Sunday, December 01, 2013
Illegal Immigration; Not an Economic Debate
Check out this article by Jason Welker about the Economics of Illegal
Immigration. It is a refreshing take on an issue that has gotten a great
deal of publicity recently. What are your thoughts after reading the
article? Is this different from what you have been hearing from both the
Republicans and the Democrats lately? Leave your comments before Sunday
at midnight.
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47 comments:
This topic has always confused me a little bit, however I don't think immigration is a bad thing. The arrival said how if we kept jobs in the country then we would have more jobs available dispite the immigrants coming into the country. Since immigration is actually lower than emigration then if we stopped sensing our jobs over seas then our unemployment wouldn't be as high as it is.
The article seems to make sense, at least to me it does. The people who enter this country illegally do so in order to take advantage of opportunities. If the opportunities aren't here anymore, then why come? I've always thought that we have more important things to put our attention to than immigration. This article only supports my point. We spend so much time worried about people sneaking into our country and less time on the things that matter, so much so that immigrants don't even see our country as worth sneaking into anymore.
I think the debate on illegal immigration is very interesting but also very in depth. People like to complain about immigration blaming illegal or legal immigrants for loss of job opportunities. However, as the article explained many of the jobs that these immigrants take are the lowest paying jobs that many Americans are unwilling to take. Also America is a free market. This means that the government should not put restrictions on the flow of labor between two countries changing things like comparative advantage. Regardless of all of this I believe that if you are an immigrant that is fine, but illegal immigration is still breaking the law and therefore I cannot condone that. this may be one of the reasons why people are so against immigration. Logically you would think that Americans would have less to complain about if the immigrants were legal. However, as history has proven in the past with the massive influx of Chinese and Irish immigrants, all legal, Americans still blamed them for stealing jobs resulting in massive racism as well as eventual reductions in the number of people allowed to immigrate.
I'm not sure what the Republicans and Democrats are saying about the issue, but after reading this article I have to admit that keeping immigrants out might be detrimental to our economy. This issue should be looked at more economically than politically. The facts are there and there are more benefits to having immigrants come to America than trying to keep them out. If people are complaining so much about there being a lack of jobs then why don't they take something and live with it until they can find something better? There are places that don't exactly have the best wages but having a job is better than not having one and complaining about how no one can live off of flipping burgers. Of course they can't. It's a low skill job that gets a low wage pay, but I digress. The focus that we as a people put in to the most frivolous issues does concern me. The immigrants are just a scapegoat for our problems. It's like every zombie movie or tv show. People like the solution of killing zombies to solve problems because it's easy. The zombie is the scapegoat. Same principle for the immigrants. What people need to do is spend the time they have ranting and raving on the streets and commit it to more productive means...like getting a job.
I totally agree that immigration controls need to be relaxed. First of all, keeping migrant workers in the "illegal" status results in the creation of a new underclass, a class that is not protected by the law. As we all know, game theory shows that the lowest common denominator will always be chosen so when the option is there to exploit a group of individuals that are without social safety nets is available all that will do is bring down wages in order to stay competitive. If migrant workers have access to being protected the law and are valued for their right to have access to a minimum wage there will be no issue of migrant workers bringing down wages for naturalized citizens. This shows that opening the borders is a mutually beneficial action for both parties. One party has access to the land of opportunity and the other has access to the influx of a population of people willing to work and create a life for themselves and their families.
Immigration is always a big debate topic. Should we give amnesty to the illegal immigrants already living in the U.S. I think that this is a big problem. One thing that I have seen is that many Americans are being deprived of job opportunities because many of the illegal immigrants work "off the books" and work for less pay. Sometimes, crime has followed a lot of these immigrants. I believe that they should all be given citizenship with strict conditions that they must abide by otherwise they will be deported. In retrospect, these illegals should all be sent back to their perspective countries for living in the U.S. illegally without any attempt to try and gain citizenship.
