US Immigration Policy And How It Affects US Economy - Research Paper Example

US Immigration Policies And Their Impact On The Economy Immigration has been one of the shaping pillars for the United States as a nation, probably more than any other economic, social, or political process. In the past, several transformations concerning the country’s social and economic landscapes, driven by immigration, have occurred in distinct historical times. In this regard, the US Congress has been enacting immigration policies since 1882. It is important to note that few or no legal restrictions were in place before the 1830s. Thesis: This research paper will identify the immigration policies in the US, and their impact on the nation’s economy. The paper also explores the 1882 Chinese Exclusion Act and the consequent 1986 Immigration Reform and Control Act. Some people refer to the US as a country of immigrants, and with good reason. According to studies, most individuals in the country are descendants of someone who arrived in the country as an immigrant. Some of these individuals paid their way to the country, or indentured servants and slaves. The major sources of immigration reports in the late 1800s and early 1900s include the Passenger Lists, census materials, company records, and Congressional reports (Anderson 5). The Passenger list was a result of an 1819 law requiring all ships carrying passengers arriving in the US from foreign ports to file the list of passengers with the port authorities. This has been the basis for immigration historical statistics in the US in 1976. The passenger list incorporated the passenger’s names, age, gender, origin, occupation, and status of arrival. Causes of immigration were diverse, including differences in real wages between country of origin and the US, degree of industrialization in the country compared to the US, and the political and economic conditions in the US at the time of immigration. Before the year 1882, there was no legal restriction concerning immigration of people into the US. Anyone who had a desire to enter the nation would do so at will and from any point of entry as there was no specific point o0f entry into the country before 1855. Most of the US citizens were not against immigration, until the early 1830s. The main concern during this period was the increase in the number new immigrants in relative and absolute terms in the population, and that most of the arriving immigrants were Catholics and unskilled individuals. The natives concern of immigration was illustrated openly when the Know Nothings dominated the political elections in the 1854 run offs (Soennichsen 4). The Know Nothings’ politicians were against the Catholics and their influence to the American society. Their native-oriented political party, the American Party, was against the immigration of Irish and Germany Roman Catholics, and was fast to influence the decision of how fast the immigrants could become voting citizens in the country. Their influence in the Congress was an instrumental in the nation’s focus on the immigration issues. The first legal regulations for immigration into the US were targeting the Asian community, with the first being the Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882, under the administration of President Chester A. Arthur (Soennichsen 67). According to the law, regulations were in place to prohibit Chinese citizens from immigrating into the US on any conditions. There were further amendment to law, enabling it to remain in effect until the Second World War. Part of the Chinese Exclusion Act was against the immigration of “idiots, lunatics, and convicts” into the US population. The Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882 was part of a long-standing anti-Chinese sentiment since their immigration into the country during the gold rush era. The act was initially set to ban the immigration of the Chinese citizens for ten-year duration, but was extending it indefinitely in 1904. During the gold rush era, most Chinese citizens fled form their country in search of employment opportunities from their falling economy. There was looming poverty, and the free entry to the US provided an opportune chance for them to escape poverty. On arrival to the country, the Chinese immigrants became an exploited labor force for the Americans, notably the California natives. The “small” wages they were receiving from the Americans was relatively high in comparison to their 1850s economy. Most of the Chinese became miners, while others ventured into the laundry business (especially in San Francisco where the business was lucrative). The Californians were the first to stage an opposition against the Chinese. Americans from the East had the experience of native attitudes during the gold rush. Other non-Americans, notably from Ireland and Russia, also had an experience with eastern native effects. In summary, the Chinese were facing opposition and discrimination from many groups, even the American miners who saw them as a reason for the reduction of their wages due the Chinese low wage rates and hard work. The 1870s were years when financial crisis began in the US, and the Chinese were the scapegoats. Their characteristics of keeping to themselves, hard work, and queuing made the natives laboring of the time hate them. Suddenly there were legislations whose objectives were to limit the success of the Chinese workers, including the laundry-operation fees, and the immigrations taxes. After the legislations, propaganda and demonstrations began against the Chinese workers, calling them “the bad smelling cheap workers”, and insulting anti-Chinese slogans. The racial tensions were the pressurizing force behind the passing of the Chinese Exclusion Act in 1882, banning the immigration of Chinese citizens into the US for a period of ten years. Another act, the Geary Act, was an extension of the ban for another ten years until 1902 (Daniels & Graham 8). Through the 1904 Extension Act, the ban was a law, banning the Chinese immigrants