Illegal Immigrants Should Receive Social Services - Assignment Example

Illegal Immigrants Should Receive Social Services Introduction That the number of illegal immigrants in the US is rather high is supported by quite many studies and government statistics. For instance, in December 2012, the Pew Hispanic Center approximated the number of illegal immigrants in the U.S. in March 2011 as 11.1 million. On a rather positive note, this figure was a drop from the previous two years, a reported decline from its 2007 peak of 12 million illegal immigrants. Several reasons for this decline have been recorded, the first being the drop in the number of new immigrants from Mexico, which is undeniably the largest county of origin of illegal immigrants (Cull & Carrasco, p. 255). That the number of illegal immigrants is on the decline is supported by studies across the board.

However, the contentious issue about illegal immigrants is whether they should receive social services such as food stamps, welfare, and medical care or not (Borjas, p. 1335). This paper explores this issue, taking the stance that illegal immigrants should receive social services. Specifically, the socioeconomic benefits of illegal immigrants are cited as the reasons for this stance. The Reasons Illegal Immigrants Should Receive Social Services The first aspect in which illegal immigrants benefit the country economically is through consumer demand.

That is, the economic activities undertaken by illegal immigrants’ spending offers employment to approximately 5% of the entire US workforce (Briggs, p. 193). In addition, illegal immigrants are tenants to quite a number of land and house owners in the country, thus providing income for these citizens. The other aspect in which illegal immigrants economically benefit the country and therefore ought to receive social services is in respect to employment. In fact, many employers really benefit from the illegal status of these immigrants.

For instance, employers exploit desperate illegal immigrants who are more than willing to accept poor pay and work in unhealthy conditions. Because of the employer-advantages associated with hiring illegal immigrants, employers pay less in non-wage costs and welfare contributions (Cull & Carrasco, p. 255). Hence, to compensate for this situation, illegal immigrants should enjoy social services such as food stamps, welfare, and medical care. Support for illegal immigrants is also based on the taxes they contribute towards the building of economy.

Unfortunately, most opponents argue that illegal immigrants do not pay taxes and that illegal immigrants consume more services than they contribute taxes. Nothing could be further from the truth. In the US, IRS (Internal Revenue Services) reports that approximately six million illegal immigrants file individual income tax returns annually (Cull & Carrasco, p. 255). The fact that illegal immigrants contribute towards the Social Security and Medicare directly to support older US citizens is the other ground on which they should be supported to enjoy social services.

The fact that illegal immigrants are not authorized to enjoy social security and Medicare services makes it humane that they be considered for other social services. In addition, the Internal Revenue Service issues people with Individual Taxpayer Identification Numbers (ITIN) without considering their immigration status (Cull & Carrasco, p. 255). This ITIN issuance implies that both resident and nonresident aliens have Federal tax return and payment responsibilities under the Internal Revenue Code.

What is more, illegal immigrants also pay social security payroll taxes but are not entitled to be beneficiaries. It has also been reported that illegal immigrants pay more taxes than the same groups or people that want them ousted or denied social services. That is, illegal immigrants could be supporting social life in the US than some of those groups and individuals opposed to their access to the same services. Since they pay taxes and taxes are the foundation of social security, welfare, unemployment benefits, and Medicare, it is only logical that illegal immigrants enjoy these benefits (Briggs, p. 193). In these ways and others, illegal immigrants pay more to and support social services than they actually enjoy or receive from these services.

In essence, illegal immigrants pay taxes on social security, Medicare, and unemployment insurance while they are locked out of enjoying any of the benefits associated with these services. In other terms, illegal immigrants support a social welfare system they do not benefit from. Unlike wealthy US citizens who create debt for social services instead of increasing the net worth of social security, Medicare, and unemployment, illegal immigrants support the same social services (Briggs, p. 193).

Thus, illegal immigrants boost the net worth of the US social system via funding. Regrettably, they do not use the services or the money placed therein (Briggs, p. 193). From these arguments, it is clear that illegal immigrants fund the country’s social programs, thereby contributing the entire nation’s wellbeing. Instead of assisting them by making social services accessible to them, the country is constantly trying to get rid of illegal immigrants. Thus, as long as they are in the country, U.S. citizens and government should allow illegal immigrants to enjoy social services such as welfare, unemployment benefits, Medicare, and food stamps among others (Briggs, p. 193). Conclusion Whether illegal immigrants should receive social services continues to be a hotly debated issue in the immigration subject in the U.S. Several reasons support the assertion that illegal immigrants should enjoy such services.

These reasons are; illegal immigrants pay taxes, offer cheap labor, contribute to social services, and pay taxes on social security, Medicare, and unemployment insurance. Works Cited Borjas, G. The Labor Demand Curve is Downward Sloping: Reexamining the Impact of Immigration on the Labor Market, 2003. The Quarterly Journal of Economics, 118(4): 1335. Briggs, V. M. The State of U.S. Immigration Policy: The Quandary of Economic Methodology and the Relevance of Economic Research to Know. 2009. Journal of Law, Economics and Policy, 5(1): 193. Cull, N. J.

, and Carrasco, D. Alambrista and the US-Mexico Border: Film, Music, and Stories of Undocumented Immigrants. 2004. University of New Mexico Press.