Illegal Immigrants in United States - Research Paper Example

? Illegal Immigration in the United s Table of Contents Table of Contents INTRODUCTION2 ILLEGAL IMMIGRATION & CHILDREN 4 IMPACT ON ECONOMY 6 CASE STUDY OF TEXAS 9 RECOMMENDATIONS 12 WORKS CITED 14 OUTLINE 17 INTRODUCTION As stated in section 135, Title 8 of the US code, it is a federal offense for any ‘alien’ (non-citizen) to enter into the US through improper means (APRA, 2006). According to the statistics for 2011, “there are around 11.9 million illegal immigrants in the US, and they compose of almost four percent of the population” (USA Diversity Lottery, 2011). This definition of illegal immigrants includes all those people who try to gain entry into the US without having formal permission to do so from the US immigration officers or those who avoid a formal examination by these officers or hide an important fact from them. In fact, according to statistics from 2006, these immigrants originate mostly from North America, with a few exceptions, such as the 12% from Asia and 8% from South America (Colton-Sonnenberg, pp.4). The topic of illegal immigration, however, is more complex than it appears to be, since there is misinformation, opposing views as well as lack of information about certain matters (Haines & Rosenblum, pp.1). Furthermore, the legal, moral, and economic aspects add controversy to this topic, resulting in its frequent debate in the matter of politics. Not everyone sees it as a terrible crime however. Some consider it a harmless situation, since illegal immigration provides cheap labor to the US citizens. However, since these immigrants often end up draining the fiscal resources of the country, their presence is not favorable, making those people suffer, who have a lower socio economic standing in society (APRA, 2006). Although immigration brings prosperity to the country in terms of contribution of skilled individuals, as well as enriched cultural diversity, however, illegal immigration has been causing economic, social, and cultural losses to the country. In this regard, the paper will look at different aspects of illegal immigration to acquire a comprehensive understanding of the issue. STATISTICS In particular, illegal immigrants are those people who enter a country undocumented, live there without any formal documentation and authorization, or are living there longer than the authorization. Such immigration occurs in every country, though not with the same high frequency as in the United States. These immigrants are usually from developing countries such as the Philippines, India, and Korea. They perform arranged marriages solely to get a green card, not caring about having a compatible spouse to live with. In addition, after settling down, they create several problems for the US government by engaging in several crimes such as drug trafficking, violent acts and robberies (Edmonston, pp. 45-50). Some illegal immigrants, however, are simply those people who entered the country through legal means, for example as a student, tourist, or businessperson, and then outstayed their allowed time, thus becoming illegal immigrants. They only make up around 1.5 percent of the US population, as research shows. However, their presence in the US has a significant effect on the economy. In addition, since the country often requires specific skills and knowledge from different parts of the world, they are high in demand. In fact, the highly developed lifestyle, economy, and environment of the US often tempt these immigrants into wanting to stay in the country despite their expired visas. Thus, they succumb to becoming illegal citizens (Srivastava, pp-18). The table below divides these immigrants according to the states in which they illegally reside: Names of the State Number of Immigrants California New York Texas Florida New jersey Arizona Georgia Virginia Washington North Carolina Michigan 343,693 159,126 134,597 122,430 60,361 28,918 28,376 28,340 27,301 26,903 24215 (Hansen, pp-64) These results show how the illegal immigrants reside in the state of California. Research shows how the legal citizens of the US see this presence of illegal aliens in their country detrimental to their security and wellbeing. ILLEGAL IMMIGRATION & CHILDREN Besides, one important question that this illegal immigration issue raises is whether those children should be deported, who came to the US at a very young age as illegal residents, and spent their whole lives in this country. Illegal resident may even use their American born children as an excuse to keep residing in the country, as the children guarantee them residency in the country and even allow them to benefit from the social security system, without paying any taxes (Colton-Sonnenberg, pp.7). These children are, by US law, considered legal citizens, whereas experts still debate on whether this earns these children’s parents a legal residency (Warden & Nolan, pp. 77). Furthermore, these experts debate heatedly on the concept of deportation. Deporting people on a mass scale can often lead to a lot of suffering, and tear the families apart. This is because a family of illegal residents may have a few legal citizens also, who would be inevitably affected by the deportation of their family. The Urban Institute found that two thirds of the children that these illegal immigrants have are legal residents, since they have been born in the US. Moreover, if the caregiver of this child is an illegal resident and confronting deportation, the child will have to move with their caregiver. It would not be possible or moral to deport the parent