Illegal Immigration: The War Within

History shows that the United States’ fight against illegal immigration has shown little to zero progress and the negative economic affects resulting from this issue are still a problem today. The distaste for illegal aliens often leads to them being treated unfairly within the legal system and could be considered unconstitutional by law.

                                        

        Whether people like it or not our country is the most multicultural place to live on earth. Daniel Griswold, the director of the Cato Institute’s Center for Trade Policy Studies and Immigration Policies, comments:

Immigration is not undermining the American experiment; it is an integral part of it. We are a nation of immigrants. Successive waves of immigrants have kept our country demographically young, enriched our culture and added to our productive capacity as a nation, enhancing our influence on the world. (29)

United States of America: Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness

            As Americans we like to pride our nation on treating everyone as an equal and giving everyone the same opportunities under our Constitution.  It is something that holds us together in unity and allows us to have a sense of motivation and hope. What does it really mean to be an American? Is being a native to the country enough to be considered a citizen or is it merely a nation working together, creating endless opportunities, and all fighting towards prosperity for the United States of America. Illegal immigration is often a result of the desire to relocate somewhere that has a better economy or to leave a country that is running a corruptive system. Another reason immigration happens is because of family ties across borders. What right do we as Americans have to reject human beings searching for a happier and more prosperous life, especially the ones guaranteeing their devotion to their new sought out promise land.

           When Americans are asked to vote on whether or not they want to grant amnesty for illegal immigrants the majority in both parties, Republicans and Democrats, voted against it. They agree on the fact that amnesty is a possible discussion for the future because enhancing the boarder security is their primary goal. This leads to the next question, should parties take into consideration the potential vote boost they may receive from illegal immigrants if amnesty is eventually granted. In 2013 the Pew Hispanic Center took a survey and discovered that 31% of illegal aliens considered themselves to be Democrats with only 4% claiming to be of the Republican party. This could be extremely advantageous to the Democratic party considering there are around 15 to 20 million illegal aliens residing in the United States today.

Myths Involving Illegal Immigration in the U.S.

            To begin, there are typically around 100,000 immigrants that enter the U.S. illegally each year and that number has never really exceeded 300,000 for the past two decades. This is a misconception by many Americans because the real numbers are fall far short of the millions claimed by anti-immigrant forces. Today, there are about 11 million undocumented immigrants living in the U.S. The act of deportation is not the answer either because more times than not once they are returned back to their native country the likelihood of them attempting to come back is very likely.

             The American population often rejects immigrants because they worry about the extra competition when it comes to finding a job. In reality, illegal immigrants are taking low-wage jobs that Americans typically want no part of and it is not uncommon for them to get paid even less than the national minimum wage. Immigrants have actually proved to have a positive impact on the economic health of the United States, earning around $30 billion annually, according to the Urban Institute. New York has the second largest immigrant population in the nation and they alone pay in about $18 billion in taxes each year. This number is barely distinguishable from their native-born counterparts when it comes to a per capita tax payment. Around 16% of those immigrants are reported to be illegals and still contributed over $1 billion annually in taxes.  So for one to proclaim that illegal immigrants would not benefit the nation’s economy would be naïve.                               

            Another thing that keeps U.S. citizens on edge is the stereotype that crime has a direct relationship with illegal immigrants. This stereotype was actually tested in a study conducted by the University of North Carolina. They discovered that immigrant crime rates go up only after they are been “Americanized” (residing in America for a substantial amount of time). They proved that Mexican immigrants have drug abuse rates that are only half as high as their U.S.-born, Mexican American counterparts, indicating that it is acculturation and Americanization, not immigration, which presents the larger problem. There is just simply
no evidence to prove that when undocumented immigrants move into and area crime goes up.

Who is to blame?

What makes the United States of America so desirable to immigrants? Someone who is anti-immigration would claim that immigrants seek to take advantage of the benefits America has to offer such as the U.S. welfare system. The U.S. corporations are actually the ones to blame for this because of their desire to take advantage of trade agreements and labor in exploited nations such as Mexico, which has led to the flow of immigrants to the U.S. in the first place.

For example, as a result of trade agreements that open up Mexico and Latin America for U.S. corporate penetration, companies have moved facilities south of the border due to lower wage labor. This allows them to lower their expenditures and increase profit margins tremendously but they did not take into account the repercussions that may occur and the affects it may have on the U.S. Doing so, these corporations have driven local subsistence farmers out by turning these areas into more of a corporate agriculture. Farmers are then forced to turn to cities in search of jobs but Mexican cities already lack job opportunities and have a large pool of unemployed labor. This allows employers to drive down wages due to people’s desperation to keep their head above water to survive. This desperate feeling leave thousands with maybe only one liable option; to migrate somewhere that is better equipped to provide for their needs.

Alternative Solution

            The Unified Instrumental Model of Group Conflict performed a study analyzing how American citizens perceive immigrants when dealing with the economy. Their research indicates that when immigrants are seen as competition for economic resources, the result is resentment toward immigrants and immigration as a whole. However, attempts to eliminate or even slow down immigration have been unsuccessful and have even increased economic hardship in the U.S.

               

             The first step in constructing a solution for this issue is going to start with people coming to the realization that immigrants are not the enemy. Victoria Esses, Professor of Psychology and Director of the Centre for Research on Migration and Ethnic Relations at the University of Western Ontario, states, “We suggest that recognizing the mutual dependency between immigrants and members of host societies may be a first step in reducing support for harsh measures against illegal immigration, to the benefit of all.” Finding a way utilize these immigrants and allow them some kind of citizenship for a specific duration will boost the economy. One, it will save hundreds of millions of dollars that is spent attempting to achieve “complete prevention” of illegal immigration. Another major cost is the facilities needed to hold undocumented immigrants that have been caught. It can take up to a year for an immigrant to get deported back to their native country after all of the processing they must undergo.  On the other hand, the workforce will be increased greatly in hopes of resulting in increased revenue for corporations.  In contrary, total amnesty would be too much for the economy to handle plus, given enough time, overpopulation would almost be inevitable.