Toulmin is a form of writing analysis that is most commonly used for research purposes. The article is about the issue of illegal immigration and solutions proposed to Congress by both legislative branches, the House of Representatives and Senate. The authors, Michael S. Dukakis and Daniel J. B. Mitchell, propose their own solution to the problem. The article does not present a reasonable argument.
The claim of the article states that “both proposals have serious flaws” and that “there is a simpler alternative” (Dukakis & Mitchell, 2006, para.1; para. 5). The authors’ alternative plan is to, rather than build an expensive border wall or distribute costly I.D. badges, “[raise] minimum wage from $5.15 per hour to something closer to $8” (p.5). They back up their claim with an example of how the Massachusetts government has decided to raise their state minimum wages and the consequences of such a move.
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The House idea is to build a wall along the Mexican- American border, something that would “cost billions” and have to be not unlike the massive structure of the “Berlin Wall” (p.2). The wall is an impractical solution because of the money it will cost not only to construction, but also to patrol. The Senate has passed a plan that relies on the compliance of employers to “first attempt to recruit American workers to fill job openings”, and the usage of national identification cards to be given to American workers (p.3). With the I.D. cards, it falls to “employers to enforce immigration laws”, meaning to make sure that they only employ people who have the cards (p.4). The truth is that businesses profit off of immigrant workers. It is much easier to get away with paying immigrants less than minimum wage. Therefore, it is unlikely that businesses will follow through with this