individually. Thus, this is an undecided matter, which raises many arguments and controversies (Steiner, pp.34). In this regard, some experts argue that having a US born child does not legally make an illegal resident safe from deportation. The government often confronts the pressure to allow the de facto deportation of children as it is an inevitable step in deporting the illegally residing parent. This will also help discourage the notion that the illegal citizens should have children in the US in order to become legal citizens. However, these citizens do not pay taxes, and still avail the public benefits available to their children, thus draining the fiscal resources of the country (Neuman, pp.182). On the other hand, some also believe that the 14th Amendment was misinterpreted, which was initially meant to give slaves citizenship after the Civil war. At that time, illegal immigration was not occurring frequently enough to cause such major problems for the country. This signals a need for the revision of the constitution, which will account for illegal citizens who drain the country’s fiscal resources (Committee on the Judiciary, pp.2). This however does raise another issue as to the rights of these children. They may not be legal residents of the US, but at the same time, they are not in connection with their country of origin, and thus their deportation as adults is under question (Lamanna & Riedmann, pp.62). Legally, one can observe no problem in their deportation. However, on a moral and economic ground, it raises several objections. One is that the person has, since childhood, been living in the US and is not only used to considering it their home, has also served the country through their services and labor, thus making them a valuable citizen of the US, even if law states otherwise. RESPONSE OF AMERICANS In contrast, several Americans are not in favor of immigrants. This even includes Native-Americans, as well as those people who have immigrant parents or ancestors. They feel that immigrants lead to drainage of resources and jobs, thus adversely influencing the economy. They denigrate the concept of immigration, and favor its complete end. According to them, it leads to several illegal acts, such as drug trafficking, violence and terrorism. One can observe this in the fact that these immigrants have even been growing drugs in parks in attempt to make money out of them later. The opinions of Americans are positive, negative, or indifferent in the order shown by the table below: Immigration perceived as September 2000 December 2005 March 2006 Burden because of less accommodation, jobs and health facilities 34 percent 44 percent 54 percent Making US economy strong with their hard work 50 percent 55 percent 51 percent Do not know 12 percent 11 percent 7 percent This data shows how the negative opinion amongst Americans has increased from 2000 to 2006 (Healey, pp-329). IMPACT ON ECONOMY Furthermore, the fact that illegal immigrants negatively affect the economy has come under exploration by experts in a study (Bacon, p.88). As high school completion’ rates raise from year to year, the probability of finding unskilled labor decreases. Despite this fact, one cannot deny that these illegal citizens still form a significant part of the economy. The native-born US with less than 12 years inhabitants have decreased their contribution from 40% to 12% from 1969 to 2009 (Bacon, p.109). On the other hand, unskilled labor coming from abroad is more in number. A 25 year old who has studied only 9 years will only be able to earn 8.5 dollars an hour in the US, as opposed to 2.5 dollars in their own country. This figure accounts for the different lifestyles in these two countries. Thus, these immigrant families benefit majorly from moving to the US, even if their contributions are relatively small for the US economy. In addition, statistics show that 50 to 70 percent of the total people migrating to the US can avoid civic inspection. People also assume that only illegal immigrants affect the country negatively, whereas the legal immigrants affect it positively. However, it is a strong belief that it will be beneficial to the US economic welfare to decrease the illegal immigrants. In order to bring the immigration in sync with the economy’s needs, it would need to be made so that the immigrants who enter possess skills which are high in demand or short in supply, and who are sure to pay their taxes. This would result in the highest possible raise. This is because, this would lead to an addition to the scarce employees involved in highly skilled jobs like computer technicians as well as low-skilled employees which the US has a shortage of due to the improving rates of school completion. In addition, since these immigrants have a possibility of earning more money in the US than at home, it gives them more reason to try to enter the country (Chomsky, p. 109). However, illegal immigration does cause many problems for the country. It causes several law and order problems, threatening the security of the citizens as well as the order in the labor market. Furthermore, it increases the risk of terrorism in the country, despite there being no direct link between the incidence of terrorism and the presence of illegal citizens in the US. Furthermore, these unskilled laborers increase the activeness of labor market associations, thus further stunting the growth of employees in the US. Comparatively, illegal immigration does make sense on economic grounds. It provides the US with various types of human resources needed. However, this does not change the fact