permanently. Despite these legislations, most immigrants were still entering the US by bypassing the regulations. After the 1906 earthquakes, which destroyed most family records held by the nation, immigrants from China changed their name in an effort to join their “relatives” in the US. This move saw an influx in the number of Chinese into the US, resulting to the creation of a prison-like detention center in San Francisco for Chinese immigrants. The government justified their action by highlighting the scarcity of jobs in the country and the willingness of the Chinese immigrants to work for little wages, thus stealing the only jobs available for the Americans. Another of their reasons was that the Chinese workers were taking a huge load of gold back to china, which was America’s wealth. After sixty-one years of immigration ban to the US, the Congress enacted a law that would once again allow Chinese citizens to legally enter the country and become natural citizens. The 1943 Chinese Exclusion Repeal Act was a result of political motivation. The US and the China became allies after the Second World War, and the American government wanted to maintain a good sentiment with the nation. Angel Island, the detention center in San Francisco for illegal Chinese immigrants, changed and the prisoners became free. This was an achievement for the American-Chinese citizens and the Chinese people in general. Nevertheless, the American image remains tainted by their inhumane acts and racist policies towards the Chinese people into the nineteenth and twentieth century. The Chinese immigrants were a source of low-skilled and cheap laborers, of great benefit to the US economy at the time. The 1870s economic downturn was a result of the Civil War between the north and south, and not a result of Chinese immigrants. From another angle of arguments, the American natives were not willing to work in the fields and at the low wages that the Chinese workers accepted. The enactment of the immigration ban against the Chinese was an economic blow to the US. The labor force went down, as well as the economic growth of the country at the time (Borjas 62). In addition, the Chinese and Asians began organizing boycotts of American goods, as wide as the Philippines. This had a negative impact on the US economy for sometime. Another negative impact on the enactment of the Chinese Exclusion Act was the decline in the immigration taxes and laundry charges for the government. Despite their small significance, these taxes were a source of revenue for the government. The laundry business was lucrative in San Francisco during those times, which in effect translated to relatively good revenues in taxes. The US government was continuously enacting the immigrations regulations with time. After the indefinite extension of the Chinese bans, the next country of target was Japan. Through a gentlemen’s agreement with Japan in 1907, immigration of its nationals began to decline significantly in the US. There were more concerns on the nationality of its immigrants in the preceding years. In 1917, the Congress began efforts to regulate the immigration problem by establishing an immigration commission under the leadership of Senator William Dillingham (Hing 28). The report of this commission recommended a literacy test for immigrants, passing as law in 1917. The next legislation was the Quotas Act and National Origins Act in the 1920s (Hing 51). The acts, especially the Quota Act, were the foundation for the change of immigration policy in the US. In 1924, the National Origins Act passed Congress. Its requirement was that immigrants obtain passports in American consulates abroad. The next major immigration legislation was the 1965 Immigration and Nationality Act, which partly abolished the quotas basis of nationality. Another significant immigration policy went through the US Congress in 1986, under President Reagan’s administration: the Immigration Reform and Control Act (IRCA). The act made it illegal for employers to hire immigrants without proper identification, or to continue with the terms of employment to an individual unauthorized to work (Lemay 17). In addition, the act also gave amnesty to the illegal immigrants already in the country at that time, and preserved their jobs: provided they gave proof that, they had been living in the country since January 1, 1982. The act was a major change in the country’s policies on immigration, granting amnesty to close to 3 million illegal immigrants. The Reagan administration saw the best way to deal with immigration was to take away the main objective of entering the country: jobs and government benefits. The act imposes sanctions on employers who knowingly hire employee not authorized to work in the country. It also requires the employers to verify and check the employees’ documents, including the natives. Government benefits applicants also underwent the same scrutiny. The result of the sanctions on employers was going to have a profound impact on discrimination on immigrant employees (Hing 115). To counter this problem, the IRCA had a provision that penalized employees who discriminated against immigrant employees. The effects of the policy had a negative impact to the immigrants who had been working in America for many years. The act also had a provision to help the workers attain legal citizenship while maintaining their right to work. The effects of the sanctions were most severe in the agricultural sector where most of the workers are low-skilled immigrants on low wages. For some period after the imposition of the act, the agricultural sector was suffering from inadequate shortage in work force (Borjas 87). In response to this, the IRCA increased the number of temporary visas issued to immigrants to counter the shortage. This was after the agricultural sector had experienced a loss in revenue due to labor problems (Lemay 32). The unwillingness of natives to work in the fields, combined with low wage rates allowed the immigrants to work in the US. Despite its achievements