I'm still against illegal immigration because the addition of new workers doesn't necessarily help the people already living in a country. The era in which the U.S. needed large amounts of unskilled workers has some and gone. Employers of illegal immigrants are able to pay their employees low wages, and force them to work and live in atrocious conditions under threat of deportation. This stunts development of more efficient ways of working because there isn't an incentive to improve if a surplus exists due to lower than normal labor costs caused by illegal immigration. Some people want to give illegal immigrants amnesty, but what makes you think they will abide by other laws if they came here illegally to begin with? Even though it seems as though immigration, both legal and illegal, should fall due to a decline in the demand for labor in the country, legal immigration has remained nearly constant throughout the great recession, only dropping from 1,052,000 people in 2007 to 1,031,000 people in 2012. These people still have the irrational expectation that America is full of opportunity, even though unemployment is still high. When new people are brought in, the people already living in a country are not directly helped. Unskilled workers increase competition and skilled workers decrease the chances of structurally unemployed citizens receiving training or education in new, desired fields. Skilled legal immigration can also hurt other countries, specifically less developed countries from which many legal immigrants originate from. If 1 doctor from a less developed country moves to a city in a more developed country that has, say, 50 doctors per 1000 and changes that ratio to 51/1000, the net effect won't be the same as in the LDC the doctor moved from having their ratio of doctors to citizens change from 5/1000 to 4/1000. It is not necessary, barring the creation of some magical new industry that will increase demand for employment, for large scale illegal and legal immigration to exist.
This topic is always on my mind, because all people are still people . This post made me recognize that maybe possibly they would have more jobs. But as Americans would we want to work as a mower, mover, or a baby sitter with pay next to nothing. I believe if we kicked immigrants everyone would have minimum wage, and I believe that I this may ruin in the economy. Then as an illegal immigrant they just want to have a better life then before and many people that are immigrants is working better jobs. Also I believe if you really look for a job and follow the calling in working that a company a job will come to you. So I believe that illegal immigrants should not be a big thing, but the government just should know how to control it.
Immigration is helpful in the sense that it introduces new talents and thought processes to America, leading to innovation and progress. However, not all immigrants are well-to-do people looking to become productive members of society. I talked to an illegal immigrant or two this summer, and they helped put things into perspectives for me. These individuals were just honest people trying to make an honest living, but in our conversations they also acknowledged the immigrants who just come to America to drink and bum around.
In regards to those against immigration that fear losing their jobs. Perhaps they should focus more on becoming the ideal, irreplaceable employee as opposed to attempting to eliminate the competition.
I believe immigration should be legal but only for those who meet a certain criteria and not looking to just soak up resources.
I still believe illegal immigration to be harmful toward our country. If the United States really needed more labor they would allow more immigrants into the US legally. However the immigrants who did not get in legally try illegal methods classifying them as illegal immigrants.
If this did not occur we could admit more people into the US at a steadier rate stabilizing unemployment as we see fit.
Also on the osmosis effect, according to the author the need for labor draws out immigrants illegally from another country. This creates more illegal immigrants leading to higher crime rates, taxes, insurance, etc. However if we were to make it easier for them to enter into our country they wouldn't be considered illegal and such crimes would decrease as noted in the second to last paragraph.
I personally don't think immigration is necessarily a bad thing. Immigrants can bring new persepctives and ideas into America, and although some people look down on immigrants, a good number of them are here trying to make an honest living here. Illegal immigrants though, yes, it's understandable why there is a debate going on with them. The illegals that do come and literally just go here to try and soak up all of our resources, they pretty much are the reason for why most of our people classify illegal immigrants as bad, but some of them could also be in a whole different position, and wanted to try and make a good, honest living coming to America, but weren't granted that opportunity. This debate was a little bit confusing at first, but then later reading on, I'm seeing that this should be more of an economical debate rather than political. A lot of our Americans like to complain and blame the immigrants for all some job opportunities to be taken, but at the same time, the article was talking about how the immigrants are taking the low paying jobs that American are unwilling to take, like agriculture and sweatshops.
The article was informative, to say the least. I don't really hear much about immigration otherwise and I don't really have my own opinion about it, but the article kind of showed two sides and provided a lot of information. While the idea of immigration, if you're hoping to find a better life, seems reasonable, I don't support illegal immigration. If you want to make honest money and build an improved life, don't start it off wrong by hopping borders. The jobs that no one wants can be given to immigrants and they will work hard, so I don't understand how having so many people coming in could really prove as a bad thing.
