Major Causes and Effects of Immigration - Report Example

Major Causes and Effects of Immigration Introduction Throughout history, immigrants have left their home countries to start a new life in a foreign land for many reasons. I’m for immigration into America, therefore, we shouldn’t ban immigrants from coming to the United States because they come here for the same reasons why were here. Many immigrants come to America to gain economic opportunities, to escape religious persecution, and to avoid poverty. Economic opportunity is the main reason why immigrants want to come to America. They want more money. Back at home, immigrants work for low pay or no pay jobs. They don’t make enough money to support themselves and their family. When immigrants come to the United States they are able to make more money to help them survive. Immigrants also want better jobs. They want to work in areas where they know it’s safe and clean, and they also want to escape the troubles of harsh labor. They need better jobs so they can have an equal status in the economic system. "Many come seeking educational opportunities or are recruited to fill jobs in the US for which specialized skills are required (engineering and medicine among other fields). Others seek political asylum or religious asylum from autocratic or theocratic governments at home." (http://regentsprep.org) Immigrants wanting to escape religious persecution is another reason why the want to come to the United States. America is one of the many countries that offer religious freedom. In the United States you are allowed to express your beliefs without getting criticized. With religious freedom you don’t have to practice your religion in secret. You don’t have to worry about being be persecuted for what you believe. Everybody doesn’t have the same beliefs, so there isn’t anybody who can discriminate in what you believe. There is no religious warfare. You don’t have to kill each other to make a point about what you believe in. In America, everybody is treated equally in what they believe. Poverty is the last reason why immigrants leave their countries to come to America.  I would say that wealth is the main reason why immigrants want to escape poverty. They come to the United States to become wealthy, instead of living in bad conditions at home. They won’t have to worry about being poor anymore. They want and need to escape starvation because, that is the # 1 killer of poverty stricken countries. You won’t have to worry about being mal-nutritious. They will be living a happier and healthier life. Inflation is something they really need to escape. Inflation makes immigrants lives rough, but when they get to the United States they won’t have such a hard time buying things. When they come to America, they won’t have to worry about paying a high price for something they could have usually afforded. Immigrants come to the United States out of their own free will, but many were also forced to leave their homeland.  They come to seek religious freedom, better living conditions, and a chance to improve their own lives.  The push came from conditions in Europe that some immigrants found intolerable.  Religious intolerance also drove the oppressed to pull up stakes, forsake family, friends, and community risk a sea voyage for many weeks and plant new roots in America. (Carol, 94)  When the immigrants arrived they were put to work. Once they found out that there was cheap land, religious tolerance and low taxes more and more people began to enter the U.S., which started the cause of several different problems. One question to be asked is should the Government strictly control immigration or should they ease their immigration control?  Many people support immigration, but fear the policy would lead to mass amounts of newcomers, which would disrupt the culture and society that we live in. A continued dependence on cheap labor imported from poverty stricken countries threatens to re-create third world conditions in the United States. People believe that because of immigration, America is becoming over populated. I believe that the federal government has failed miserably at controlling the border.  Thousands of people cross over from Mexico annually without a soul knowing they have done it.  They simply jump the border and start working wherever cheap labor is needed.  The real question of immigration is not about principles, it’s about numbers.  U.S. laws allow 100,000 immigrants a year.  Just controlling the border isn’t enough.  The federal government continues to reward those who violate U.S. law and enter the country illegally. "The US Immigration and Naturalization Service estimates that some five million people are living in the United States without permission, and the number is growing by about 275,000 a year. Native-born Americans and legal immigrants worry about the problem of illegal immigration. Many believe that illegal immigrants (also called "illegal aliens") take jobs from citizens, especially from young people and members of minority groups. Moreover, illegal aliens can place a heavy burden on tax-supported social services". (http://immigration.about.com) The government forces the states to give health care education and other benefits to people who get into the country without a green card.  I feel that illegal immigration should be reduced in order to keep the United States environment and culture from diluting. Many Americans feel that the federal government should ease their immigration control. Several people believe that the government should open the borders and have open immigration.  Increased immigration to the United States would help to contribute to the country’s technological advancement, help with labor needs, increase tax revenues, and improve U.S. competitiveness in the world economy.  Immigrants improve the job market by increasing the demand for labor. People believe that the only way to raise the nations productivity is to change its immigration policies to favor skilled workers.  The idea that open immigration is the key to a resurgence of America’s economy and, consequently a resumption of the material improvement of the American lifestyle seems radical to mast Americans.  It is also said that restricting immigration would be very dangerous.  It could accelerate the gradual decline of the American economy.  An increase of immigration would allow the United States to meet many of their goals. One positive aspect is an increase in technological advances, due to people with scientific talent entering.  It will also satisfy businesses.  Immigration will cut down on using tax revenues and help eliminate the federal deficit.  It will allow us to be more competitive with other countries.  Immigration will also allow many people to enjoy life in the United States.  