that national welfare would see a decline due to the skills and work-related mobility, if policy allowed these illegal immigrants to have the status of legal immigrants. Thus, the policy-making authorities need to ensure that such a policy would not bring more harm than good (Bacon, p. 186). Illegal immigrants also cause a loss to the economy as they increase the consumption of public goods like health and education without increasing the taxes and expenditures paid for these goods. As research shows, there was 10 million US dollar gap in how much the illegal immigrants paid as taxes in 2008, and how much they consumed in public goods, the consumed amount being higher (Bacon, p. 51). This accounted for 0.2 percent of the US GDP for that year. Since 6 percent of the US labor force consists of illegal immigrants, the US occupants would receive a 0.04 percent surplus of GDP. This effect combined means that there was a 0.08 percent loss of US GDP in 2008. In addition, since the past decade, 500,000 illegal immigrants have entered the country every year, thus signaling the need for stricter controls. However, illegal immigration is continuing due to its undeniable contribution to the US on economic grounds. It provides unskilled labor which is growingly scarce in the developed country US and abundant in other countries. Thus, putting a stop to it would lead to problems for the US labor market, which has become accustomed to this cheap supply of labor, which was once serving the less developed countries. Thus, in order to make people realize the need for a more controlled immigration process, the authorities would need to make it less fruitful for such companies in the US (MacDonald et al, p. 94). In addition, they would need to practice better controls concerning immigration. For this, they would need to revise their previous methods to identify the pitfalls in the previous methods of the IRCA, and to see where they can make improvements. Only then will they be able to curb the growing illegal immigration in the country and bring the levels down to a point where they do not affect the country’s economy in a negative way. CASE STUDY OF TEXAS “Texas taxpayers spent at least $250 million last year in state prison and health care costs for illegal immigrants, but figuring out the precise cost will be difficult, state officials testified on Wednesday… Rick Allgeyer, director of research for the Health and Human Services Commission, told the committee that health care to illegal immigrants last year cost the state nearly $100 million, mostly for emergency hospital care… The figure includes the cost of 63,000 births – including 11,000 at Parkland Memorial Hospital, as The Dallas Morning News reported last week” (Rahman, 2010). This quote is from an article in the Dallas Morning News, which explored the negative financial effects that illegal immigrants have in the state of Texas. It calculates the loss these illegal immigrants cause to the taxpayers in this state, who suffer largely from the presence of these immigrants. The location of this state is the main reason why Texas is at a major disadvantage in this matter, as compared to the other 49 states. Its situation is at the very south of the country, due to which it is in very close proximity to Mexico. Thus, the Mexicans who try to enter the US illegally often come through the borders to Texas, and often end up settling down here only. This means that there are several thousands of illegal immigrants residing in the state of Texas, draining the fiscal resources, and causing a lot of loss to the taxpaying citizens. These immigrants cost the taxpayers a large amount because they consume the public goods available to the people, without paying the taxes that in turn pay for the public goods. The government provides several such services, like health, defense, and education to the residents of the country, in turn for taxes. However, these unregistered citizens also consume these goods, without having to pay for them, due to their unregistered status in the country. The health expenditures that these immigrants incur are especially large costs for the taxpayers. According to a study conducted in 2006, “The Texas Hospital Association has estimated the annual cost of uncompensated care to illegal immigrants at nearly $400 million a year” (A Lone Star Report, 2006). In addition, as the above newspaper extract mentioned, these costs include the expenses incurred in 66,000 births per year, making up a large portion of these costs. Moreover, the legal citizens are the ones who end up paying all these expenses. In addition, these services receive finance from the taxes paid by the legal residents of Texas, coming from both the indirect and direct taxes, which they pay. Meanwhile the illegal citizens are able to evade the direct taxes, since the government does not have formal records of these residents and thus has no way of knowing who these people are who are taking advantage of the public goods and services without paying their due share. In other words, these immigrants are able to take advantage of the public goods, which the legal residents have paid for, without any severe repercussions. The legal citizens, on the other hand, end up paying thousands of dollars in taxes for goods and services, which they are, not the only ones to avail. This burdens these citizens heavily, as they confront the pressure to abide by the law even when it is costing them dearly. These people have no option but to obey the law because it is their duty as legal citizens. However, at the same time, they end up suffering more