Damini Verma
Writing 150
Globalisation
Writing Project 2
Us Vs Them
The debate has gone on for decades. Everyone has an opinion, and every opinion is different. Immigrants affect a country’s culture, economy, society and even political stability. Their ability to affect almost every aspect of our lives is evidenced by the omnipresence of conversations about the various costs and benefits that they demonstrate. These conversations are usually plagued with multiple logical fallacies and misconceptions that have, unfortunately, been repeated so many times that the public no longer questions their validity or relevance. In turn, these unfounded assumptions have coloured the opinions of many who have been so overwhelmed with evidence of immigrants impeding the progress of a country that they completely overlook the prosperity that they bring. If one were to look at research and statistics, it is fairly simple to logically dismantle the widely- held beliefs about the ‘burden’ that immigrants supposedly pose to America, specifically showing that immigrants are actually more of a boon than a bane to the American economy.
One of the most widely-held myths concerning immigrants is that they ‘steal’ jobs from American citizens and deflate the minimum wage by overloading the low-income job markets. This opinion has been voiced by Samuel P. Huntington in his article The Hispanic Challenge. He states that if Mexican immigration was stopped, “The annual flow of legal immigrants would
As, Benfitof puts, “critics have claimed that immigrants take on jobs, lower down wages, and drain too much tax money because of social services. However, what they do not realize is that the jobs immigrants take are the jobs most citizens in the host country do not take (Daniel). The immigrants that fill these jobs take the weight off producer and consumers which benefit the economic welfare of the U.S (Daniel). “It is a fact that immigrants are a great source of low cost work, but these cost reductions are eventually passed on to the buyer, so host country citizens benefit from this as well (Daniel). The goods produced through the efforts of immigrants can also generate additional profits as these goods can be sold at lower prices (Daniel). Additionally, “Comprehensive immigration reform could support and create up to 900,000 new jobs within three years of reform from the increase in consumer spending, according to the Center for American Progress(“Ten”).” Also, an additional group of cheap labor increases the flexibility of business, leading to cheaper prices, better quality products, and higher profits. Not only that, but as hinted through this paper they also help the United States economies growth. Whitehoue.gov research stated that, “According to the Small Business Administration, immigrants are 30 percent more likely to start a business in the United States than non-immigrants, and 18 percent of all small business owners in the United States are immigrants” (“Ten”). Furthermore, small businesses owned by immigrants employed an estimate of 4.7 million people in 2007, and was able to make over $776 billion annually, according to the Fiscal Policy Institute (“Ten”). On top of the, balanced politics says that the increase in immigration in the United States is increasing the wages of more skilled American citizens who have a higher education past a high school degree
The author’s article I have reviewed was Julia Preston. Ms. Preston is a former Mexican Correspondent who has also covered the federal courts. Ms. Preston currently works as the National Immigration Correspondent at the New York Times. In her article she goes into detail about immigrants and whether or not they are taking jobs from Americans and lowering wages by working for less. In addition, she provides a few words spoken by both the Republic nominee Donald Trump and his Democratic rival Hillary Clinton. Trump promises to cut back legal immigration with new controls by saying he would” boost wages and ensure open jobs are offered to American workers first.” Mrs. Clinton however believes that immigrants contribute
The issue of immigration has become a major debate for everyone. Although people argue over the negative impacts of immigrants living in America such as overcrowding, less jobs due to immigrants taking them, drug trafficking, and threatening of American culture, immigrants still have a huge impact in 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.
Many people believe that immigrants do not provide us with any beneficial effects to our country. This is not the case at all. At one point all of the current Americans that reside in the United States today had ancestors that traveled from another country or countries to the United States of America, thus making us all decedents of immigrants. Immigration helps boost up the economy, not hurt it, for the most part. Illegal immigrants take jobs that have lower pay and horrible hours. They also tend not to file for tax returns or claim their Social Security money (Aquino 2016). Illegal immigrants do not claim social security or file for taxes in order to prevent themselves from being found out and deported back
First of all, immigrants positively benefit the United States in which most of the time is not understood. One of the most important political rights is that all persons born in the U.S. are automatically citizens. Immigrants have been able to live in any place where they please, buy a house, land, or business without restrictions helping the government’s money cycle. Immigrants can seek for jobs, except for certain government jobs that are restricted to U.S. citizens, on an equal balance in ways that bring new
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.
The immigration debate in this country has grown stronger over the past few years. There are valid reasons for being in favor of allowing immigrants to enter this country. However, there are also legitimate concerns from those who oppose immigration to this country. I believe that by allowing immigrants to enter the country, it’s diversity increases and culture expands. It gives struggling people from all over the world an opportunity to a better life. This country was built by immigrants who sought opportunity, political & religious freedom, etc. Some of the most intelligent and ambitious individuals, who are unsatisfied with their own countries, bring their skills to America.