I really don't see immigration as a bad thing. I feel that if our government would make it easier for these immigrants to become citizens, it wouldn't be much of a problem at all. People complain about illegal immigrants taking jobs, but we've all seen where these people work. They work the kind of jobs that the majority of Americans, no matter how desperate they believe themselves to be, would refuse to work. Without the immigrants, these kind of jobs wouldn't get done. They're boosting the economy, not taking away from it, so why kick them out? From them leaving the country you can tell that they know not to stick around anymore. We give them opportunities to make money and better lives for themselves, and they give us a huge supply of labor. I don't see a problem there.
The debate on illegal immigration is quite intriguing and involves many passionate viewpoints. Personally, I think that illegal immigration has its pros and cons to which we should weigh between. Although I can understand with many Americans' view that immigration takes away jobs that they could do, realistically, many Americans would NOT do those jobs that many immigrants are doing. Not wanting to generalize whatsoever, the immigrants often do jobs that regular Americans would never do. Furthermore, because we have these immigrants, our economy has not fallen off of the face of Earth. Without them, there would be no one else to do certain types of jobs and our economy would collapse.
I agree with the article on that immigration actually stimulates the economy. While it is true that new immigrants, illegal or not, will compete the Americans for jobs, the labor force in the U.S. economy overall increases. When the labor force increases, the economy is able to produce more goods and services, which will benefit the overall economy. As a result of a growing economy, more jobs would be created for everyone. The government should work to get the illegal immigrants to become legal, so they can contribute to the economy while having a place where they can belong. Of course, there are still many complications on the issue of illegal immigration, but overall, immigration helps economy.
In my opinion immigration is not a bad thing to have. If you really think about it immigration can help a countries economy burst at times. For example countries like the Middle East which export high amount of oil has lots of guest workers who immigrate to work and help the Saudi Arabian economy boom. But on the other hand you also have to control how much you immigrate into your country because sometimes it can lead to political issues.
The article is very straight forward. Every single day immigrants enter the United States to live the American Dream. We as a country should not be pushing this people out, we should embracing immigrants and help make the United States even better than it has ever been. There are many other serious problems other than immigration. Immigration helps the country in so many ways. Maybe not all people should be allowed, but we should make it easier for citizens to become an American.
After reading this article, my opinions regarding immigration has not been changed. I have always believed that America has been a nation of immigrants, hypocritical immigrants, but immigrants. We must all understand that immigrants are people just like most of our ancestors who came to America in search for a better life and should always be provided the opportunity to exploit what America has to offer like us "natives" do every day. Politicians, either Republican or Democrats, continually paint a bad picture of "illegals." I say if we want to stop the $10,000 emergency room visits and lower the prison populations lets find a way to make it easier for these people to find better jobs in America to support themselves.
I do not think immigration is something that should be stopped. Like this article points out, throughout history, the edition of different racial groups has greatly enriched the American culture and contributed to this county's success. However, illegal immigration on the other hand is not something that I support. A big issue that I and many other people have with this is that immigrants take job opportunities away from American citizens. Yes, this article says that they are mostly lower-end jobs, but those eventually lead up to bigger ones, and as the article also states, a lot of the money those immigrants receive goes back home, out of the country, which is definately not beneficial to the U.S.
Personally I don't see immigration as a big deal. I hold the perspective that not everyone will grow up to be doctors, or CEO's, or even successful business people. We will always need janitors, garbagemen, and other low quality jobs that we all rely on, but no one wants to have. I mean why are we getting mad about people taking jobs that no one wants? I don't hear about this topic much anymore, it is not a big deal as some of the other issues our country faces, and everyone realizes that. The Republicans might be against it, but only because of personal beliefs. They recognize that it's not an issue at all, so it gets shoved to the back of the line when an actual issue pops up.
