Immigration(advantages or problems) - Essay Example

Furthermore, they help address the need of the country for seasonal labor during harvest time. Illegal aliens, as they are commonly referred to, readily accept relatively lower wages as compared to the local labor force for the same type of work or amount of workload in light of their need to get jobs straight away ("Wikipedia"). In this regard, some who profit from this arrangement assert that illegal immigration is indeed beneficial since the country of origin of the illegal alien, which is usually a developing country, earns dollar through overseas workers' remittances.

Similarly, the US-based employers may take advantage of relatively lower labor expense with the substantial availability of labor provided by illegal immigrants (Hanson). However, these people fail to take into account the adverse effects of illegal immigration to the economy as a whole. They have a limited perception of the problem such that they only consider the gains directly derived from illegal immigration and not the other economic and social costs. There are myriad disadvantages in connection with illegal immigration.

One of them is in terms of the intensified competition in the labor market. American citizens and other legal immigrants or residents can often be heard complaining that it is harder to look for jobs these days. This can be attributed to the fact that there are a growing number of illegal immigrants in the country that directly compete with the local labor force for available jobs. With this, legal workers continue to experience job displacement due to illegal aliens. As discussed, illegal immigrants who seek employment in the country willingly settle for below average wage levels.

Although employers benefit from this type of arrangement, it should be highlighted that such is generally detrimental for the entire labor force. By accepting wages that is less than the minimum wage standard, the income mainly coming from wages received plummets (Hayworth). This distorts the labor conditions in the country. Decreased wages is especially harmful for workers who are already on the verge or even below the poverty line. In addition, this changes the consumption propensity of legal workers and may diminish the quality of their and their families' lives.

Another major disadvantage of illegal immigration is that it further buoys up expenditure of the federal government. Based on numerous reports, an increasing number of communities across the nation continuously contend with over budgeting in order to make hospital care and educational services to illegal immigrants and their families. Given this scenario, the government would need to find a way to address budget deficits to take into account these public services for all including illegal immigrants.

To compensate for the portion of the budget used up for illegal immigrants, it may be expected that the government would impose tax increases which would be shouldered by legal workers. In the end, legal workers who fund social security services through the taxes remitted to the government each payday are burdened with the problem brought about by illegal immigration. According to studies, illegal immigration also has an effect on the health conditions in the US. Some assert that the presence of illegal immigr