in reducing the rate of illegal immigrations in the US, the act introduced discrimination into workplaces based on nationality. The immigrants are beneficial to the economy of the US in five major ways. First, they engage in technical fields whose achievements are beneficial to all citizens of the country. This is evident from the government’s interest in innovative and scientific immigrants. Secondly, the immigrants expand the US market size of a variety of goods and services, which lead to a low production costs due to growth in firm size (West 6). Third, many immigrants are between 18 and 35 years, meaning the educational expenses are paid in the US. Fourth, the immigrants also contribute to the nations’ revenue through taxes. Lastly, immigrants move to the US during seasons of high employment, thus no negative effect on the employment of natives. Some of the policies introduced negate these benefits, consequently harming the economy of the country. Currently, the percentage of foreign-born employees in the US lies at 51%, higher than that of the natives. This is significant considering theta the foreigners account for only 11.3 percent of the overall US population, and a mere 14% of the country’s labor force. Many of the foreign workers immigrated into the country during the boom years between 1996 and 2000, shooting their share of jobs to 44 percent. The current situation means that foreigners occupy more job positions than the natives do, but there is need to understand why. Immigrant workers have more options, as they can exit the labor market and pursue other goals, like education and the likes. There is also the concern for the types of jobs that immigrant workers have considering that natives shun away from some types of jobs, which foreigners would gladly take. Both the 1882 act and the 1986 act have several things in common. The first is significant decline in low skilled labor in the US agricultural and manual sector. The immigrants are hard workers without much concern on wage rates (partly because the rates are comparatively higher than those in their countries of origin are). The cheap and diligent work force is an enhancement tool for the productivity of the American economy, and the purchasing power of its citizens. The main economic benefit of the immigrants lies in their capability in production. They carry out some of the essential but lowly paid tasks in the country, giving natives the free time to work on other economic sectors. The second benefit that declines with imposition of policies against immigration is the purchasing power of American citizens. Cheap labor reduces the cost of production of goods and services, increasing the purchasing power of the customers in the country (Bergsten 344). In addition, both the acts were bases for discrimination in the economy of the country. From another perspective, the enactment of the two acts was significant to the labor market. The immigrants were affecting the wage rates, as they accepted to work even under low wages. This in effect led to decline of wage rates in the labor market, with no universal standard for application. After the acts, the government moved in to save the declining wage rates that were declining rapidly due to the large labor market from immigrants. The result was raising, and consequent implementation, of the minimum wage, which was a great step towards the growth of the US economy (Anrig & Wang). Better wages raise the standards of living in any country, thus improving its economy. There is evidence that the influx of immigrants before the acts was a motivation for the natives to complete education and enhance their skills. The immigrants were a push for the natives up the occupational ladder in the country (Anderson 169). The effect of eliminating the immigrants would have an impact on the economic standing of the entire country. Contrasting the two acts, the 1882 was imposing a total ban of Chinese immigrants. The effect of this was that the economic elements in possession of Chinese workers would be lost. Another economic impact was the fact that Chinese workers provided an excellent workforce compared to the natives (Wharton). In addition, the revenues resulting from immigrant taxes and laundry fee charges were lost, obviously having an impact on the economy of the US. The 1986 amnesty for immigrants meant that they were legal citizens in the US. This includes their accumulated wealth and revenues to the government. In conclusion, some of the immigration policies work against the economy of the US (Anrig & Wang). The cheap and available labor by immigrants provides a resourceful large market for employees in sectors where the natives shun employment, and is lost because of some of the policies. Immigrants’ contribute enormously to the economy of US, and its regulation needs careful consideration of economic and national factors. Works cited Anderson, Stuart. Immigration. California: ABC-CLIO Inc, 2010. Print. Anrig, Greg & Wang, Tova Andrea. Immigration, Jobs and the American Economy. Web 28 Nov. 2011. Bergsten, C. Fred. The United States and the World Economy: Foreign Economic Policy for the Next Decade. Washington D.C: Institute for International Economics. Print. Borjas, George J. Heaven’s Door: Immigration Policy and the American Economy. New Jersey: Princeton University Press, 2001. Print. Daniels, Roger & Graham, Otis L. Debating American Immigration, 1882-Present. Maryland: Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, Inc, 2001. Print. Hing, Bill Ong. Defining America through Immigration Policy. Philadelphia: Temple University Pres, 2004. Print. Lemay, Michael. U.S Immigration. California: ABC-CLIO Inc, 2004. Print. Soennichsen, John. The Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882. California: ABC-CLIO Inc, 2011. Print. West, Darrell M. Brain gain: Rethinking U.S Immigration Policy. Washington D.C: The Brookings Institution, 2010. Print. Wharton. The Immigration Debate: Its Impact on Workers, Wages and Employers. Web 28 Nov. 2011. Read More