No matter what this article says about immigration and whatever statistics it gives you to support you welcoming immigrants to america, its a lie because illegal mexicans are destroying this country. If you allow uneducated mexicans to come into this country then not only to we have to pay taxes to support their kids but we have to pay taxes that go towards their education, their food stamps, and pretty soon their health care. That tax money should be going towards the things that benefits the hard working Americans who are paying those taxes. Imagine you go to school for your whole life and work hard to graduate in the top 10%, then your parents pay for you to go to a top rated college, you get a great job because you have worked your butt off your entire life to get that job, congrats. But wait, you get your first pay check and what the hell, its only half of what you thought you've earned and you see 50% of its gone to taxes, you are flustered but then realize its part of being American and its going towards the community. Yet when you walk home you see the new highway still isn't built and its been left half done, you walk by a school and see how crowded it is because the district cant afford to build a new one despite being overcrowded and TAK scores and below the state average, and finally you walk by the park which is completely trashed because the local government can't afford to pay for clean up crews. Half of your paycheck isn't going towards the community, its going towards the illegal mexicans living in your area who don't have jobs and aren't paying taxes yet still reaping the benefits. The integrity of our nation will fade if we allow illegal immigrants to enter this country.
The debate on illegal immigration has been controversial for quite some time. To me, I do not see immigration as a bad thing for America. This country is made up of immigrants around the world and there should not be any restrictions against that.
The article explained that Americans practice a free market economy which means there should be no control of the flow of labor between two countries. I think that the immigrants only help the economy not hinder it. The article says that many of these immigrants take jobs that many Americans are unwilling to do. Thus, having immigration would help the economy grow.
I think this was a very interesting and educated look on the topic of immigration from an economic standpoint, and after reading it I have to admit that a better system for legalizing citizens would benefit us in the long run. People always complain about what is foreign and unfamiliar to them, and they focus on how they are destroying the native ways of life with their new values and expectations. Welker went into depth on several major arguments against illegal aliens and offered valid counters to the points made in opposition to illegal immigration. All in all I think that it makes sense to just make the flow of money and people be more fluid and stop worrying so much about illegals.
Economically, I don't see how immigration would not help America, actually. I suppose, of course, illegal immigrants would not exactly be the best buyers and sellers and makers of goods and, therefore, not contribute to the economy, but for all the other immigrants who come to work an honest life, the ones that this article talks about, I can't see them being such invaders that they should be discriminated against. It's funny this trend that is seen as far back as the first civilizations, how people judge other people based simply on where they were born. It's very odd and pretty sad, actually. It truly shows the ignorance of our own race. Just because someone was born somewhere else does not mean they cannot operate in our society. Actually, many of the greatest recent contributors to America have been foreign... I encourage everyone who reads this to go to youtube and type in "Dr. Michio Kaku, America's Secret Weapon." It will definitely show how America is actually very lucky to have immigrants.
This is one of those topics that will always be controversial, like gun control and abortion. There are pros and cons for both sides. Sure immigration increases population and can very easily increase overall production, but, statistically, the immigrants remain in the lower class, which increases prior U.S. citizens's taxes. When all is said and done, I believe we should encourage immigration, but we should also increase kicking immigrants out when they break laws or so on and so forth.
Illegal immigration is, first and foremost, illegal. And it is regarded as such for a certain reason. Now if we talk about increasing LEGAL immigration, then there are two sides to the argument. I hold a compromised viewpoint on the subject, neither right nor left wing. I concede with the author that immigration could have a positive impact on the combined economy of the immigrant and emmigrant nations. However, the author himself commented on the osmosis effect it would prove on wages. By the example provided, it seems as if wages and per capita gains would fall for the American people. This obviously seems to be a con. Also, with the abundance of immigration, I feel that the US would lose some of it's cultural identity.
The article was very insightful to me, especially about things that a lot of arguments don't face on- like the real economic effect. I agreed with the man in that illegal immigrants do a lot of jobs that wouldn't even exist in America if it weren't for them. Following a free market system, its only logical to not go crazy with immigration restrictions. I've never really had a problem with the topic of illegal immigration because they come here seeking a better life and a chance to work, and if America is the land of opportunity, then anyone that comes here should get a chance to work and better their lives.
