Immigration in America - Essay Example

?Immigration in America The topic of immigration is very close to the minds of all Americans for sure reasons. It is because the most of America is inhabited by people who were once immigrants in the past. Immigration is good for America. The issue of immigration needs to be settled once and for all. The stakes of 11 million illegal and unregistered immigrants cannot be sidelined just because the government has not been able to decide the issue. It is the moral duty of the members of the Congress to relieve the unwanted burden on the shoulders of the American people by permitting immigration reform, following a transparent procedure to present a bill that suits the needs of all Americans and let the shackles removed from the economy so that it grows at its full potential (Ortiz “Immigration Reform,” par. 1). Modern America is judged by its immigrant past, present, and future. Americans need to comprehend the issue of immigration with clarity of mind to shift to a system wherein economic stakes and cherished ideals both are taken well care of (Griswold 4). Need of the hour is to initiate immigration reforms for creating more job opportunities. Job market is getting compressed due to directionless policies of the Obama government. Only pro-economy immigration reform can help in creating jobs. As per the CATO Institute, wider immigration reforms would increase the U.S. gross domestic product (GDP) by .84 percent each following year with the passing of the reform bill. Immigration reform would also result in an increase in the net personal income by $30 to $36 billion in the initial three years, an outcome of earned legalization from higher earning capacity of newly-legalized jobbers. It would help in reducing the federal deficit by a cumulative amount of $2.7 trillion across the initial 10 years of the immigration reform (Ortiz “Immigration Reform,” par. 2-3). It is a wrong general perception that unregistered immigrants have negatively impacted the U.S. economy. Actually, as per a survey organized for leading economists, 85 percent were of the view that immigrants have contributed positively (74 percent), while 11 percent were neutral in their opinion. Additionally, as per the reported estimates of the Immigration Policy Center, immigrants contribute in the economic growth by paying taxes in between $20,000 to $80,000 more than they enjoy through public benefits (Ortiz “Immigration Reform,” par. 4). An open economic policy towards immigration can help the economy better through increased production, made possible through labor, human capital, and the hard-working nature of immigrants. Immigrant labor do not compete with American labor, rather they add-on to native workers by filling niches areas of the job market (Griswold 1). A new impartial report from with Congress has revealed that immigration is good for America. It has confirmed that excessive cost predictions of an overhaul are not true. Charting a road to citizenship for millions of illegal unskilled, skilled, and farm workers is going to benefit the whole of America economically. If the new law over immigration comes into force, it would increase direct federal spending by $262 billion from 2014 to 2023, including the Medical expenses randomly claimed to be costs by anti-immigration politicians; these are the costs but taxpayer-funded. It would add revenue of $459 billion over the same time to the Treasury, because of the additional income generated by immigrants and payroll taxes forked over by the same immigrants. After deducting the expenses from the income generated, it is expected to garner revenue of $197 billion. Future forecast is also positive during 2024 and 2033, with a deficit cut of $700 billion. Further analysis by CBO of adding 10.4 million permanent citizens to the American population by 2023, which includes 1.6 million temporary workers along with their families, would strengthen the U.S. labor force by another 6 million. It is going to increase gross domestic product by 3.3% in 2023 and 5.4% in 2033 (New York Daily News 1). Immigration adds to the lives of people in America variously. There are seven easily ignored ways that immigration has impacted to the lives of American people in the U.S. (Kelly “Seven Surprising Ways,” par. 1). 1. Immigration propels the economy. It is a wrong perception of Americans that immigration hurts the economy. According to a report from the Migration Policy Institute, “immigration unambiguously improves employment, productivity, and income,” particularly at a time when economy is growing. And, in opposition to the known belief, immigrants generally do not minimize native job possibilities (Kelly “Seven Surprising Ways,” par. 2). 2. Immigration increases jobs. The debate over immigration is highly centered on the notion that the larger segment of society requires attention due to immigration although the opposite of it is true that immigrants create new shopping audiences to purchase things. The aggressively commercialized United States needs more essential amenities of life such as food, house and other things of daily routine, thus, creating an increase in the local demand that helps Americans to survive better. It helps small business to nourish, requiring more people to serve the new customers. This is evident from the fact that Mexican immigrants make up 4 percent of U.S. Gross Domestic Product (Kelly “Seven Surprising Ways,” par. 3). 