What Immigration Quotas Are Allowed - Assignment Example

 Immigration Quotas This assignment argues against the increase of immigration quotas. The first section of the assignment presents the introduction to the topic itself. In the second section, the arguments that favor the increase in immigration quotas are presented alongside its counter arguments, followed by a section devoted for the arguments against the topic. At the depth, a concise solution is presented that summarizes the discussion and presents the final view point. Immigration quotas are defined as barriers that restrict undesirable movement of population from one geographical region towards the other. Immigrants, wanted or otherwise, are both beneficial as well as have a negative influence on an economy. However, considering both the pros and cons of the same, countries across the globe tend to develop certain restrictions on the number of permitted immigrants existing at a given point in time in proportion to the population of the country itself (Weissbrodt, 2005). For example, a country X might form a proportion that for every 4 locals, there would be 1 immigrant, implying that if their local/domestic population is 4 million, there would be a maximum of 1 million immigrants allowed. Additionally, countries also tend to develop quotas on other countries about their maximum export of humans; for example, amongst the 1 million in the given example, the country X might decide that a maximum of 30% from Asia, and within that a maximum of 10% from India. Such obligations define the immigration quota developed by various countries to control the flow of resources and to keep other economic factors in balance such as exchange rate, balance of payments, outflow of currency, taxes, crime rate, investments, development projects, fiscal policies, etc. This section discusses the arguments that favor the increase in immigration quotas. In the initial fold of the two fold effect, enhancing quotas is beneficial for a society and an economy, primarily because of the fact that the quality of human resource flows in from various backgrounds and cultures, having a diversified set of skills and strengths that become beneficial for the economy in the long run. However, in the long run, immigrants tend to form lobbies which are harmful for the viability of the business. Labor rate becomes cheaper since immigrants are willing to work for lesser salaries, thus, enhancing the competition amongst the work force by a number of means. This has a two-fold negative effect; firstly, the locals lose on opportunities and gradually the ratio of unemployment amongst the locals rises, and secondly, the immigrant society tends to become more and more powerful. A classical example of such an issue is the Kingdom of UAE which is today heavily relying on the immigrants to assist them as they constitute more than 65% of the population, becoming thus the driving force of the local business (Mac Donald, 2007). Despite the fact that the positives are higher but their counter arguments reduce weight-age of the positivity. The following section is about the arguments against the increase. Immigrants are assumed as a burden on the society in the initial phase; though their productivity, taxes paid on income (as applicable in the region), and taxes paid (while remitting money to their home town) does become beneficial for an economy, however, a local earning a similar amount would be more beneficial for the economy as the constituents of earnings – spending, taxes, savings and investments, would all be running back into the economy as blood to human body (Schrag, 2010). An expatriate would be contributing only the spending and taxes as mentioned earlier. As a result, the sharing of societal benefits becomes not-so-fair towards the locals; though of course the local enjoys more benefits but when compared, the equation becomes unfair to the locals. As previously mentioned, expatriates tend to develop lobbies amongst individuals with similar backgrounds and cultures, which becomes a hurdle for other expatriates as well as for the locals. Subsequently, locals get lesser privileges compared to expatriates in proportion to the contributions that they make for the well being of the economy (Mills, 2007). The rights of locals do get disturbed; for locals, they have to spend their lives in that nation, in most of the cases, while for the expatriates, it is more like an earning opportunity for them, as their ultimate aim is to achieve higher degree of savings and return home for investment and other purposes (Mac Donald, 2007). A major influence on the economy is that with the increase in the outward remittances increase, affecting the balance of payment is a negative indication for the economy as wealth flows out of the region. There are hardly any regions where individuals saving money, invest locally for the progress and prosperity of their well being; whilst in most of the cases, individuals tend to make savings and send it back to their home town for investment and security purposes (Mac Donald, 2007). It is a realizable fact that as mentioned, the points in-favor of the notion i.e. saying that the quotas should be increased have a proper counter argument that negates the impact of the argument itself; however, when it comes to points against the notion stating that the quotas should exist in just the right mix are clearly defined without any counter argument proving these wrong. The country economic think tank is mainly responsible for ensuring that the right mix of locals and expatriates are present in a country so that the negatives and positives of both can be reaped in an effective manner. A good, sensible and well thought ratio defines how well economists determine the present and futuristic needs of the economy and the business that exists in the same. The right mix of diversified group of individuals definitely assist and contribute for the well being of the business as well as the well being of the economy on the whole. Extra burden by means of immigrants lead to flawed planning and consequently a troublesome situation for the locals in particular whose rights of the land are disturbed by excessive individuals crossing the geographical boundaries. Therefore, the economic think-tank must develop an appropriate quota that does not become too relaxing for anyone to cross the border, neither becomes too harsh that creative minds cannot enter the state. Works Cited David S. Weissbrodt and Laura Danielson, Immigration Law and Procedure in a Nutshell, Nutshell Series, 2005 Heather Mac Donald, Victor Davis Hanson, Steven Malanga, and Myron Magnet, The Immigration Solution: A Better Plan Than Today's, 2007 Nicolaus Mills, Arguing Immigration: The Debate Over the Changing Face of America, 2007 Peter Schrag, Not Fit for Our Society: Immigration and Nativism in America, 2010 Read More