Mudassir Majid

November 19, 2018

Professor Harris

English 110

 

                                                      Inquiry Based Essay

 

The True impact of Immigration: Why America should not Restrict or Limit Immigration.

 

Introduction

Even though most Americans celebrate their heritage as a nation of immigrants, immigration has become a negative thing in the eyes of many Americans. Immigration is one of the most controversial aspects of American politics in society today, with immigrants being separated from their families by the Immigration and Customs Enforcement Agency. The trump administration has made it one if its top priorities to crack down on illegal immigration and even restrict immigration into our country. Trump proposed to build a wall blocking mexico from our country and even placed a travel ban that temporarily banned certain countries to come into this country.

 

One fifth of the total population are immigrants or children of immigrants, for them immigration policy means keeping their family and living out the American dream (Charles HIrschman). But sadly a lot of people see immigrants as a burden or a scapegoat for their problems. Due to political propaganda and prejudice many citizens feel that immigration causes harm to our nation with the economy, taking Americans jobs and committing crimes. What makes this even more ironic is that most of these people haven’t had the opportunity to experience immigrant families as they live in small towns and suburban areas in which there is little to no immigrant population. ( Charles Hirschman)

 

As a result of all these problems and prejudice in society many people agree with the propaganda and feel that lowering the immigration population would end major problems like unemployment and crime. But this is not the case in fact limiting immigration into this country would negatively impact our economy and hinder our trade and foreign business affairs. Restricting immigration diminishes our connections and associations to other countries. Most of the illegal immigrants in this country are those who have overstayed their visas and outnumber those who have crossed the border. So border control is a issue, but its not as big as our president makes it seem when he discusses building his “wall” (George Borjas).

 

Even the undocumented population provides some type of benefits to the country. About 3.4 percent of the population are undocumented immigrants and about eight million are contributors to society as they are in the workforce and 3.4 million of them pay social security taxes even though they are not eligible for the benefits ( KImberly Amadeo). Not all of these undocumented workers are this hardworking as there are cases of criminals but it’s a relatively small number. According to the department of homeland security there are about 1.9 million removable criminal aliens which includes all types of immigrants. But the idea that immigration is linked with crime in this country is not factual. In fact it has been proven in some cases that native born citizens engage in more criminal behavior than undocumented or even immigrants ( Light and Miller). Another study by Light and Miller shows that states with higher populations of undocumented immigrants have lower crime rates than states with lower populations of undocumented immigrants.

 

Undocumented Workers

There are about 319 million undocumented workers in this country and with our current government prioritizing immigration reform and the mass deportation of illegal immigrants, the question rises. How will deporting unauthorized workers affect our economy? Unauthorized workers contribute a lot to our economy almost 5 trillion over a decade and they are responsible for 11.6 billion dollars in taxes annually (Sean Severe). The jobs these workers are holding are low skilled and most native workers are not willing to work them which means that a mass deportation would harm the economy. The US would lose spending revenue generated by these undocumented workers. Propaganda also feeds into the belief that illegal immigrants are taking jobs away from native born citizens, when in fact it only affects a small number of citizens and this competition is in low skilled occupations. Mass deportation of a unauthorized workers would result in a reduction of $1.6 trillion in America’s GDP according to the the free-market think tank. Infact legalizing the country’s undocumented workers would strengthen the U.S. economy according to US economist Ryan Edwards.

 

Immigration and The Economy

Limiting or restricting immigration into this country will harm our economy as immigrants play a major role in our country’s economy and promote growth, productivity and efficiency. Contrary to the belief that immigrants harm the nation, there’s more evidence that immigrants benefit the economy. Since 2011, immigrants have enhanced two thirds of economic growth and have founded 30 percent of US firms which 50 percent of startups that are valued over 1 billion ( Kimberly Amadeo). Immigrants entering the labor force increase productivity in the economy and raise GDP. Another major benefit is the phenomenon “ immigration surplus” in which immigrants income rises as well as the incomes of the native population. These working immigrants also pay taxes towards social security and medicare which improves the age dependency ratio by increasing the number of workers that support the senior population. The more immigrants entering the workforce the better as this ratio is worsening causing more benefits to the retired population.

 

Another benefit of immigrants entering this country and indulging into the workforce is that it creates solutions to areas of the economy that need growth. Immigrants tend to go into industries and fields that have a relative need for workers. One example of this is immigrants fleeing towards hightech jobs during the internet boom and construction during the housing boom in the 2000s (  Pia Orrenius). Immigrants in the U.S. are represented by high skilled science, engineering and stem related fields. According to a study by Economist Charles Jones, almost half of U.S. economic growth since the 1950s is attributed to the increase in scientists and engineers. Most of this increase in scientists and engineers is due to immigrants, this proves a strong connection between skilled immigrants and economic prosperity.

 

This rise in skilled immigrants into this country is linked with greater innovation which according to economists is what generates economic growth. This increases innovation generated by these skilled immigrants generates economic productivity and also benefits natives as well. Native workers experience productivity gains and modest wage gains due to this innovation and economic growth. Immigrants not only cause innovation in stem fields but they also contribute the economy in other ways. Immigrants are likely to own businesses and have children who are likely to become engineers,accountants and lawyers. Compared to native borns immigrants are not underachievers and are represented by college professors, mathematicians, nurses, doctors and dentist ( Pia Orrenius).

 

Immigration also benefits the United States in aspects of foreign affairs, and provides  them an advantage. In fact during this country’s most vulnerable period ( the Civil war), immigrants in the United States helped to limit foreign interference as a result making America one of the strongest countries in the world. Immigrants also help the nation in trade as they reduce the costs of importing and exporting goods and services through cultural specificities ( Gianmarco Ottaviano). Studies show that countries that experienced rapid growth in immigration have increases in global goods and services trade. This shows that increased immigration helps in promoting growth in foreign business and trade.

