Correlation Between Increased Immigration and Violent Crimes - Term Paper Example

Immigration The history of immigration s back to the evolution of mankind. Ever since man intended to descend the tress of African jungle and occupy the land, the tendency to migrate from one part of the globe to the other continued. From Africa to Asia, Europe to America and Australia, the process of migration has never come to a halt. However, the dilemma is that mankind has never been unable to manage the ordinary process of migration in a fine manner. Migration has always been accompanied with violence and misunderstandings and so we have witnessed annihilating consequences. Migration commonly takes place from the poor parts of the world to those of the rich parts. Unfortunately, a small percentage of people occupy the rich parts of the world (17%) while a large percentage of people (83%) occupy the poor parts of the world. The United States of America makes up one-third of the affluent world and is the top destination for those who are seeking immigration to acquire high standards of living. This has created several problems for United States itself as the country is prone to discrimination issues with each fresh arrival of immigrants. Hence, US are compelled to ponder if she should take some rigorous steps to restrict immigration. Immigration is arguably the most critical issue that the concerned authorities consider a challenge for themselves and seem to be bewildered if they should make an attempt to restrict immigration via stringently enforced regulations. However, critics believe that it is in the best interest of United States to embrace immigration following the old methodologies concerning the effects of migration as according to the US jurisdictions. Critics believe that the US government has no right to violate the rights of the immigrants by restricting them through strict rules. Immanuel Kant proposed a Golden Rule which deals with transgression of personal freedom of individuals (Browning 103). Kant believes that each individual must endeavor to treat others in the similar manner as he wishes to be treated by them. This theory can be applied to understand the ordinary yet, complex issue of migration in the United States. Hence, the United States of America should refrain from impeachment of such rules and regulations which their citizens would consider as a source of contravening their personal rights if they were among the underprivileged masses of the world. The privileged masses of the world would certainly oppose any rule or law that would violate their rights. In the same way, the underprivileged masses of the world would not permit anyone to take advantage of their indigent status and devoid them of the opportunities. Further, the Golden rule suggests that prosperousness of one individual should not be gained at the expense of the other. Thus, US can only restrict immigration if she provides some solid proof against the ordinary process of immigration and its baneful impact on the American society. John Dewey believes that an inquiry should be carried out to probe if immigration has negative impacts on the American society or not (Siegfried 19). Such an inquiry intends to highlight the harmful effects of migration and to prove that the devastating effects of migration are significantly huge. However, the recent inquiries have proof that immigration does not violate the rights of the locals of the country, but it serves as a source of collective good for the whole mankind. Thus, restricting immigration would be a choking attempt to detriment the cause of preservation of the well-being of humans. Such an unjust attempt is certain to violate personal freedom of millions of individuals across the world. The contemporary American politics is mainly divided into two spectra, the left political spectrum show great aversion to the process of immigration while the right political spectrum supports it. The traditional conservative politicians in America keep US social order very dear and urges on the idea that an intact social order is necessary for a prosperous American society. They believe that immigration leads to cultural heterogeneity which is a big threat for the establishment of an intact social order. On the other hand, Emile Durkheim supported the idea of cultural pluralism as he believed that cultural diversity is an important ingredient for the formation of a modern society (Andersen 281). He argued that such a modern society must have the capability to deal with people from diverse cultural backgrounds. In order to create a unified society, existence of institutional differentiation is inevitable. Thus, a contemporary society needs not to be offended by the immigrants as cultural homogeneity has no role to play in weakening of the social order. The United States has already witnessed lack of mutual relationship between violent crimes and increased immigration in the recent times which provides enough evidence in favor of the ideas of Emile Durkheim. Even today, correlation between increased immigration and violent crimes cannot be proved. A detailed study was carried out by Lee on the possible relationship between assassinations in Miami, El Paso, San Diego and the immigrants in these regions. These three states are fast becoming the home of the immigrants and Lee inspected the killings that took place from 1985 to 1995. Surprisingly, Lee found out interdependence between poverty and assassinations with immigration having no relationship with the Miami and El Paso killings. It was believed that San Diego killings were a result of intergroup conflict that took place between the new immigrants and the local blacks. Hence, the researchers could not found significant evidences to co-relate poverty and economic insecurity with immigration. Metropolitan cities like New York and Los Angeles experienced decreased in homicides with an increased afflux of immigrants. With both cities having the power to attract great number of immigrants, the homicide rate fall by 48% between 1985 to 2005 in Los Angeles and 66% in New York (BJS 2012). According to US Census Bureau, the number of unauthorized immigrants climbed to half million in 2007, but at the same time there was a decline in the crime rate in Los Angeles and New York by 50% and 60% respectively. Hence, immigration cannot in anyway be considered a source in giving birth to violence. On the other hand, critics oppose strict rules to control immigration as they believe that immigration is an essential element in securing a country’s economy. Harry J. Holzer declared in front of the Senate Judiciary Committee that economists encourage the migration of individuals to US and consider it a safe bet for the economy (Holzer 200). A survey by the American Economic Association revealed that economists abhor any action taken to restrict immigration. An inquiry into this matter was carried out by Moore in 1989 and it was found out through a poll attended by 38 economists that immigration has been favored for over two decades. 