Illegal immigration has been a big issue in the United States. The article was very interesting and informative about how immigration plays out today. It is understandable that people that are immigrating from other countries come to the United States for a better lifestyle and opportunities. Obviously, the United States is probably the most organized and developed country throughout the world. Honestly, I never knew how hard it is to immigrate from another country and be a citizen of the United States. There are so many steps and obligations they must follow to be accepted into the country. I believe it is unsafe to have illegal immigrants in other countries because it can cause huge issues in our community and in our economy as well. I don't have anything against immigrants. I love the diversity of the world. I just believe illegal immigrants should enter the United States by legal terms.
Immigration laws should be reduced if politicians start looking at the economic causes and effects of doing so. I am not up to date on what democrats and republicans are saying on the issue, but both political parties should view the issue economically as opposed to politically. Immigrants provide a large portion of labor that we cannot function without, especially here in texas. The overflow of immigrants taking up jobs that native americans need first can be controlled with priority laws, however, immigration never needs to cease. The flow of immigrants will adjust accordingly in terms of how many jobs are left after americans are taken care of first.
The idea that immigration is bad in the US has always seemed confusing to me. This country is known as the melting pot, yet so many American’s want stricter immigration laws. If you trace back the majority of American’s heritage, it does not stem from the Native Americans, everyone else is an immigrant. But you hear from American’s all the time, immigrants are stealing jobs from Americans. Well isn’t that what the entire country started from, taking away from the Native Americans. The American idea of being a land of freedom and opportunity doesn’t just stop for current citizens but should be allowed for anyone wanting to become a part of this great nation.
The idea of immigration to me doesn't seem like a bad idea. It helps boost economy but can cause unemployment for citizens in that country. Both sides of the parties have mixed views on it. The only main problem for immigration was that the workers will have low pay and long hours in horrible conditions. They have no protection because they could be illegal and get deported
One thing I didn't know before reading the article is that more people are actually leaving the country than coming in. In my opinion because of all the high paying and advanced jobs like software engineering has made a mark in this generation, there will be many jobs at the bottom that nobody would like to do. Thus, Immigration from an economic standpoint right now would benefit the country as a whole, for some of these immigrants are unskilled workers who would work at those jobs no one else wants to do because they need money. The big push for education today is for everyone to go to college, graduate, and find a decent job. But since robots still dont exist to clean up our mess and do the dirty jobs that is unoccupied, having immigrants who start down there would be beneficial.
Immigration at a moderation is always good for a country. But, because of the increase in the number of undocumented immigrants in america, it takes away more money of the american people.If you allow uneducated illegals to come into this country then not only to we have to pay taxes to support their kids but we have to pay taxes that go towards their education, their food stamps, and pretty soon their health care. That tax money should be going towards the things that benefits the hard working Americans who are paying those taxes.
The debate on immigration is always a doozy. The only issue I see with immigration is the image that is portrayed with it. The American government and the media have created such a negative image for immigrants over the years that it has made even legal immigration harder. This event does nothing else but increase rates of illegal immigration. We must make a better image of immigrants to reduce the nation's negative reception to ultimately vanquish THE issue of illegal immigration.
I think that the immigration issue is a method of dancing around the greater topic of racism in the country. My personal belief is that immigration should be allowed on a more lax level than it is right now. But all opinions aside, I believe that states such as Arizona are forcing legislation for law enforcement to do random citizenship tests on account of more devious racist motives. The only people I have seen complain about illegals taking jobs in the country are the ones too lazy to find a job or people who have racist tendencies. I believe that foreigners have a lot of experience, knowledge, and cultural insight that brings the U.S. on the forefront of scientific, cultural, and artistic development that helps the country thrive economically rather than struggle.
Immigration is extremely important and helpful for the nation and its economy. The Democrats and Republicans believe that the flow of immigrants should halt however without many immigrants desperately seeking jobs, many of the jobs for necessary labor would not be filled. Despite the fact that more people decrease wages, we live in a nation which has obviously become multiracial and if illegal immigrants are helping the economy and accepting lower paying jobs, then we should be thanking them instead of pushing them out. However, I do believe that if these illegal immigrants must find a way to support themselves initially and are in a desperate situation for a job then they should be given one but must agree to become a citizen within a certain time frame. I know many immigrants who have spent months/years trying to become an American citizen so it would be unfair to those people who are entering freely. Immigrants have never been a major issue and are not hurting the economy so why try and fix something that is not a major problem.
