Positive And Negative Effects Of Immigration

Although some argue otherwise, immigrants have a positive impact on our society. It is ironic how "within the country founded by Immigrants- Immigrant somehow become a bad word" (K'Naan). Although statistics prove that immigrants do bring overcrowding, drug trafficking, and diseases, they also impact positively on our economy and bring cultural knowledge. Being an immigrant in America is no easy task, they work long hours and most of the time have multiple jobs. Because the American dollar has greater value, immigrants will take any job that pays better than their home country. This often means they do the unwanted jobs of Americans. Immigrants fight hard to work their way to America with the American dream in mind, but once here that dream becomes very distant due to unexpected challenges they faced. In Valeria Luiselli book "Tell Me How It Ends: An Essay in Forty Questions", she addresses her experience as an interpreter for immigration court of the state of New York, discussing the stories she has heard with the immigration process. Throughout the book, she explains her view of the lack of sympathy and protection the United States has for the young immigrants. Her purpose to show the difficulties the immigrants go through - their sacrifice, resilience, and strength as they fight to survive and obtain a better life in America can also be seen in K'naan video - "The Hamilton Mixtape: Immigrants (We Get The Job Done)", through his use of symbolism everywhere in the music.

Since the start of our country, America has been known as a land of immigrants, a melting pot of different cultures and ethnicities working towards the American motto of the land of the free, home of the brave. Since colonial times, immigrants have been an integral part of society, majorly contributing to U.S culture and economy, yet many Americans have always had very conflicting ideas on immigration. Many people look past the benefits immigrants bring to our economy and society and instead scapegoat them for many of the United States’ problems surrounding unemployment and budget. The positive effects of immigrants, both legal and undocumented, in our country far outweighs the negative effects because of their important impact on society and the economic help that American relies on.

The United States of America has the largest foreign-born population in the world. With nearly thirteen percent of the total population being foreign-born, one may find it hard to imagine an immigrant-free country (U.S. Bureau of the Census). Immigration has been an integral part of the United States’ overall success and the country’s economy since it was established and without it, would have never been founded at all. Although there are some negative issues associated with immigration and many native-born Americans believe to be more of a problem than a solution, overall it actually has a positive effect. Immigrants in America, among other things, fill jobs where native-born Americans may not want to work or cannot work, they contribute

America throughout history has always existed as the land of opportunity. This land gave immigrants the opportunity to leave their country since political unrest and lack of opportunity become an issue. These immigrants were willing to leave behind their homes, cultures, and relationships and start fresh in another country. Starting fresh in America does not guarantee success, but these immigrants were willing to put their lives on the line in order to accomplish a “rags to riches” success story. On the contrary, the recent spike in immigration has become a major debate for everyone. Critics’ arguing against immigration say that immigration leads to overcrowding, drug trafficking, and puts American culture at risk. Simply, immigrants play a leading factor in society politically, economically, and socially. But focusing on the economic contributions immigrants bring, immigrants contribute to the economy by paying taxes, purchasing items, and working jobs. Immigrants work any jobs regardless of the hours or workload therefore the American dollar rises in value because people spend more money on objects. Since America exists as the land of opportunity, illegal immigrants should not remain discriminated as their work leads to economic prosperity.

The questions of how many illegal immigrants should be admitted to the United States, and what level of skills these immigrants should have, are among the most divisive issues in the current U.S. domestic policy. Much of the controversy that they spark can be traced to a single issue: do immigrants help or harm the economy? “Immigration benefits America in at least two ways. First, increased immigration expands the American workforce and encourages more business start-ups. Second, immigrants increase economic efficiency by raising the supply of low- and high-skilled immigrants. In many cases immigrants ' educational backgrounds complement, rather than displace, the

“America was indebted to immigration for her settlement and prosperity. That part of America which had encouraged them most had advanced most rapidly in population, agriculture and the arts”-James Madison

For many Americans, the word "immigration" creates up an image of poor, uneducated Mexicans rushing across the border to find minimum wage jobs and opportunities for a better future.The issue of immigration has become a major debate for everyone. Although critics argued of negative impacts of immigrants such as drug trafficking, overcrowding and threatening of American culture, immigrants still have a very great impact in our society. Immigrants cause an impact in our society politically, economically and culturally. Immigrants arriving in a new country should make every effort to conform to the social norms of their new environment.

In evaluating the fiscal benefit and cost of immigration in the long-run and its interaction with the economic and demographic trends, the National Research Council (NRC) came out with a study of immigration in 1997 in regards to the overall fiscal impact and benefit in all levels of government. The NRC study results showed that immigrants including their descendants would have a positive turnout on the fiscal impact with a present discounted value of 80 thousand dollars per immigrant in 1996. The dollar amount increased with immigrants who had higher skills with an average of 198,000 dollars and a negative amount of (-13,000) for immigrants who had less than a high school degree (The White House, President George W. Bush, 2007). The NRC concluded

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).

Immigration can be defined as: the movement from one country to another country. Immigration had two major impacts on the US: on the labor market and especially on the politics of race. The black rebellions of the 1960s created a political crisis for the government of US on the adequate response to black rebellions. Daniel Patrick Moynihan and President Johnson proposed two different policies to resolve black poverty.

The issue of immigration has become a major debate for everyone. Many people argue over the negative impacts of immigrants living in America, such as overcrowding, fewer jobs due to immigrants taking them, drug trafficking, and threatening of American culture. However, immigrants still have a positive impact on the American society. The United States is by far the largest destination for immigrants, annually receiving over a million legal immigrants and about seven hundred thousand illegal immigrants. Many people come to the United States to get a better life for themselves, as well as for the education system for their children. Others come to America to practice the freedom and right given to the American people. What many Americans do not

When touching upon the topic of immigration and the United States economy, one must acknowledge that the impact that immigrants have on the economy can be perceived as both negative and positive. For years there has always been an ongoing debate whether the benefits outweighs the costs. One can be led to believe that immigration increases a nations overall productivity. Therefore, leading to an overall increase in profits. However, other factors such as the cost of migration, complementary versus substitute labor and illegal immigration do impact the nations average labor wages, American businesses and politics on all economic levels. It is often easier to assume that immigration, especially when it involves undocumented

“An immigrant is a person who legally comes to a country to take up permanent residence. An “illegal” immigrant is a person who does so without following the established legal procedures of the destination country and who resides in that country without proper visas or other documents.” (source 1)Illegal immigration is changing the lives of many Americans today, and although all illegal immigrants are not bad and are not here by choice, or to hurt anyone, it still affects us each and every day. Illegal immigration has been a problem for many years, and it seems as if it is impossible to control, but according to former mayor Rudy Giuliani of New York it can be controlled. Giuliani stated

Over the years immigration has continued to be a discussion of intense national debate. The effect of immigration have been looked at as positive and negative. The economy and government has been affected in a multitude of ways. The immigrants are offered sources for work and also economic support for them and their families yet many American citizens are without jobs and struggle to keep a household. Also many Americans do feel as if they are being pushed to the side when it comes to availability in work sources and the taxes people pay are going to the non natives who don’t work but only live off of others benefits. Contrary to that, the number of immigrant men who have a job seems to be higher than native-born men.

Immigrants have been coming to America since the start of this country. However, there is a fine line between an illegal and legal immigrant. Although most immigrants come here in search of a better life for themselves, they do not think about the consequences the rest of the country must fac. Since they are not citizens, they do not receive some of the benefits that an American citizen has, including health care and public schooling. Although they do not have these benefits, they continue receive treatments at hospitals and attend schools, which Americans cannot afford. Illegal immigrants affect the United States’ economy, health care system, and education system in a negative way.