All the U.S. needs to achieve these goals is to loosen its grip on the border and allow more skilled immigrants to come in. "If you allow more unskilled workers into the U.S., it will lower costs for employers. It will also lower wages for people who do those jobs. Its clearly a political question. If you want to benefit low-skill American workers, you reduce illegal immigration. Its important to have a very clear conversation on the choice we want to make." (http://knowledge.wharton.upenn.edu) Thousands of people are trying to get into the U.S each year that is willing to work, but we ruin their opportunity by restricting immigration.  People believe that by increasing immigration the United States will be more productive and successful in the future to come.  Americans feel that immigration is a big part of this. Incomes of low wage American workers have been decreasing for almost two decades. They feel that the reason for this is the large number of unskilled people, many of whom are illegal immigrants. It is very unlikely that these people’s wages will recover unless the flow of undocumented workers into the country is heavily reduced. Basically immigrants are coming to our country doing the same jobs we are, but working for less money. Because of this it is putting a hold on our wages and income. "Economic needs-driven immigration is opposed by labor-market protectionists, often arguing from economic nationalism. The core of their arguments is that a nations jobs are the ‘property’ of that nation, and that allowing foreigners to take them is equivalent to a loss of that property. They may also criticized immigration of this type as a form of corporate welfare, where business is indirectly subsidized by government expenditure to promote the immigration and the assimilation of the immigrants."(http://en.wikipedia.org) Americans believe that immigration should be reduced to strengthen U.S. competitiveness. Since the end of World War II, many unskilled workers have been allowed to immigrate to the United States. Due to an overabundance of cheap labor Americans have failed to advance technology. Compared to other developed countries the United States economic competitiveness is poor. In order for Americas economic strength to improve the immigration of illegal aliens should be reduced to a small number of skilled workers, which in most cases would strengthen U.S. competitiveness. "Job creation through immigrant entrepreneurship receives little attention in the immigration policy discussion. Indian and Chinese entrepreneurs appear to have founded nearly one-third of Silicon Valley’s technology companies, according to research by University of California, Berkeley professor Annalee Saxenian. She writes, “Silicon Valleys new foreign-born entrepreneurs are highly educated professionals in dynamic and technologically sophisticated industries. And they have been extremely successful. By 2000, these companies collectively accounted for more than $19.5 billion in sales and 72,839 jobs.” (www.nfap.com) The only reason for slow growth of labor productivity is because of the loss of competitive advantages of many U.S. products in recent years. This problem is somewhat the result of low levels of U.S. research development and investment, compared to our competitors, Japan and Germany. The reduction of immigration will not solve America’s economic problems, but it will help tremendously with our competitiveness. Another aspect of immigration is illegal immigrants treated fairly?  Many Americans feel that immigrants are treated very unfairly.  Illegal immigrants are one of the most powerless of any group of workers in this country, which is all the more reason immigration should be halted.  Current records show that there are between 2.5 and 4 million illegal or undocumented immigrants in the United States.  A large number of these immigrants are seasonal workers, here for a few months at a time; some come and go at the beginning and end of the workweek.  Many of these undocumented immigrants do not have regular jobs and are not associated with unions.  When these immigrants do find a job they are exposed to very poor and hazardous working conditions.  An estimated 70% of undocumented workers pay taxes, but they are not eligible for most federal benefits. (Carol, 91) Even the benefits and services that the immigrants have access to are always being questioned.  For example immigrants have been turned away from housing because they were suspected of being undocumented.  Abuse and unfair treatment is not just in the workplace, but also throughout the lives of the immigrants.  From this we see that the lives of illegal or undocumented immigrants are a constant battle from day to day.  Conclusion In conclusion, many immigrants from many different countries come to America to gain economic opportunities, to escape religious persecution and to escape poverty. When immigrants come to the America for economic opportunities all they want is more money, better jobs, and a better life for themselves and their families. They want to escape religious persecution, because the United States offers religious freedom, they won’t get persecuted for what they believe in, and there is no religious warfare. Lastly, they want to escape poverty because they want to become wealthy, they to avoid starvation, and they want to escape inflation. My main points are the reason why immigrants want to come to America. There might be more reasons why they want to come to the here, but I would say that I covered the three main reasons. You guys shouldn’t ban immigrants from coming to the United States, because they want to come here for the same reasons why we’re here. If you let immigrants come into the United States we could actually benefit from having them. When you let them in, they can take the skills or techniques they learned here, home wit them and make their country a better place to live. Why don’t you put your feet in their shoes to see what they go through everyday, and think about what you is doing not letting them in? Don’t ban them, let them in. Works Cited Jennifer & Peter Wipf, Historical Snapshot of US Immigration Retrieved from http://immigration.about.com/od/usimmigrationhistory/a/ImmigrationUS.htm on October 5, 2007 Modern Era Immigration. Retrieved from http://regentsprep.org/Regents/ushisgov/themes/immigration/modern_immigration.htm on October 5, 2007 Immigration. Retrieved from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Immigration on October 5, 2007 The Immigration Debate: Its Impact on Workers, Wages and Employers. Retrieved from http://knowledge.wharton.upenn.edu/article.cfm?articleid=1482 on October 5, 2007 Carol M. Swain. Debating Immigration. Cambridge University Press, 2007: 89-95 The Debate Over Immigration’s Impact on U.S. Workers and the Economy. Retrieved from http://www.nfap.com/researchactivities/studies/EDO0706.pdf on October 5, 2007 Read More