and employers welcome them (Tsuda 2010: 3; Borjas 2004: 200; Kaushal, Reimers, and Reimers 2007: 62; Massey, Durand, and Malone 2003: 16). For example, immigrants can be found in maintenance work, agriculture, and the garment industry. Without them, “many of our most critical industries would be cripple and our economy would not be able to survive” (Tsuda, 2010: 3). Therefore, the issue lies with the regulation of the levels of unwanted immigrants entering the USA. These are typically the people entering without authorization or overstay their visa (Castles and Miller 2003: 283). Controlling the flow of immigrants is mainly to allay the public fear that immigrants are stealing jobs, lowering wages, abusing welfare services, and increasing crime rate (Tsuda 2010: 3-4; Cornelius 2005: 777). These fears persist despite studies showing that immigrants do not negatively impact the economy as stated and that they actually contribute by creating jobs, tax revenues, and lowering consumer costs through their cheap labor (Tsuda 2010: 3).
Many present day immigrants come to this country from Mexico and Central America where living conditions are poor and where governments care little for their citizens. Their food supply is scarce, their water is filthy, and their houses are hardly more than shacks. Not only this, but there is little to no opportunity for them to even escape these tribulations. Across the border, however, the United States has a surplus of food, clean water, and modernized houses. Above all else, there are yet opportunities for these immigrants to improve their lives.
Among the many controversial issues surrounding immigration, both legal and illegal, the role that immigrant workers play in the American workforce is one of the most controversial. Many argue that illegal immigrant workers are stealing jobs that would otherwise be held by U.S. citizens, while others claim that no matter the availability of these kinds of jobs, American workers would not participate in this kind of “dirty” work. There are two sides to the argument, but one thing can be agreed upon by all parties discussing the issue of dirty jobs and the American workforce: there must be a solution. The problem that most thinkers are then faced with is the multitude of suggestions for solutions to this problem, as well as the many complexities of the situation that must be accounted for. While pointing out the many problems surrounding the workforce and these supposedly dirty jobs, pointing out specific, plausible solutions is a much more difficult task. In comparing Alaskan crab fisherman earning six-figure salaries and migrant laborers in Alabama barely receiving minimum wage, Chris Ladd presents a great argument, along with useful examples, and a clear solution to the problem.
The “American dream” is one shared by many people all across the world; regardless of what city, state, or country they live in. It is a dream where a person can live free and work hard to try to make something of themselves and provide for their families. Because the “American dream” can only be found in America, immigration to the United States has increased heavily over the years. America started experiencing heavy waves of legal and illegal immigration from the 1880s to the 1920s. The United States border patrol was founded in 1924 to try and decrease the amount of unauthorized immigrants crossing the border to enter the country illegally. A person is considered an illegal immigrant if they infringe the immigration laws of the country in which they are trying to migrate to.
It is no doubt that illegal immigration has both positive and negative impacts in the U.S. economy. This effect mostly low-skilled native workers who don’t have a high school diploma or no education in some area of technical training. The economic impact of undocumented workers is very small compare to other economic downsizing of manual labor to automation in manufacturing or the overall growth of global trade that outsource jobs overseas. These two activities have a bigger impact on wages, and the health of the economy.