Imperialism In America

The key to learning about any country, is to learn its history. The United States as the world knows it began with Native Americans living peacefully on North American soil. This all changed with the arrival of colonists from England, sent to discover the New World. This is the beginning of immigration, and its journey from being widely accepted and justified as imperialism, to the Present-Day coining of the term: “illegal alien.” Many Americans oppose immigration. However, most claims about immigrants are simply untrue. Immigrants actually improve America’s economy, rather than take money from it. Surprisingly, immigrants give back more money than they take out. This includes taxes, Social Security, and Welfare. Even undocumented (or illegal)

One widely-accepted notion is that immigration negatively impacts workers with low-skills (Clemens). Many assume that all immigrants only work at jobs that require no high school degree, or any necessary skills. Not only is this assumption false, but most immigrants simply do not compete for the same jobs as Americans (Griswold). Immigrants typically have different skills and preferences for the kind of work they perform, which differs from natural-born Americans, meaning immigrants less frequently and less easily replace them. (Griswold). Immigrants normally take jobs at the high or low end of the skill spectrum, anywhere from surgeons to farmers (Clemens). The positions immigrants fill are widespread - they aren’t taking jobs away from other Americans, they simply exist alongside

In 2011, the rate of unemployment was 9%, but just four years prior, the rate was below five percent – when there were 1 million more immigrants than in 2011 (Griswold). “When jobs are plentiful and labor markets tight, immigrants tend to come in greater numbers. When jobs are scarce and unemployment high, immigrants arrive in fewer numbers, and more choose to return to their native countries” (Griswold). Some claims suggest that because immigrants are used to working for less money, they expect less and will work for less when it comes to low-skill jobs. Firstly, no worker in America can legally work for less than $7.25 regardless of where they were born. Second, according to a paper researched in 2012, cumulative immigration between 1990 and 2006 had no effect on the wages of American workers – including those lacking a high school diploma (Clemens). There is simply no evidence that immigration has any effect on the unemployment rate or that they effect wages.
The economical and capitalistic side of society can be related to immigration as well. Legal and illegal immigrants contribute to the flow of resources. They spend money, therefore they are consumers of other worker’s labor (Clemens). This is further proof that immigrants give back to the economy - every cent spent eventually circulates back to the country, making them ‘givers’ rather than ‘takers.’ If it wasn’t for immigration, much of agricultural