Granting Amnesty To Illegal Aliens Would Be Detrimental To The US Economy - Essay Example

Effect of Amnesty for Illegal Aliens on the United States Economy 2006 Introduction The early wave of immigrants into the United States was during the Gold Rush, when Chinese immigrants came in to work for the railroads of California. Subsequently, a growing number of Asian immigrants have resulted in the emergence of Chinatowns in many other American cities as well. Immigrants from southern Europe till the 1950s and from the Latin American and African impoverished countries have increased the number of ethnic communities in the country. In this paper, I will study the effect of amnesty to illegal aliens on the economy of the United States, particularly with respect to the impact on the welfare system, employment and strain on the criminal justice system. Background Along with the waves of immigration into the United States, the problem of illegal aliens, that is undocumented immigrants, have risen. Most typical of the illegal aliens are the border-crossers from Mexico who earn their living in the United States illegally. In 2002, there were an estimated 8 million illegal aliens, particularly of Hispanic origins, in the United States. Amnesty to illegal aliens in the United States began by the signing of the Immigration Reform and Control Act in 1986 by President Reagan. The Act provided amnesty to all aliens who could provide proof of employment in the United States since 1982. Since 1992, the immigration laws in the United States have been relaxed but at the same time focus on controlling illegal aliens have been increased through felony convictions (Weissinger, 2003). In 2004, however, President Bush supported the bid to give amnesty to illegal aliens along with increased enforcement at the borders to control illegal immigration (Sammon, 2004). In 2006, the Comprehensive Immigration Reform Act has been proposed that would provide amnesty to about 9-10 million illegal aliens. Not only will this result in an additional burden of $16 billion a year in welfare costs, there will be spiraling effects since the proposal includes citizenship to the parents to the immigrants once they become citizens (Rector, 2006). Effect on the welfare system The net fiscal effect of immigration depends on the effective increase of tax revenues as a result of higher employment and the increased welfare costs. In the case of illegal aliens, impact on tax revenues is minimal since the undocumented workers do not pay any tax while welfare costs are incurred to provide increased public goods. The rationale of providing amnesty to illegal aliens is often to legitimize the illegal employees so that tax revenues can be garnered. However, typically most illegal aliens are low-skilled and literate or semi-literate. Nearly half of the immigrants to the United States have less than high school education. On the other hand, there are a large number of immigrants have had out-of-wedlock childbirths, increasing the requirement for welfare costs (Rector, 2006). The proposed immigration act reform would result in the largest expansion of the welfare budget in the United States. Welfare costs: Huddle (1992) estimated that immigration resulted in a net social cost of $43 billion during 1980 and 1990. Borjas (1994) studied cross-sectional data of tax receipts and social transfers for the year 1990 and finds a net surplus of tax over welfare costs. However, Borjas pointed out that almost 90% of the tax revenues are spent on welfare costs for immigrants. Eliminating these spending from the immigrant tax burden, Borjas found a net cost to the national exchequer. Welfare measures in the United States include Food Stamps, temporary assistance to needy families, public housing, earned income credit and Medicaid (Rector, 2006). Tax revenues: Typically, immigrants in the United States have a lower education level than the native-born. The education levels of illegal aliens are even lower than the legal immigrants. About half of the adult illegal immigrants do not possess a high school degree. The level of education is lowest among the illegal immigrants from Mexico and other Hispanic countries, with less than 60 percent having high school degree. As a result, the earning capacity of the immigrants, even after legalization through amnesty, would be low. These people would then continue to remain welfare-dependent. It has been found that the Mexican and Hispanic immigrants, who constitute 80 percent of illegal immigrants, are more likely to assimilate into the culture of welfare-dependence than immigrants originating from other countries (Rector, 2006). It has also been found that children of illegal immigrants are more likely to live in poverty and hence be welfare-dependent that children of native-born (Pew Hispanic Center, quoted in Rector, 2006). Typically, children born out of wedlock have seven times higher chance of living in poverty and growing up uneducated. The proportion of children born out of wedlock is also high among the illegal immigrants. Conclaves: As most immigrants, particularly, the unskilled, typically come to cities and areas where previous entrants have settled, this has resulted in creation of isolated conclaves of ethnic and minorities. Hence, limited or no amalgamation with natives has meant that social tension between ethnic communities and between ethnic and native communities have risen over the years. Particularly post September 9/11, the rift has only become wider. Effect