Illegal Immigration Issue - Research Paper Example

Illegal Immigration Illegal immigration is defined as the migration across national borders that disregards the legal requirements of hose nations. This criminal activity is normally done by those people who arrive in a country legally but continue to stay despite expiration of visa as well as those who cross national borders “through the backdoor” without the required visa (“Wikipedia”). The problem of illegal immigration has sparked numerous debates due to its significant effect not only in the economies of host nations, such as the United States (US) and other developed countries, and the illegal immigrants’ country of origin. This has been a growing problem particularly in the US, such that more than 14.5 million illegal immigrants have been expelled by government agents from 1991 to 2000 (Montgomery). This figure is expected to grow, in light of how the present administration handles the issue. This paper intends to argue that illegal immigration, being a form of criminal offense, should be combated through the implementation and strict enforcement of various laws by the government that may help reduce the incidence of this crime. Furthermore, to support my argument, the adverse effects brought about by illegal immigration, particularly in terms of employment displacement of citizens and incurring of additional social security expenditures of the government, are highlighted. People’s Perception of Illegal Immigration Through the media, the concept of illegal immigration has been highly romanticized. Illegal aliens, as illegal immigrants are commonly referred to, are portrayed as the hardworking border-crossers who strive to provide for their families left behind (Weissinger). Many feel sympathy for the plight of these people who risk their own lives in search for greener pastures. This is the same emotion elicited in me during an interview with Mr. Diaz, an illegal immigrant from Mexico who has been working in a local retail store for a year now. Barely able to speak vocational English, he narrated how extreme poverty in their home land has impelled him to look for a decent job across the border. With his job, he is able to send money to his family with the salary he currently earns, a far cry from how much he would have gotten in Mexico. In the perception of US-based employers, illegal immigrants are viewed as cheap source of unskilled labor, which they could easily tap (Hanson). Note that illegal aliens, given their desperation to immediately land jobs, willingly accept relatively lower wages as compared to the local labor force (“Costs of Immigration”). Others believe that illegal immigration is actually a win-win situation, wherein the poor country from where the illegal alien originated obtains dollars from remittances, while the host nation takes advantage of lower labor cost with the large worker pool made available (Hanson). Given these perceptions, the true issues directly related to illegal immigration are obscured. The subsequent sections reveal what lies beneath the common belief and sheds lights on the effects of immigration on government expenditure, population growth and on other economic factors (Siew-Ean) Displacement of Local Labor Force As mentioned, illegal immigrants are a cheap source of unskilled labor. However, they directly compete with the local labor force, which constitute of American citizens and other legal immigrants or residents. In this regard, it is seen that more and more American workers lose their jobs to illegal aliens. Employers should realize that utilizing this cheap source of labor may create a permanent and steadily growing population composed of workers whose earnings are well below the minimum wage set. This condition may lead to the further reduction of income especially for those who are already below the poverty line (Hayworth). By driving down the prevailing wage levels fro unskilled labor, employers benefit. On the contrary, this reduces the purchasing power of Americans and legal immigrants, thus, directly affecting their welfare and quality of life. The intense competition in the labor market negatively affects the economic prospects of low-skilled American workers (“Costs of Immigration”). Additional Government Expenditure There are various ways by which illegal immigration augments the already bloated government spending. For instance, a lot of communities across the US struggle to provide hospital care to illegal immigrants as well as education for their children. This is especially true for borderline state such as Texas, wherein four out of the ten poorest metropolitan regions are situated (“Costs of Immigration”). This is attributed to the high number of illegal immigrants in these areas who partake in the government’s budget which could have been otherwise allocated for Americans and legal immigrants. Another example is government expenditure on prison in California. The state has over 14,000 illegal aliens who are in prisons. This costs more than 20 times the annual budget set aside for the under-funded academic institution, University of California (Hanson). With these, it becomes evident that illegal immigration use up the national budget by increasing government expenses, which is financed through the taxes paid by legal workers. The fund that could have been used for various government programs to enhance the life of Americans is depleted because of illegal immigration. Other Effects Aside from these, there are also the adverse effect of illegal immigration in the aspect of health and level of crime. For example, unlike the legal migrants whose health conditions have been appropriately screened, some illegal immigrants did not go through the required medical check-up. This increases the risk of spreading communicable disease in the community (Weissinger). Furthermore, there is the observed relation between crime rate and illegal immigration (Hayworth). Certain criminal convictions exclude some immigrants from admission into the US (Weissinger). If immigrants are not properly screened, the government runs the risk of having higher crime rates where illegal immigrants abound. This also aggravates the threat of terrorism since for all we know, some terrorist take advantage of the porous borders and lax regulations on illegal immigration. Conclusion My interview with an illegal immigrant is an eye-opening experience that has made me realize what these people are going through and how much they have to sacrifice to escape the shackle of destitution. However, there is the law that should be followed by everyone to ensure the welfare for the greater number. As it is often asserted, “The law is hard, but it is the law,” meaning that all would have to abide by the rules no matter how difficult or they suffer the consequences. In light of the above discussion, illegal immigration has a negative net effect on the host nation and its citizens. The benefits derived by the few are substantially outweighed by the lack of government funding leading to insufficient social security services. In this regard, the battle against illegal immigration must be continued. Current immigration policies are deemed needing of immediate attention and evaluation (Montgomery). Moreover, there should be serious effort to impose sanctions on American employers who would take advantage of this condition. Now is the time for government to act upon this major problem, otherwise, the nation should be prepared to pay a catastrophic price. Works Cited Academic Journals Montgomery, D. “Impossible Subjects: Illegal Aliens and the Making of Modern America.” Journal of Social History. Yale University. Summer, 2005. Siew-Ean Khoo. “Immigration Issues in Australia.” Journal of Population Research. September 2002. Book Hayworth, J.D. Whatever It Takes. Regnery Publishing, Inc., 2005. Interview Diaz, M. Personal Interview. 10 March 2006 Periodicals and other Internet Sources “Costs of Immigration.” Providence Journal. 28 February 2005. 8 March 2006 Hanson, V.D. “Tackling the issues of immigration in widest viewfinder.” Los Angeles Business Journal. 20 June 2005 Weissinger, G. “The Illegal Alien Problem: Enforcing the Immigration Laws.” New York Institute of Technology. 8 March 2006 Wikipedia. 8 March 2006 Read More