80% of these 38 economists had firm faith that immigration process yield positive results in favor of the economy. However, it is important to know the reasons why immigration is favored by the economists. The available data helps us to realize that all economists oppose immigration restrictions. Immigration has no negative impact on the amount of wages that the natives earn. The government budget is also believed not to be affected by the arrival of immigrants; rather a tremendous influx of labor force can be witnessed. Immigrants do not displace the working class natives, but fill the positions abandoned by a great number of natives. Capps, Fix and Fortuny made a surprising revelation in 2007 when they discovered that the number of low-class working natives fall by 1.8 million. The impelling force behind this was that a large number of Americans acquired education and so they left working on low wages. This was believed to be a great setback for the American economy, but as the number of immigrants rose to 620,000, the American labor market got the required number of low-class working immigrants. A number of researchers also studied the fiscal percussion of immigration and based their studies on the assumptions related to payment of taxes by the immigrants. After the 112 annual meeting of AEA, most analysts agreed that change in the volume of immigration would not affect the overall fiscal consequences and thus this aspect should not be considered when formulating policies. The immigrants enjoy quite a lot of benefits which should not be overlooked. As the public policy is to work for the collective welfare of the mankind and every individual has its own moral as well as ethical rights, the government must not endeavor to work for the rights of the natives alone. A large number of immigrants belong to an indigent background. 81% unauthorized immigrants largely belong to Latin America while 57% come from Mexico. Ironically, Mexico is considered to be one of the most advanced states in Latin America yet, half of the population survives in poverty and 1/5th of its population survives in extreme impoverished conditions. Although, unauthorized immigration poses great risks, it can be assumed that a great number of such unauthorized immigrants come from bottom quarter of Latin America. These immigrants survive by earning $2 each day.Today, the immigrant families in USA earn a median income of $36,887. It is still quite low as compared to the median income of natives in America which is $52,027, but it is relatively higher than the income these immigrants abate in the developing parts of the world. Now-a-days, immigrants are prospering at an extraordinary pace. The recent immigrants are enjoying growth in income and decline in the rate of poverty as compared to the natives during the 1990s. The rate of poverty declined by 34.1% and from 34% to 22.4% for the recent immigrants between the years 1994-2000. The natives could only experience a 13.1% increase in their income where as the immigrants enjoyed an increase of 40.5%. It seems that the immigrants are competing well with the natives due to decrease in poverty rates and increase in income. The current conditions have certainly narrowed the gap between the recent immigrants and the natives with a decline of 58% in the poverty rates. According to the recent immigrants, they are fast achieving the goal of economic well-being. It is an undeniable fact that the immigrants constitute a larger proportion of overall population not only in United States of America, but all other states of the world. The American labor force consists of a great number of these immigrants as they have become an imperative part of US labor force. It is believed that the immigrant labor force is playing an integral role in sustaining the high living standards of the American population. According to an analysis carried out in 2002 by the Current Population Survey, immigrants make up 11% of entire US residents with 14% include those of the working class while 20% consists of the low-wage workers. The industries of America which largely include the farming, fishery and forestry industries, own a great number of foreign-born workers. On the other hand, the domestic services of US comprise of more than a third of foreign-born workers. Hence, it can be said that US economy cannot reach current levels of success in absence of a fifth of immigrants working on low wages. For a prosperous American economy, immigrants are a requisite. They do not achieve economic well-being at the expense of depriving the natives of their economic and political rights. They do not hamper the country’s fiscal prosperity nor do they bring a wave of violence with their arrival. The recent evidences are enough to help the US heave a sigh of relief and believe that the immigrants pose no threat to the welfare of the American society. A good number of the immigrants also spend their money on social services. The phenomenon of immigration provides millions of people across the world fascinating chances to grab the opportunities that the developed world offers. It is time to seriously consider the principles of the Golden rule, Kant, Durkheim and Lee and provide relief to the immigrants rather than restricting their immigration rights. Works Cited Andersen, Margaret L., and Howard Francis Taylor. Sociology: understanding a diverse society. 4th ed. Belmont, CA: Wadsworth/Thomson Learning, 2008. Print. Browning, Don S.. From culture wars to common ground: religion and the American family debate. 2nd ed. Louisville, Ky.: Westminster John Knox Press, 2000. Print. Bureau of Justice Statistics (BJS) ." Bureau of Justice Statistics (BJS) . N.p., n.d. Web. 26 Nov. 2012. . Holzer, Harry J., and Demetra S. Nightingale. Reshaping the American workforce in a changing economy. Washington, D.C.: Urban Institute Press, 2007. Print. Siegfried, Charlene Haddock. Feminist interpretations of John Dewey. University Park, Pa.: The Pennsylvania State University Press, 2002. Print. Read More