How Much Did Immigrants Contribute to the US Economic Boom - Case Study Example

Immigration The term immigration refers to the move made by an individual or a group from their native country to another nation with the mindset of settling in that nation in order to reap the benefit that the nation has to offer. United States of America is a nation where immigration is considered as beneficial as well as disadvantageous for the nation and the members of its society. This is because every year a huge number of immigrants leave their homeland and move to America with the aim of living a better life. This movement has resulted in a hot debate between different members of the society of United Sates. The policy makers as well as the general population hold a different view regarding immigration and the laws associated with it. Certain percentage of the population is in favor of strict laws and regulations, while others support relaxed regulations. The debate even focuses on whether there should be easier pathways for naturalization or strict rules should be implemented to make the route to naturalization difficult for illegal immigrants. The stakeholders are even concerned about whether legal or illegal immigrants pose a threat or are beneficial for the society of United Sates. Prevalence A huge number of immigrants enter the United States through illegal as well as legal methods from various nations including Mexico, Guatemala and various other regions. The Homeland Security is the United States based governmental organization that has the responsibility to protect the borders as well as the entire United States and is quite actively trying to enforce the laws of United States that are related to immigration. The Homeland Security reported that during the period of 2013 a total of more than 0.66 million immigrants entered or tried to enter the United States and were apprehended by them and the major percentage of the immigrants belonged to the region of Mexico (Simanski 1). Opinions Regarding Immigration The entire nation along with the two major political parties of the United States including the Democrats and the Republicans are quite divided regarding their opinion about immigration and laws concerning immigration. The Democrats are largely in favor of immigrants and are against the implementation of strict immigration laws and they have exhibited this while voting for and against regulations proposed in the senate. According to Hajnal, no democrat within the Arizona Legislature voted in favor of SB 1070 during the period of 2010 (Hajnal 1). The purpose of SB 1070 was to increase the severity of laws regarding immigration and the law required that the immigrants should carry their documents and their documents could be checked by a police official if they are arrested. On the other hand, the Republican Party and their members have persistently used their powers to promote strict immigration laws. Hajnal even states that during the period of 2010, when voting was being conducted to enact SB 1070, 1 of the republicans in the state of Arizona voted in favor of the bill (Hajnal 1). The general population which now comprises of a huge number of immigrants and nonnatives is even divided on the issue of immigration and laws concerning immigration. According to Ehrenfreund, a poll was conducted by the Wall Street Journal in order to identify the number of people who are in favor or against a new policy regarding immigration that was unveiled by the president of the United States. Ehrenfreund states that the poll helped in identifying the 48% of the United States citizens who took part in the poll were opposing against the law because the law relaxed other rules and regulations that were made to restrict immigration (Ehrenfreund 1). Reasons In Favor Of Relaxed Laws Of Immigration One of the reasons due to which the supporters of immigration are in favor of relaxed immigration laws is that immigrants help the economy of the United States. According to Khimm, the immigrant population of the region of Texas has helped the region in attaining economic as well as job growth. Khimm states that 20% of the total labor force of the Texas comprises of immigrants who work in low paying jobs such as agricultural and construction sector (Khimm 1). Other than providing low paid services to the state of Texas, the immigrant population is even adding more to the reserves of the state of Texas. Khimm cites a report that states that illegal immigrant in Texas were helping the state earn a total revenue of $1.56 billion during the period of 2006 and at the same time the government’s total expenditure on this population was only $1.16 billion (Khimm 1). This means that immigrants in Texas were providing a net benefit of $0.40 billion in one single year to the state of Texas. Those in favor of immigrants even state that the argument of immigrant population stealing jobs from the natives lacks substance. They state that the unemployment trends of both the population are similar and the illegal immigrant population mostly takes those jobs that are frowned upon by the native population. Khimm states that during the period of 2009 when the state of Texas was hit by recession the unemployment rate of immigrant population was 0.6 percent while the unemployment rate of natives was 0.5 percent (Khimm 