Should USA have a more relaxed or stringent immigration policy?
Introduction.
Should the United States of America have a more relaxed or stringent immigration policy? A phenomenal number of immigrants come to the USA every year. They come here for different purposes and from different places. Some immigrants are refugees who have fled war torn countries like Syria, Jordan, from the African nations etc. Most come in search of better opportunities for their children because of the freedom, protection and benefits in this country. Native born Americans are not happy about the situation because they believe the higher taxes they pay, rise in crime, poverty and overpopulation in America is caused by the immigrants.
On the other hand, experts believe preventing immigrants from entering the country would increase unemployment rates as immigrants tend to do jobs that Americans would not and for lower wages. This leads to the economic impacts of immigration that briefly include lower wages, lower production costs and lower prices for the consumers.
Background.
According to the Economic Policy Institute, more than 40 million immigrants reside in the United States as of 2012, accounting for 13% of the total population. There were an estimated 11.7 million illegal immigrants in the United States as of that same year. This figure accounts for 3.7% of the total US population and about 5.2% of the labor force. 46% of all immigrants in the US are Hispanic or Latino. Roughly 19.2%
Effects of immigration on the economy also raise the argument over social service abuse, which is immigrants using social services provided by the government without paying social service taxes or being in the right legal status to obtain those services. Many have argued that illegal immigrants should not be entitled to health care services and public education should be denied to illegal immigrant children. If this were to happen then family migrants would be less common, and this is counter productive to the U.S, it is much better if the immigrants arrive with their families to help them assimilate better within society and makes them better citizens.
According to U.S. Census Bureau population estimates as of July 1, 2013, there are roughly 54 million Latinos living in the United States, representing approximately 17% of the U.S. total population, making people of Latino origin the nation 's largest ethnic or race minority. About 11.7 million immigrants are living in the United States illegally, a population that has not varied much over the last three years, but has been recently increasing again, according to new estimates (United States).
From an economic aspect, immigration is somewhat beneficial since it increases the US work force and it’s economy. According to Camarota Steven on his testimony’’ Immigration and the US economy’’, immigration overall increases the economy of the US due to the fact that more workers and more people mean bigger GDP. He also pointed out that the impact of immigration of the seize of the economy is not a measure of the benefits of natives. That means that regardless of the benefits of natives, Immigration is a tool to increase the economy of the US. On the other hand, it can be detrimental to the US economy. In fact most of the immigrants work “under the table” which make the fiscal
According to Jens Krogstad and Jeffrey Passel, senior demographers at the Pew Research Center, there were 11 million illegal (undocumented) immigrants living in the US in 2014 of 320 million and that number is growing by 700,000 a year.
There is question on whether or not the immigrants will help or hurt the economy. Some say immigrants will take jobs from Americans and damper U.S. tax rolls because they aren’t as skilled or educated. The fact is immigrants actually increase “overall wages and the pool of jobs” and add to the U.S. revenue (Dwoskin). In 2006 there was a suspected “21 million immigrants, about 15 percent of the labor force, [that] h[e]ld jobs in the U.S.” However, the U.S. only had about seven million unemployed. “So the majority of immigrants can't literally have "taken" jobs; they must be doing jobs that wouldn't have existed had the immigrants not been here,” (Lowenstein). Roger Lowenstein also presents a valid and insightful point in stating that immigrants who take these jobs that “wouldn’t have existed”, relative prices could be lowered in a similar way that global trade does.
