illegal immigrant workers should be granted legal status

Illegal immigrants in the United States (US) have long been a topic of debate for policymakers and the public. The rationale about them is that they do not pay taxes; they add to the costs of taxpayers and use up funds in resources meant for assisting citizens and legal immigrants (the legal citizens). Therefore, they are perceived as a threat to the US economy. The true impacts of illegal immigrants on the US economy are discussed by debating over the economic benefits as well as economic costs of these immigrants. The negative impacts, discussed first, presented the decreases in low skilled jobs’ wage rates for legal immigrants and citizens instigated by illegal immigrants, the social services such as educations and healthcare that they

I do not believe that employment of illegal immigrants is a problem in our country in any way. Over half of the jobs

21 March 2011 Undocumented Workers Benefiting America Contrary to what most Americans believe, illegal immigrants are not causing our economy to weaken, in fact, they are causing just the opposite. Immigration enforcement has increased greatly in the past few years and undocumented immigrant workers are being deported much more frequently. America refuses to recognize the positive impact these illegal workers have on our economy. Without the surplus of illegal immigrant workers in the U.S. our country’s economy would suffer greatly. Illegal immigrant workers help our economy flourish and they positively influence the American workforce.

The last 10 years of U.S. economy can be seen by the impact of immigrant reform in different scenarios. In 2013, undocumented immigrants have been granted legal status; citizenship has helped to increase the U.S. GDP and would accumulate by an additional $1.4 trillion compared to the 10 years in between the 2013 to 2022. This earning will give a chance for the Americans some additional earnings of $791 billion at the same period as a personal income, in which the economy would create job opportunities, about 203,000 new jobs per year. In these years the undocumented immigrants will earn about 25.1 percent more than the current earnings of the immigrants. These earnings show that they will be contributing significantly to the federal, local, and state taxes which will add to tax revenue in 10 years with $185 billion to $116 billion for the USA federal government as well as $68 billion to the state and local government (Stuart Anderson,2011).

Today one of the biggest issues in America is illegal immigration; these people travel from all over the world, and illegally cross national borders onto U.S soil in desperation to find a better life. Immigrants come to America in hopes of fulfilling the American dream, being free and safe from their original home lands. Most immigrants are illegal and come by the millions each year, which lead to many controversial disputes. The overflow of immigrants caused many citizens to question if these illegal immigrants are damaging America in various way and also by bringing in crime, drugs, and terrorists. Others state that immigrants truly aids the economy “Indeed, some sectors of the economy might have a hard time functioning without illegal workers. (Katel 395) Many citizens believe illegal immigrants are taking jobs, and abusing government benefits, however many argue that these immigrants in fact contribute to a stronger economic stimulus, take unwanted jobs, and some even create jobs for Americans.

Many people have their own opinions when relating in regard to illegal immigrants hurting the United States economy. There have been numerous of economist say there is no doubt the U.S. benefits from illegal immigrants. All of the undocumented people living in the United States contribute every day in our economy, they contribute as workers, taxpayers and consumers. All immigrants pay sales and property taxes and most pay federal and state income taxes as well. If there was laws like the

“We should be able to refuse immigrants. There are a lot of illegal’s that are taking jobs that actual Americans need in the current economic conditions, plus they cause our taxes to go up because we have to pay for their health insurance and they might need welfare so they get all the money taken from our pay so they don’t have to work. They should have to speak English too, if I went to their country, no one would be taking care of me and making sure that I can find the bathroom, or feeding my kids with their money” (Aquino 2016).

But amazingly, the flow of foreign-born is so large that immigrants currently account for a larger share of labor force growth than natives (“U.S. Immigration and Economic Growth: Putting Policy on Hold”, 2003) When you do the math, it makes a good deal of sense to spend the little that we do—if not more—to keep them healthy (Karvounis, 2007). Care for undocumented immigrants represents a tiny fraction of the nation’s health care burden. They receive minimal care; some pay taxes. Between one half and three quarters of undocumented immigrants pay taxes and some work “off the books” jobs as well (What Immigration Reform Could Mean To The US Economy, 2009). Illegal aliens provide as much as 7 billion dollars a year to the Social Security Fund although they cannot claim benefits for this program (Immigrants’ Economic Contribution, 2009). Further still, undocumented workers pay sales taxes where applicable and property taxes—directly if they own and indirectly if they rent (“Undocumented Immigrants as Taxpayers”, 2007).