on employment Wage depression: According to 1996 study by Donald Huddle, illegal aliens take the jobs of about 73,000 Americans every year at a cost of $4.3 billion (cited in FAIR, n.d). Besides, the illegal aliens are usually willing to work at a lower wage rate than native-born hence it depresses the wage rate in the country in general. Job displacement: According to a Pew Hispanic Center study, 97 percent of illegal aliens work in construction, hospitality, manufacturing, restaurants and services. Further, it was found that only 5 percent of the Mexicans who have been illegal immigrants in the United States for two years or more were unemployed in the home country. Hence, unemployment was not the reason for immigration, thereby defeating the purpose of granting amnesty on grounds of compassion (Dolz, 2006). Native-born low skill young men and women with low levels of education are therefore left with fewer jobs in the country. Besides increasing amount of funds for bilingual teachers have resulted in cash crunch for African-American education system, thereby pushing black American teens further out of the job market. Educated blacks too, like teachers who do not speak Spanish, are losing jobs as well. The Black Americans, the second largest minority group in the United States is at a disadvantage to the Hispanic immigrants and the problem is being further aggravated by the amnesty plan (Summers, 2006). Effect on the criminal justice system Although crime rates among the immigrants are lower than the native-born in the United States, it is higher among the Hispanic immigrants. The number of prisoners per 100,000 people in the same age group among the Hispanics is nearly two to two and a half times higher among the Hispanics. Only a small fraction of this rate is on account of immigration violation crimes (Rector, 2006). Since the Hispanics comprise the largest number of illegal aliens, providing amnesty would over the long run increase the overall crime rate in the country. A large proportion of crimes in the United States is committed by illegal aliens. For example, in Los Angeles, 95 percent of warrants for homicide and two-third of felony charges are issued for illegal aliens; in 1995, 60 percent of the 20,000 members of the 18th Street gang in California, which had links with the Mexican mafia and drug trafficking, were illegal aliens; 60 percent of the members of the Columbia Lil’ Cycos gang, involved in drug trafficking in Los Angeles McArthur Park, were illegal aliens (McDonald, 2004). Conclusion There are an estimated 10 to 12 million illegal aliens in the United States. Nearly 80 percent of these illegal immigrants are from Mexico and other Hispanic countries. The first attempt towards legalizing these immigrants was made in 1986 when President Reagan granted amnesty to over two million illegal aliens while making border enforcements stricter. However, the flow of illegal immigrants has not gone down since then. President Bush has now proposed a fresh round of amnesty to illegal aliens, including granting citizenship of parents of immigrants after the latter get US citizenship. However, the step is gross detrimental to the US economy. It has been found that a large proportion of illegal aliens are those with low skills and low education. Therefore, instead of contributing productively to the economy or to tax revenues, providing amnesty would mean that welfare costs would rise. Typically, the Hispanic community have been found to be more welfare-dependent, due to lower educations and the social structure in which there is a large number of children out of wedlock. Hence, the net fiscal effect of amnesty would be a higher welfare costs. Second, amnesty to illegal aliens would mean that native-born Americans would lose out in the job market, particularly in the low-skill areas. The second-largest minority group in the United States, the African Americans, in particular will be badly hit. Besides, since the immigrants are ready to work at a lower wage, the step would depress the wage rates in the country. It has also been seen that the illegal aliens form a large part of the criminals in the United States. Providing amnesty to these would in turn be a strain to the criminal justice system. Works Cited Borjas, G.J (1994) “The economics of migration”, Journal of Economic Literature, No 32 Huddle, D (1993), The Costs of Immigration, Washington D.C, Carrying Capacity Network Weissenger, George, The Illegal Alien Problem: Enforcing the Immigration Laws, November 7, 2003, http://www.immigration-usa.com/george_weissinger.html Sammon, Bill, Bush revives bid to legalize aliens, Washington Post, November 1, 2004 http://www.washtimes.com/national/20041110-123424-5467r.htm Rector, Robert, Amnesty and Continued Low Skill Immigration will substantially raise welfare costs and poverty, The Heritage Foundation, May 12, 2006, http://www.heritage.org/Research/Immigration/bg1936.cfm McDonald, Howard, The Illegal Alien Crime Wave, City Journal, Winter 2004, http://www.city-journal.org/html/14_1_the_illegal_alien.html Federation of American Immigration Reforms (FAIR), What’s wrong with Illegal Immigration? http://www.fairus.org/site/PageServer?pagename=iic_immigrationissuecenters7443 Dolz, Tony, 97% of Illegal Aliens Take Jobs That Americans Want and Need, American Chronicle, April 7, 2006, http://www.americanchronicle.com/articles/viewArticle.asp?articleID=7801 Summers, Keyonna, Black leaders oppose alien amnesty plan, Washington Times, Mat 24, 2006 Read More