Immigration has been an essential but disruptive aspect of the people and the political state of the United States; however, debates related to immigration and its benefits are intensified significantly. Opposing immigration keeps ranting on how government should exercise better law to control over the people entering into the States from the foreign land. One of the most buzzed argument is that American citizen is unemployed because immigrants stole their jobs and disrupted the economy (Hoban, 2017). Also, an appeal to National security and vulnerability after several terrorist attacks all over the world and also to the government to keep track and maintain the no. of immigrants to create a safer environment (Cafaro, 2009). However, the contrary to these arguments have often been proven right. The pattern of the immigration shows that the contribution of the immigrants has resulted in an economic boost that cannot be overlooked by the government.
Immigration-related discussions could always cause vehement debates and arouse ambivalent feelings among both policy makers and the general public. On the one hand, we appreciate that immigrants contribute to cultural diversity, social vibrancy and economic prosperity; on the other hand, we sometimes could not resist to express our concerns and complaints about how immigrants constantly drive competition in job markets, put strain on public resources, and pose threats to social peace. Although classical economic model predicts with the expansion of labor force caused by increasing immigrants, wages or per capita income will fall and living standards will deteriorate, there might be a subgroup of immigrants who could, in contrast,
One common misconception among native-born Americans is that with a virtually unlimited supply of “outsiders” willing to do a job for less than the native who is currently doing that same job, the value of the low-skilled work force is decreased as a whole. This, in turn, leads to the belief that immigrants are depressing the wages of that working class. However, over the last twenty years, numerous studies have been conducted in order to find out if this is true or not and in most cases the findings indicate that, “Immigration seems to have no effects on the wages or employment of white natives and very slight, if any, negative effects on the wages and employment of native blacks.” (Waldinger, David, Lichter 19)
Economy” published August 12,2014 on the Economic Policy Institute argues the effects that Unauthorized Migrant workers have on the U.S economy and workforce. The author guides his article in a question answer format to answer several questions about the topic. Costa’s purpose in writing the web article was to clear up some misconceptions about fundamental aspects of this topic. He writes this article to the Economic Policy Institute’s audience to answer questions about the effects mexican migrant have on the economy. To supports this he writes, “One way to quantify immigrants’ contribution to the U.S. economy is to look at the wages and salaries they earn, as well as the income of immigrant-owned businesses, as a share of all wages, salaries, and business income in the United States”(Costa). By giving several ways that mexican immigrants have on the economy it gives people a better understanding of the positive and negative effects that they have. Whether those effects are positive or negative they are having an effect.
Many argue that immigrants are taking jobs away are lowering the minimum wage for United States citizens. However, there are no specific and reliable evidence to support the claim that immigrants are causing more harm than they do benefit the country. Yet, there has been evidence that America was constructed by immigrants seeking a better life in which they were equally granted liberty. They were firm believers of what we call today, The American dream, and believe that working hard to support your descendants and creating opportunities for them to blossom is vital. Immigrants came to Ellis Island knowing that hard work pays off, and is eventually rewarded with success. For America one of the best economic countries, the question arises of,
The most avidly debated effects of immigration involve the United States’ economy and labor force. It is estimated that there are 12 million undocumented immigrants in the United States today, and their impact on the economy can be perceived as positive as well as negative. The overall effect is unclear, and this essay will present both sides of the debate.
The common argument about immigrants is that “Increased immigration drives down wages for low-skilled, native-born Americans(Seth Millstein). When according to an article data shows that immigration has in fact increased employment wages from about .6 percent to 1.7 percent. This percentage increase may have not been a lot, but the point is that immigration is not lowering the job opportunities for anyone. For example, as well as maintaining a job immigrants to obtain a check bi-weekly or even every week. Immigrants are also consumers so their money they work for has to go somewhere. So before stating that “Immigrants ruin America and are taking all of our jobs,” take a look and see the actual facts. “They cycle that money back into the economy…” and are increasing the wages with every little thing they buy or any job they obtain. The lowering of wages is not what they are doing and there needs to be a way to change this national debate. The choice of whether or not immigrants have had a positive or negative affect on the U.S. is completely each individual's separate opinions. Then again other’s ideas and opinions are being forced upon immigrants and supporters of the positive affect they have on the
Today, the United States is home to the largest immigrant population in the world. Even though immigrants assimilate faster in the United States compared to different developed nations, immigration policy has become an highly controversial topic in the Unite States, while much of the debate is around culture and religion, the effects of immigration on economy is clear. Immigration policy has become a highly pressing issue in America. While much of the debate centers on cultural issues, the economic effects of immigration are clear. Economic analysis finds little to no proof to support that influx of foreign labor have reduced jobs or American wages. Economic theoretical predictions and a bulk of academic research confirms that wages are unaffected by immigration over the long term and the economic effects immigration are mostly positive for natives and for the economy over all.