It is always good for the country to bring in more people from other countries, at a moderate pace. But recently we have seen allot of illegal immigration that have caused allot problem for the people who came here first. These individuals take away the jobs of those who do rightly deserve them. I believe immigration is a problem and should be dealt with.
I agree with the article that immigration is good for america's economy. However, immigration also causes a lot of social problems/conflicts especially those who cross the border illegally. My family actually immigrated into the US so i understand how it is being an immigrant. it definitely opens a lot of opportunity for the immigrants and i can speak of this from experience. Anyways, this debate is very controversial and there are several pro/cons to immigration.
I believe that the topic about immigration is based upon a standpoint. Everyone will have a biased point of view despite the logistical stats or evidence whether immigration is not all that good or bad. I found the article, in my opinion, more or less true about the idea of illegal immigration. Everyone shouldn't just view only the negativity which many people are doing. Not only that but illegal immigrants are not the only bunch of people taking advantage or such opportunities as well.
While I agree that there are pros and cons concerning immigration, I think the pros outweigh the negatives. Yes, illegal immigration can potentially cause overpopulation within an extended period of time, but the article states that the jobs performed by immigrants help to boost the economy by increasing production of goods. People generally tend to argue that allowing immigrants into America causes the country to lose its way of life does, but that does not seem to be an issue in this situation, since just at a glance, America is already a “melting pot” of numerous cultures.
Illegal immigration shouldn't be so ruthlessly based upon people's general idea about the matter without any sort of substantial research and knowledge about it. This article here, I believe, covers a lot of information that I was not aware of and I was too who thought illegal immigration was just nothing but a bad thing for the country. Throughout reading the article, I realized that illegal immigration is not truly as bad as people think it is. The harsh media has prevented the citizens and others to think other wise. Illegal immigration also will not impose such a harsh dent to the economy as well as long as we follow a free market system like the article said and not worry about it.
I find illegal immigration a difficult subject to discuss to an extent. For the most part, I never understood how immigration can be legal or illegal and considered a positive/negative aspect on a society. For the most part, I do see people like Gov. Brewer of Arizona push for increased deployment of border patrol to prevent deaths of American citizens living on the border, but I question their motives. I see that Welker has taken the time to analyze this scenario and weigh both the various aspects that immigration, as a whole, has stood within the U.S. (be it legal or illegal) and what impact it still has. Since he makes a good point about the economic and demographic standpoint, I can see how my views on immigration are supplemented and can be more sensible instead of being pretentious and inaccurate since I am not an 'illegal' if not an immigrant at all. I can see politicians are trying to appease the majority of what the public believes, but hopefully we can settle the issue of immigration before the U.S. suffers from what demographic decreases we will have in the future.
Illegal immigration is a very necessary action for business owner who try to maximize their profit. If the can pay half of what a legal person requires yet still get the same job done; then why wouldn't they. And with legal immigration i believe that only lazy people are the ones complaining. Because people from other areas of the world come to their country; work harder; and in turn take their jobs.
Illegal immigration is a very necessary action for business owner who try to maximize their profit. If the can pay half of what a legal person requires yet still get the same job done; then why wouldn't they. And with legal immigration i believe that only lazy people are the ones complaining. Because people from other areas of the world come to their country; work harder; and in turn take their jobs.
I honestly didn't know that by decreasing the flow of immigration to the US, we're actually moving jobs to other countries. I personally am sympathetic to those whose only choice for a better life is to do something illegal, but i understand the need for stricter immigration laws. Politicians definitely don't tell us what their policies have an economic effect on our country. A much different approach to illegal immigrants could help us fix this economic problem.
Immigration should not be seen as a bad thing. The whole idea that shapes America are the immigrants that make up our country. We are a melting pot for a reason. However, these immigration laws are too strict. America is seen as the land of opportunity, and some people are willing to cross over illegally to achieve that chance. These people have families and are not criminals. They are simply looking for a new beginning.
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