The Pros And Cons Of Immigration And Immigration

Illegal immigration and immigration as a whole has been a highly debated topic in the United States. Dating back to the first time immigrants came into our country, US citizens have blamed them for their economic woes. The Economic Policy Institute estimates that the number of illegal immigrants in the United States to be 11.7 million or 3.7% of the US population as of 2012 (“Facts About Immigration and the U.S. Economy: Answers to Frequently Asked Questions” 1). The United States currently holds the greatest number of immigrants in the country. On one side of the issue, conservatives believe that illegal immigrants harm economic opportunity for native born Americans. According to Michael McDonald, PhD, and Assistant Professor in Finance at

Those who believe illegal immigration is a harm the the economy propose that illegal immigrants take jobs away from Americans. The opposition is convinced that immigrants and particularly illegal immigrants are the source of America 's problems. There are statistics that support both sides of the argument including those for the opposition. For example, according to FAIR, a highly regarded organization, “...about 8.5 million jobs [are] encumbered by illegal alien workers” (“Illegal Aliens Taking U.S. Jobs” 1). The opposition argues that these are 8.5 million jobs that illegals steal from US citizens. In reality, however, these jobs are not stolen from Americans since most immigrants perform the undesirable jobs. Skeptics believe that all of their problems come from the illegal immigrants and because of this they tend to put the blame on the illegal aliens when in fact, we do not know that these jobs would’ve ever gone to Americans. It is hard to determine how many jobs illegal immigrants hold because it is difficult to say how many are even in the country. However, determining that these illegals are taking jobs away from Americans is unfair. However, according to Adam Davidson, a writer from the New York Times, the illegal immigrants are unevenly distributed across the United States (Davidson 3). An uneven distribution of illegal immigrants misleads Americans on the effects they have on the

However, many Americans still believe the opposite and are convinced that illegal immigrants still spend their money elsewhere. According to Raul Hinojosa, a professor at the University of California at Los Angeles, “90% of the wages that the undocumented population gets are spent inside the United States” (“Is Illegal Immigration an Economic Burden to America?” 6). With the majority of undocumented immigrants income being spent on domestic product, the money is put back into circulation. However, according to Irina Ivanova, a writer for CBS news, immigrants are paid significantly less than American workers (Ivanova 1). Although most of the money is spent in the United States, immigrants are paid considerably less. If the money goes back into the United States economy, there should be no reason that immigrants should be paid less for the same job. Evaluating on the extent to which immigrants affect the US economy, Professor Hinojosa states, “Taking away undocumented immigrants would be the worst economic disaster in United States history” (“Is Illegal Immigration an Economic Burden to America?” 6). This shows that illegal aliens help make the economy flourish and should be encouraged to pursue jobs in the United States. Hinojosa also provides evidence that the total consumptive capacity of the United States would fall $50 billion if you took away the illegal immigrant