 

Who Immigrants affect

Even though limiting immigration would harm our economy since immigration is a stimulant for our economy. But immigration does have a negative effect on certain groups of workers, immigrants tend to take up jobs that don’t require strong communication skills as they generally don’t speak english as well. So people in high communication fields such as media don’t face a lot of competition. Immigrants provide a lot of competition to low skilled jobs which is why immigration has a negative effect on workers without a college degree especially for agriculture and construction. According to the Pew research Center immigrants hold 43 percent of agricultural jobs for which twenty of them are undocumented. While in construction immigrants hold 27 percent of them and 12 percent were documented. This goes to say that even unauthorized workers help drive our economy, which is why we shouldn’t deport them as we our loosing immigrants who contribute to society.

 

Immigration negatively impacts low skilled workers as it creates a lot of competition and lowers wages which then drive out native born workers and force them to get jobs in sales and service which require communication skills that these immigrants don’t have. As far as lowering wages research suggests that previous immigrants suffer more of these wage affects than natives ( Pia Orrenius). But this not a totally negative concept as this benefits consumers and businesses. According to studies immigrants lower the price of goods and services for everyone by providing cheap labor which causes companies to reduce the price of goods. This benefits businesses with cheap labor and consumers through cheaper goods. Overall there are negative aspects to immigration but the effect is minuscule compared to its benefits.

 

Looking Forward

Limiting immigration does harm to our economy as immigrants boost and drive our economy and are a big reason for its growth. This includes both high skilled, low skilled and even illegal immigrants, all three provide a huge increase in America’s GDP and looking forward this country should increase immigration instead of trying to restrict it. During the Great recession immigration dropped as most people see them as the problem with the help of political influences, when in reality these immigrants help stimulate growth in the economy. Immigration numbers are still low when compared to pre recession but hopefully that changes as Americans realize how important Immigrants are to this country.

 

With our current government’s attack on immigration mixed in with other nations beginning to prosper, it seems logical that the needs of immigrants to come to America might begin to diminish. Immigration should be increased and prioritized more especially with all the benefits that high skilled immigrants and immigration in general provide, if immigration does diminish, our country should promote immigration and hope to further utilize their value. “Immigration is a net positive, even for those who don’t move, but the gains are not distributed equally. The next step for policymakers is to structure immigration reform to take advantage of immigration’s many benefits while mitigating the costs” – Pia Orrenius. The positives of immigration could be increased if the government makes better adjustments, this should be one of our country’s main goal looking into the future.

 

Conclusion

Even though immigration isn’t always perfect and does affect some people, it is a important part of this country. Immigrants add to the workforce, improve our economy and add to the diversity of this country. Immigration also improves our influence in the world. Immigration does so much for this country and its benefits outweigh the negatives. America should not turn it back on immigrants and should incorporate more of a welcoming immigration policy to these foreigners. In reality they only come to this country for a better life or to escape harms in their own country, this country should follow its morals of a “ free” country instead of going against it.

 

                                                     Works cited page

Coate, Patrick. “AIER.” Taylor Swift Knows Scarcity Drives the Price, 23 Feb. 2018, www.aier.org/research/immigration-restrictions-harm-our-economy.

 

Amadeo, Kimberly. “Immigration Pros and Cons.” The Balance Small Business, The Balance, www.thebalance.com/how-immigration-impacts-the-economy-4125413.

 

BORJAS, GEORGE J., et al. “Yes, Immigration Hurts American Workers.” POLITICO, POLITICO, www.politico.com/magazine/story/2016/09/trump-clinton-immigration-economy-unemployment-jobs-214216.

Shih, Kevin. “Want a Stronger Economy? Give Immigrants a Warm Welcome.” The Conversation, The Conversation, 14 Nov. 2018, theconversation.com/want-a-stronger-economy-give-immigrants-a-warm-welcome-73264.

 

Hirschman, Charles. “The Impact of Immigration on American Society: Looking Backward to the Future.” IWM, 4 Sept. 2013, www.iwm.at/transit/transit-online/the-impact-of-immigration-on-american-society/.

 

Orrenius, Pia. “Benefits of Immigration Outweigh the Costs.” It’s a Millennial World Now: Twelve Things to Know, www.bushcenter.org/catalyst/north-american-century/benefits-of-immigration-outweigh-costs.html.

 

Felter, Claire. “The U.S. Immigration Debate.” Council on Foreign Relations, Council on Foreign Relations, www.cfr.org/backgrounder/us-immigration-debate-0.

 

Choi, Peter. “Immigration as business strategy: simplifying American immigration law in a global economy.” UMass Law Review, vol. 10, no. 1, 2015, p. 164+. Academic OneFile, http://link.galegroup.com.ccny-proxy1.libr.ccny.cuny.edu/apps/doc/A420050257/AONE?u=cuny_ccny&sid=AONE&xid=a169c5db. Accessed 19 Nov. 2018.

 

Katzenstein, Krissy A. “Reinventing American immigration policy for the 21st century.” Vanderbilt Journal of Transnational Law, Jan. 2008, p. 269+. Academic OneFile, http://link.galegroup.com.ccny-proxy1.libr.ccny.cuny.edu/apps/doc/A181897965/AONE?u=cuny_ccny&sid=AONE&xid=8c7aeeb5. Accessed 19 Nov. 2018.

 

Schake, Kori. “Immigrants Give America a Foreign-Policy Advantage.” The Atlantic, Atlantic Media Company, 31 Mar. 2018, www.theatlantic.com/international/archive/2018/03/immigrants-america-foreign-policy-advantage/557018/.