simply because of the geographical location of their homes (Barnes, 23-49). This however is not the biggest cost, which they bear. They also bring several law and order problems with them. According to research, they take part in several illegal activities such as drug trafficking, violence and robberies. This greatly disrupts the peace of those citizens abiding in the same areas as these immigrant; people who wish to have a safe and peaceful environment for their families to reside in. As the article mentioned, the state incurred more than 250 million dollars for costs related to state prison and healthcare that was spend only on illegal citizens, which again cost only the taxpayers (Rahman, 2010). Another disadvantage of the presence of these people is that these illegal residents are often not educated and skilled enough to acquire jobs, which will pay them enough to cover their expenditure fully. Thus, these people often resort to illegal activities to make more money, such as smuggling, drug trafficking and making fake documents like IDs and drivers licenses (Dillin, 2006). This implies not only a law and order problem for the rest of the citizens, but also a significant social cost, as it makes the neighborhoods unsafe for them to live in with their families. This even declines the market values of the homes of these people. One should keep this in mind, however, that not all people who engage in such illegal activities are illegal immigrants. They also consist of a hefty proportion of legal citizens, who get involved in such activities since they are from lower socio-economic strata. However, this does not change the fact that the illegal immigrants who do not have a sound financial backing are very likely to commit such crimes. Furthermore, the government of the state of Texas also bears a large cost due to these illegal citizens. The immigrants cause a major burden to fall on the US government when they have to use their funds to pay for the major healthcare and prison costs that the illegal immigrants incur. Without these additional expenditures, they would be able to divert their resources, in terms of time and money, to the other several causes that they need to work on, being the biggest state in the country (Morrow, 2009). In addition, due to the failure of the immigration control on the border, they often have no choice but to pay for the damage caused, even when the US government is responsible for it. RECOMMENDATIONS Lastly, considering large amount of economic and social problems, which these immigrants cause to the legal citizens and the government of Texas, the government should endeavor to take some active measures against this illegal immigration problem. They have so far incurred a large loss in letting this problem run its course, and they need to realize that it is important for not only themselves but also for the thousands of legal citizens in Texas. The loss they incur by being inactive about this problem does not compensate by the convenience they gain from not acting upon it. Thus, it is a problem, which needs attention immediately. One effective solution would be to make the controls on the Mexico border stricter, so that the people crossing borders may have to go through the legal processes at any cost. Another way could be to fine the people who break the law regarding immigration repeatedly, which would not only discourage these people but also any other people who are considering attempting breaking the rules and migrating illegally. Meanwhile, another effective way to remedy this problem would be to spread the awareness about the proper and legal ways to immigrate to the USA. Given it is a complicated procedure, which requires a lot of time and involves a lot of paperwork, some illegal immigrants may simply be choosing this way because they are hesitant to go through the whole lengthy procedure. Thus, informing them about the correct procedures may help them by making them realize that the process is not as complicated as it seems to be to those unaware of it. This awareness could be very beneficial for the people in those countries from where a large number of people migrate regularly. This would help educate these people before they have a chance to go about it illegally, thus, further curbing the illegal migration (Dillin, 2006). Apart from this, the US citizens could also play an important part in curbing the illegal immigration. Several citizens are aware of illegal residents living amongst them, but do not take any action against it. They should be more proactive about this matter, and report any illegal aliens who are residing near them. This would help the government immensely in tracking down individual cases of illegal immigrants. As Fox News reports, “The cost of harboring illegal immigrants in the United States is a staggering $113 billion a year -- an average of $1,117 for every “native-headed” household in America -- according to a study conducted by the Federation for American Immigration Reform (FAIR)” (Barnes, 2010). Thus, if these people joined in the effort to stop illegal migration, soon the country would be able to focus on other problems and lead the country to further development and success. WORKS CITED A Lone Star Report. Illegal Immigration Cost to Texas. Chinatown Connection.com, 2006. APRA. "Illegal Immigration IS A CRIME!" American Patrol Report, 2006. Retrieved on July 25, 2011: http://www.americanpatrol.com/REFERENCE/isacrime.html Bacon, D. Illegal People: How Globalization Creates Migration and Criminalizes Immigrants. Beacon Press, 2009. Barnes, E. Illegal Immigration