The author, Frosty Wooldridge, of The Children of Undocumented Immigrants, 2013 deplores Edwin Rubenstein of the National Research Center reported in 2008 that unlawful immigrants are having an astronomical negative effect in terms of $346 billion annually on the American taxpayers (par. 5). The author, Frosty Wooldridge, argues that the undocumented immigrants are wasting these taxpayers’ money. Also, the author underscores that these undocumented immigrants do not know how much it costs taxpayers every year for them to live here illegally. It may be true that the undocumented immigrants are not paying their taxes. However, the undocumented immigrants are spending money to help stimulate the economy. According to a website article, “DACA Recipients’ Economic and Educational Gains Continue to Grow” from the Center for American Progress website finds “The data illustrate that DACA recipients continue to make positive and significant contributions to the economy, including earning higher wages, which translates into higher tax revenue and economic growth that benefits all Americans. In addition, DACA recipients are buying cars, purchasing their first homes and even creating new businesses” (par. 3). The author establishes that the undocumented immigrants have been making the economy better by earning higher wages. Additionally, these undocumented immigrants are increasing the economy by acquiring essential things like cars and homes. The author implies that because of DACA, these undocumented immigrants, are in fact, benefiting the economy immensely with earning higher wages and purchasing homes and cars. Another powerful illustration of this point again specifying on the Center for American Progress website was concluding that important data is showing that many of the top 25 Fortune 500 companies are hiring DACA individuals accounting for $2.8 trillion annually

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

In 2011 the Migration Policy estimated around 2.6 million people were undocumented workers; the retail trade employed about 920,000, construction 910,000, agriculture 540,000, and manufacturing 520,000 (Francis Wilkinson, March 12, 2014). With these numbers that means that there is at least one undocumented worker per 6 million workers in the U.S. Most of these undocumented workers are illegal immigrants coming to the U.S to better their future and gain better opportunities, as for the companies, they like to hire illegal immigrants because they can usually get away with paying them less than they would have to with a U.S citizen because they aren’t documented. This became illegal in 1986, but employers still

Illegal immigrants help boost the United States economy by paying some taxes. Like American citizens, illegal immigrants may pay local, state, and federal taxes including sales tax that helps support government services that they may not be able to access (Ewing 9). Since more American citizens are becoming aware of the benefits of an education, openings are being created for illegal immigrants in low paying jobs (Nadadur 1037-1052). Americans, unlike illegal immigrants, have more diverse careers. Aliens are more concentrated in specific job areas, resulting in a decrease in immigrant labor cost. This helps boost the United States’ economy (Carter 777-795). Of the approximate eleven million illegal immigrants in the U.S., most work in labor intensive jobs. Careers such as construction and agriculture tend to attract illegal aliens and they account for about twenty-five percent of the work force in these areas (Ewing 9). Ben Bernanke, chairman of the Federal Reserve admits that illegal immigrants help improve the United States economy and does not suggest turning them away (qtd. in Quindlen 90). Anna Quindlen, in her article “Newcomers By Numbers,” agrees with Bernanke and believes that immigrants are the factor that helps keep prices low. She also adds that immigrants are not causing American citizens unemployment, but are simply taking the low wage jobs that citizens are not willing to do and even boosting the economy (90).

Illegal Immigration: Too Large a Burden on America “Households headed by illegal aliens imposed more than 26.3 billion dollars in costs on the federal government…and paid only 16 billion dollars in taxes, creating a net fiscal deficit of almost 10.4 billion dollars, or two thousand seven hundred dollars per illegal household” (Miller 1). Some people would argue that immigrants come to America to take jobs that no one else will do, but the illegal immigrants are in fact draining social services and stealing free health care benefits. In addition, immigrants pay little or no taxes to benefit the social services and health care providers that they drain. By doing so, the American tax payers must take on the high price of the American

12). A 2007 study on immigrants in Arkansas found that the total economic impact of Arkansas’ one hundred thousand, fifty one percent undocumented, on the state economy is nearly three billion dollars (Willis par. 5). Texas comptroller study found that the one million four hundred thousand undocumented immigrants living in Texas in 2005 contributed 17.7 billion dollars to the state economy (Willis par. 5). Illegal immigrants also take low paying jobs. Most Americans do not like to wash dishes, bust tables, and mop floors, but those are jobs that need to be done. Employers always have trouble finding regular employees to do that kind of work, which is also usually low paying. Americans are not willing to work them whereas the illegal immigrants are. When businesses have trouble filling positions of low skill jobs they only have two choices, raise the wage rate high enough to fill jobs or eliminate positions (Gheen par. 14). Businesses must then raise the prices of their items to make up the difference. Higher prices that the customers of those businesses will end up paying for. Illegal immigration also improves the overall image of America. No other country in the world has the diversity of races,

Everyday someone is sent to the hospital. Not only are they in fear of losing their life but also in fear of being in debt due to the prices of health care treatment they need. But what if this patient happens to be an illegal immigrant? Should doctors deny him/her