3. Immigration helps America to attract the best talent worldwide. President Obama has also referred to the need to keep more global students and engineers. Some industries such as the software industry, are striving to find competent engineers, as Americans alone cannot fill that vacuum, which is the reason why it has been advocating for immigration reform. Some businesses are just short of the required native talent of expert engineers to remain competitive in the global world. In the ever-changing and severely competitive business world, companies cannot wait till the local talent fills the shortage through the growing American education system. If American companies remain aloof to their talent recruitment needs, their competitors in the global arena will take undue advantage of it (Kelly “Seven Surprising Ways,” par. 4). 4. Immigration makes us globally more connected. Americans travel less than Europeans; they remain more confined to their own states when it comes to traveling; only 30% have passports. Most Americans communicate with foreigners from other countries when in their home country. Globalization demands from Americans to inculcate soft skills such as showing regard for diverse cultures. Immigration helps Americans get more opportunities to communicate with people from other countries without going abroad, thus, offering an opportunity to our people to befriend the wider world (Kelly “Seven Surprising Ways,” par. 5). 5. Immigration promotes American multilingualism. Our natural language resources are varied, as nearly one out of five people living in America speak a different language at home. Immigrants add to the richness of the diverse language pool, the only exception has been native-born people who speak Native American languages or use American Sign Language. When the government departments such as the Department of Defense and the State Department need trained language experts from other countries to complete essential job functions, they are easily available because of the diverse language skills pool of the immigrant populations (Kelly “Seven Surprising Ways,” par. 6). 6. Immigration is a way out to welcome new ideas. Experiences of others from foreign lands enrich the capital of cultural knowledge-pool. Relevant expertise of immigrants can become a part and parcel of their new home, away from their domicile home. Americans can benefit from their cultural knowledge base. Diversity can help Americans in becoming stronger and richer in ideas by evolving with the times (Kelly “Seven Surprising Ways,” par. 7). 7. Immigration provides a mirror to the non-U.S. world to see America from the feedback sent home by 37 million immigrants about the American life. It boosts tourism that helps America get a piece of the U.S. $2 trillion tourism industry worldwide (Kelly “Seven Surprising Ways,” par. 8). One needs to differentiate between illegal and legal immigrants, as legal immigration is good for America but political gaming over this issue conflate it with policies made to encourage foreigners into America legally. Both are actually two different issues that need to be separated, as there is enough proof of claiming that legal immigration is good for the U.S. economy. Actually, controls over legal immigration may be a roadblock in job creation and in the lagging behind of America in competition (Newman, “More Immigration Is Good for Business,” par. 2). Conclusion The argument in favor or against immigration seems silly, considering whether immigration is a good or not when it's such an inseparable part of the very basis of this country. Actually, the time is ripe for America to review immigration policies to make them more effective for the United States to provide increased benefits of immigration to the American society. One should not forget what Franklin D. Roosevelt stated, “Remember, remember always, that all of us, and you and I especially, are descended from immigrants and revolutionists” (Quotes about Immigration 1). Irrespective of the emotional connection of the immigration issue, legal recourse needs to be taken to pass the immigration bill so that American economy avails that competitive edge. Works Cited Griswold, Daniel T. “Is Immigration Good for America?” Cato Journal, 32. 1 (2012). Web. 18 October 2013. . Kelly, Nataly. “Seven Surprising Ways Immigration helps build a Stronger America.” Huffington Post. 23 January 2013. Web. 18 October 2013. . Newman, Rick. “More Immigration Is Good for Business.” U.S. News Blog. 28 January 2013. Web. 18 October 2013. . New York Daily News. “New Analysis proves Immigration is Good for America.” New York Daily News 21 June 2013. . Ortiz, Javier. “Immigration reform: Good for America and our Economy.” The Hill’s Congress Blog. 20 June 2013. Web. 18 October 2013. . Quotes about Immigration. < http://www.goodreads.com/quotes/tag/immigration>. Read More