1). Reasons Against Relaxed Laws Of Immigration There are several reasons due to which the opponents and the Republicans are against relaxed immigration laws. One of the Republicans named Jeff Sessions who is a senator stated that relaxed laws such as the law that was created by President Obama which offered amnesty to more than 5 million immigrants are not in favor of the natives of the United States (Zezima 1). He stated that in an economy where the natives are finding it difficult to gain employment, relaxation provided to immigrants will increase these difficulties and it was in favor of the natives that such laws are not implemented. Due to this the Republicans have decided to drag Obama to the court and are trying to ensuring the court stops the passage of such laws. Furthermore relaxed immigration laws are even opposed because such laws increases the burden of the government of United States and these laws even steal the rights of the natives in relation to social services provided by the government. DeMint reports a study that states that if the amnesty that president Obama is seeking to provide to the immigrant population is enacted, the immigrant population will cost more to the United States and will have lower benefits to offer. The report further states that if the legislation is enacted, the immigrant population will seek more than $9 trillion benefits from the government and will only pay $3 trillion in shape of taxes to the government and this would result in a burden or net loss of more than $6 trillion that the government of US will have to bare (DeMint 1). Current Efforts Made By Stakeholders The current president of the United States is quite in favor of relaxed rules and regulations regarding immigration and has decided to provide amnesty to the immigrant population. In order to solve the issue of immigration in United States the president has announced a new executive order that will benefit the immigrant population and will even result in several changes being made to the immigration policies that will help in safeguarding the homeland. Due to this executive order a total of nearly 4 million individuals who are parents to legal US citizens are to be recognized as legal members of the United States (Nakamura 1). Furthermore this order will be consider more than 0.3 million children who immigrated to the nation in an illegal manner were even to be provided with legal status (Nakamura 1). But at the same time the order comes with certain requirements that may simply result in the deportation of several legal and illegal immigrants. On the other hand the Republicans are against this move of president Obama and are taking every necessary step to restrict the president and these steps including filing law suit against the executive order. At the same time the Republicans have not made many efforts to increase strict anti-immigration laws as they have not voted for such bills in the past 1 year or more (Sargent 1). On the other hand the democrats have shown unprecedented support for the amnesty that president Obama aims at providing the immigrant populations (Sargent 1). Works Cited DeMint, Jim. Amnesty For Illegal Immigrants Will Cost America. Washington Post. N.p., 2013. Web. 15 Dec. 2014.< http://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/amnesty-for-illegal-immigrants-will-cost-america/2013/05/06/e5d19afc-b661-11e2-b94c-b684dda07add_story.html> Ehrenfreund, Max. Your Complete Guide To Obama’S Immigration Executive Action. Washington Post. N.p., 2014. Web. 15 Dec. 2014.< http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/wonkblog/wp/2014/11/19/your-complete-guide-to-obamas-immigration-order/> Hajnal, Zoltan. The Democrats’ Immigration Problem. Nytimes.com. N.p., 2014. Web. 15 Dec. 2014.< http://www.nytimes.com/2014/11/21/opinion/the-democrats-immigration-problem.html> Khimm, Suzy. How Much Did Illegal Immigrants Contribute To Texas’ Economic Boom?. Washington Post. N.p., 2011. Web. 15 Dec. 2014.< http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/wonkblog/post/how-much-did-illegal-immigrants-contribute-to-texas-economic-boom/2011/08/19/gIQASvBFQJ_blog.html> Nakamura, David. Obama Acts On Immigration, Announcing Decision To Defer Deportations Of 4 Million. Washington Post. N.p., 2014. Web. 15 Dec. 2014.< http://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/obama-acts-on-immigration-announcing-decision-to-defer-deportations-of-4-million/2014/11/20/9a5c3856-70f6-11e4-8808-afaa1e3a33ef_story.html> Sargent, Greg. Democrats Face Major Challenges In Selling Executive Action. Washington Post. N.p., 2014. Web. 15 Dec. 2014.< http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/plum-line/wp/2014/11/19/democrats-face-major-challenges-in-selling-executive-action/> Simanski, John F. Immigration Enforcement Actions: 2013. Homeland Security. N.p., 2013. Web. 15 Dec. 2014. < http://www.dhs.gov/sites/default/files/publications/ois_enforcement_ar_2013.pdf> Zezima, Katie, and Robert Costa. Republicans Challenge Obama’S Executive Actions, File Lawsuit Over Obamacare. Washington Post. N.p., 2014. Web. 15 Dec. 2014.< http://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/republicans-call-obama-executive-actions-damaging-to-presidency-file-lawsuit-over-obamacare/2014/11/21/d3720d0e-7192-11e4-893f-86bd390a3340_story.html> Read More