According to Migration Policy institute, the Census Bureau's 2009 American Community Survey, the US immigrant population was 38,517,234, or 12.5 percent of the total US population. They also state that nearly one-quarter of the 7.9 million children under 17 in 2009 had at least one immigrant parent. It is important to note that these
According to “The U.S. Immigration Debate” by the Council on Foreign Relations immigrants comprise about 13 percent of the U.S. population. Together, immigrants and their U.S.-born children make up about 27 percent of U.S. inhabitants. A 2016 Gallup poll found that 72 percent of Americans considered immigration a “good thing” for the United States, and as many as 84 percent supported a path to citizenship for undocumented immigrants if they meet certain requirements. A separate Gallup poll found that among Republicans, 76 percent support a path to citizenship while 62 percent supported a proposed border wall. Obama and Trump
Home Land security statistics on immigration verifies that there are approximately 11 million illegal immigrants who reside in the United States. In Arizona, there is an estimate of 460,000
According to a study by the Migration Policy Institute, approximately 41.3 million immigrants were living in the United States in 2013, an all-time high for a nation historically built on immigration. Immigrants accounted for 13 percent of the total 316 million U.S. residents and adding the U.S.-born children of immigrants means that approximately 80 million people, or one-quarter of the overall U.S. population, is either of the first or second generation (Zong, Batalova).
Immigration is one of the most important issues that the United States faces and thus has misperceptions such as how immigration affects the workforce and economy, the size and composition of the immigrants, and the budgetary impact of unauthorized immigration. As of 2012, more than 40 million immigrants lived in the United States, the population accounting for about 13 percent of the total population of U.S. The same year showed that unauthorized immigrants were 11.7 million, accounting for 3.7 percent of all the people of the U.S and roughly 5.2 percent of the labor force. Most of the illegal immigrants are Latino who is primarily from Central America and Mexico. 46 percent of all the immigrants in the
One of the most defining traits for the United States of America is that the nation is one made up of immigrants, it is a basic building block that can not be overlooked, nor should it. That being said, it is important to countless citizens to be open when it comes to immigration, while keeping the country hospitable to its citizens for generations to come. However, this attitude to immigration is a fairly recent phenomenon in American history, especially in regards to immigrants coming in from non-Western European countries. With the introduction of the Immigration Act of 1965 and the Immigration Reform and Control Act of 1986 (IRCA) came about the changes to immigration policy that would forever change the face of the nation and create the diversity that has become a point of pride. The sentiment is not felt nationwide, however, as the immigration patterns brought about with these two acts has brought hostility as well, especially from those who feel that immigration is a threat to the country as a whole, specifically illegal immigration. Immigration, and its illegal counterpart, is an issue that defines this period in American history, and while it did not necessary start off targeting Mexican and Latino immigrants, it has very much been immortalized within the communities and become the face of immigrants to the nation as a whole.
Here are some stunning facts about immigration in the U.S.: 10-20 million illegal aliens presently roam the U.S. and the illegal alien’s population doubled in the 1990’s. They counted about 5.1% of the U.S. labor force, which is a huge amount. There are 72000 aliens arrested each year for drug use offenses and they counted about 25% of the federal prison population. The
We are now in the 21st century and like the beginning of the 20th century the United States finds itself in the throes of a period of mass immigration. More then one million immigrants enter the Unites States, both legally and illegally every single year. Many argue that this new wave of mass immigration may help sustain the success that our nation is having in regard to the way of living that many American have come accustomed to and yet others believe that although our nation was created by immigrants it is time to "shut down" our borders. The truth of the matter is that there will always be issues in regard to immigration and the policies that the government sets forth in order control who comes into this country. Also now
In 2013, there were an estimated 41.3 million immigrants living in the United States. (Krogstad, 2014). According to present estimates, this foreign-born population consists of 18.6 million naturalized US citizens and 22.1 million noncitizens (Cenato, 2013). Among the noncitizens, approximately 13.3 million are permanent legal residents, while 11.3 million (28%) are unauthorized migrants. (Cenato, 2013). The majority of unauthorized immigrants are primarily from Mexico and other Latin American countries, they live Texas, Florida, California, New York and Arizona (Zong et. al 2015).
Total inhalation of immigration would not be a healthy choice for the United States. However, setting out for stricter laws to become a citizen is in need. There are over 11.7 million illegal immigrants in the United States (poll 2011). Therefore, having restrictions on immigration overall can help the economy grow, security at airports, docs, borders, and on the streets would not only lessen the illegal immigrants around the country, but supply more jobs for Americans. Illegal immigrants not only live in the U.S, but are supplied jobs in which were made for American workers.