Costs U.S. $113 Billion a Year, Study Finds. FoxNews.com, 2010. Chapman, Roger. "Illegal Immigrants." Culture wars: an encyclopedia of issues, viewpoints, and voices. New York: M. E. Sharp Inc, 2010. Chomsky, A. "They Take Our Jobs!” and 20 Other Myths about Immigration. Beacon Press, 2007. Colton-Sonnenberg, Ana. "Illegal Immigration in the US: Facts and Figures." The Present Debate about Illegal Immigration. Auflage: GRIN Verlag, 2008. Dilln, J. How Eisenhower solved illegal border crossings from Mexico. The Christian Science Monitor, 2006. Edmonston, Barry. Statistics on US immigration. National Academies Press, 1996. Haines, David, and Rosenblum, Karen Elaine. "Introduction: Problematic Labels, Volatile Issues." Illegal immigration in America: a reference handbook. Greenwood Press, 1999. Hansen, Susan B. Globalization and politics of pay. Georgetown University Press, 2006. Healey, Joseph F. Diversity and society. Pine Forge Press, 2009. Lamanna, Mary Ann, and Riedmann, Agnes. "Family Ties and Immigration." Marriages and Families: Making Choices in a Diverse Society. 2006. Reprint. Belmont: Thomson, Wadsworth, 2009. MacDonald, H., Hanson, V. D., and Malanga, S. The Immigration Solution: A Better Plan than Today's. Ivan R Dee, 2007. Morrow, R. Immigration: Rich Diversity or Social Burden? Twenty-First Century Books, 2009. Neuman, Gerald. "Chapter 9." Strangers to the Constitution: immigrants, borders, and fundamental law. New Jersey: Princeton University Press, 1996. Rahman, M. Texas officials calculate costs of illegal immigrants. Immigration Chronicles – Chron.Com, 2010. Srivastava, Sushil Kumar. Study job and immigration made easy. Atlantic Publishers & Distributors, 2008. Steiner, Niklaus. International migration and citizenship today. New York: Taylor and E Francis Library, 2009. USA Diversity Lottery. "Nearly 12 million illegal immigrants in the US." USA Green Card Lottery Official U.S. Government Entry Program. Retrieved on July 25, 2011: www.usadiversitylottery.com/green-card-dv2011-immigration-news-april162009.php Wardle, Lynn, and Nolan, Laurence. "Domicile and Residence." Family law in the USA. Netherlands: Kluver Law International, 2011. Blondell, Jerome. “Adverse Impacts of Massive and Illegal Immigration in the United States.” Journal of Social, Political, and Economic Studies. Volume 33, Issue 3, 2008: 1-16. Dwyer, James. “Illegal Immigrants, Healthcare, and Social Responsibility.” The Hastings Center Report. Volume 34, Issue 1, 2004: 34-42. Kirchik, James. “Open the Gate.” Policy Review. Issue # 150, 2008: 1-7. OUTLINE Thesis Statement Although immigration brings prosperity to the country in terms of contribution of skilled individuals, as well as enriched cultural diversity, however, illegal immigration has been causing economic, social, and cultural losses to the country. I. INTRODUCTION a. Definition & overview of illegal immigration in the USA i. Without official permission ii. Ethical and moral controversies b. Significance of illegal immigration in the country i. Existence of both advocates and opponents of the issue ii. Its impact on many aspects II. STATISTICS a. Frequency of illegal immigrants in the country i. Mostly from developing countries ii. Usually as students, tourists, and businesspersons b. Statistical population of illegal immigrants in the country i. 1.5 percent of the US population ii. They possess skills and thus, are in demand c. Division of illegal immigrants according to states i. California has the highest ii. Michigan has the lowest III. ILLEGAL IMMIGRATION & CHILDREN a. Issue of US-born children by illegal immigrants i. American-born children as an excuse for illegal parents ii. Political and ethical debate going on b. Deportation of illegal children & its impact on families i. Emotional and psychological impact ii. Children’s deportation is still under debate c. Rights of children of illegal immigrants i. Debate on 14th Amendment ii. Issues on moral and economic grounds IV. RESPONSE OF AMERICANS a. Negative stereotype about illegal immigrants in the country i. Several Americans are not in favor ii. Illegal immigrations causing drainage of resources b. Perspectives of native Americans regarding illegal immigrants i. They are mixed ii. Some view them as a cause of drainage, whereas, some consider them tool of economy’s strength V. IMPACT ON ECONOMY a. Negative impact of illegal immigrants on US economy i. Supported by statistical evidence ii. Lack of resources for legal citizens b. Illegal immigration causing law & order problems i. Increase in risk of terrorism ii. Increase in labor market associations c. Consumption of resources by illegal immigrants i. 0.2 percent of GDP consumed by illegal immigrants ii. 0.08 percent of loss in GDP annually VI. CASE STUDY OF TEXAS a. Specific analysis of impact of illegal immigration on the State of Texas i. Texas nearest to the border of Mexico, hence, the most important stakeholder ii. Illegal immigrants cause drainage in the health sector b. Costs of illegal immigration in the Texas i. Increase in the costs due to law & order situation ii. Expenses of births of illegal children annually c. Impact of illegal immigrants on legal citizens of the state i. Legal citizens feel unsafe ii. Causing frustration VII. RECOMMENDATIONS a. Stricter & effective border controls i. Especially near Mexico ii. Stricter punishments b. Awareness about immigration i. Inside, as well as outside the country ii. Needs government efforts c. Role of civic society i. Legal citizens should be more proactive ii. More reporting by citizens VIII. WORKS CITED a. References Read More