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Welfare Effects Of Illegal Immigrants

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Illegal Immigration has been a massive problem throughout the entire world, and America is not an exception. Currently in America, there is an estimated 11.1 million undocumented citizens to be living with our borders(Passel). Attempts to curb this influx of illegal migrants has worked to a certain extent, with a massive increase of about half a million person growth in population from the years 1990 to 2007, to a relatively stable number of citizens in the past few years(Passel). Nevertheless, there are still 350 thousand unauthorized migrants, about a third Mexican, coming into America each year(Passel). However, the effects that this group, which controls almost 3.5 percent of our population, has on the economic …show more content…

This causes unskilled laborers to be left without a job, causing a rise in the population of unemployed citizens. In the article “Welfare effects of illegal immigration”, Theodore Palivos, a professor of macroeconomics in Greece, produces multiple mathematical models of the effects of immigration on a host country. A rise in unskilled workers, without extensive experience and functionality, will also bring “increases unemployment, leaves the capital stock unchanged, and decreases consumption”, meaning less money per person, while also increasing unemployment(Nadadur). If this effect is severe enough, a nation wide recession may occur. This source provides reliable and accurate information because the models he create are using accepted economic models that have been proven many times to be true. The source comes with little limitations, as the predictions he makes are not biased or made with faulty reasoning. The author does also consider the beneficial effects of illegal immigration and the math shows that the more immigration a country has, the more well off each person is. But the invalidity of this claim is that this is only true if it is assumed that everyone in the economy has a job, and is highly skilled, both of which are untrue in the real …show more content…

With so many complications and intricacies, the true impact it has on our economy is unknown. There are obvious benefits, along with outstanding burdens that must be taken into consideration while creating a future immigration policy. If all immigrants are taken out, then the secondary labor market full of undesirable jobs will have to be filled somehow, meaning that less people will occupy the primary labor force. On the other hand, if America elected to adopt open borders, the massive increase in migrants would spike up unemployment and drive down the average person's wage. As more data comes out about this unaccounted population arises, the answer may be more clear cut, but for now a best solution cannot be

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