Illegal Immigration Effect on the USA’s Economy, and Potential Future Changes
By Tommy Manbeck.
In the united states, we have a high level of illegal immigration which is utilized as cheap labor, sometimes as low as under $2 an hour. After years of little to no change in policy, in the coming months, our new leader Donald Trump plans to change the way United States immigration functions all together. Although widely disputed how this issue should be dealt with, It would be far more efficient for the united states to require all immigrants to enter the country legally.
It is clear that immigrants create an economic surplus that benefits the native people by receiving a lower wage. (see Graph below), but should come into the country legally. By entering legally, the immigrants will have to pay a 12% income tax according to the Trump tax policy, as long as they earn under $75000 as a family. However, will then be able to successfully integrate into the american population seamlessly, both protecting current legal immigrant workers ability to succeed in America, as well as a better the quality of life when coming to the country.
The number of illegal immigrants In theory, will decrease in the near future with the coming construction of a wall along the border of the USA and Mexico. According to Trump, the wall will be fully funded by Mexico via utilizing the leverage we have. These leverage points include a sum of 24 billion crossing the border annually from alien wire transfers, and if mexico doesn't cooperate fronting 10 billion could be easily extinguished. If Mexico still will not pay, the USA can instead increase the cost of a US VISA, or border cards which over 1 million are issued each year.
According to Alan Gomez, “While they represent just 3.5% of the U.S. population, undocumented immigrants represented 7% of federal prison sentences following convictions on charges of sexual abuse, 9% of murders, 12% of assaults and 30% of kidnappings in 2013”. These numbers not only represent a major issue with the safety of americans, but the cost to taxpayers is over 30 grand per year, per inmate. The fact each inmate is so expensive in a U.S. prison is the opportunity cost of having such things as cheap agriculture, hotels and other various manual labors.
Looking at the information of how the U.S.A.’s economy is affected by illegal aliens, it cannot be determined whether they are a positive or negative influence. However a clear line can be drawn illegal immigration is bad for legal immigrants, as well as national sovereignty. In the coming years there will likely be a large scale reform on the immigration process with the election of Mr. Trump, which will redefine the United States economy for years to come, lowering wage discrimination and decreasing illegal immigration.
Works Cited
Davidson, Adam. Do Illegal Immigrants Actually Hurt the U.S. Economy?. New York Times, 12 Feb. 2016, http://www.nytimes.com/2013/02/17/magazine/do-illegal-immigrants-actually-hurt-the-us-economy.html.
Trump, Donald. Pay For the Wall. donaldjtrump.com, https://assets.donaldjtrump.com/Pay_for_the_Wall.pdf.
Trump, Donald. Tax Plan. donaldjtrump.com, https://www.donaldjtrump.com/policies/tax-plan/.
Zaretsky, Adam. A Burden to America? Immigration and the Economy. 1997, Stlouisfed.org, https://www.stlouisfed.org/publications/regional-economist/october-1997/a-burden-to-america-immigration-and-the-economy.
Illegal immigration, I feel, plays a major role in the US economy. There are companies that are able to hire these people for much less than they would have to pay American citizens, which could actually keep businesses in the United States. Many large companies are taking their businesses to different countries because labor costs are cheaper outside of the US. If businesses are able to stay in the United States while still paying low wages, that is an ideal situation. However, hiring illegal immigrants also has a negative effect on the overall success of the American economy as well. American citizens are going to have a lower full employment rate because of jobs going to those that will work for less money. In areas where there are many illegal immigrants, it could be very difficult for someone who is a citizen to find a job, since businesses do not want to pay someone more money if there are cheaper options available. Illegal immigrant employment positively impacts the economy by keeping businesses in America through cheap labor, but also negative impacts, such as less employment for American citizens.
ReplyDeleteIllegal immigration plays a huge part in the U.S. economy, and not for the better. This lowers the employment rate and soaks up government revenue when tax dollars go towards keeping illegal immigrants in prison. While it may be beneficial to domestic business in the U.S., this ultimately hurts the average american worker. Trumps plans will allow for the unemployment rate to drop which will in turn lead to economic growth.
ReplyDeleteBased on your piece, it is clear the illegal immigration is a detriment to the United States economy. It is unclear to me why there is such a proportion of undocumented immigrants in prisons, as I would assume they would all be deported. Furthermore, while it seems intuitive that if a wall were to be built, illegal immigration would scale back significantly, I'm not sure how cost effective a wall would be. Even if Mexico were to pay for it, I would think that an effective wall would require endless maintenance and the sheer magnitude of the wall would not be conducive to cheap maintenance. However, maybe I am wrong and the wall would be a cheaper solution than our current security.
ReplyDeleteIllegal immigration is an undeniable problem; sanctuary cities and other people seem to drop the “illegal” part for a multitute of reasons. Illegal immigrants are extremely popular with large scale businesses such as hotels and farms because they’ll do the hard labor for a cheap price; this is great for the business, but overall, this takes away potential jobs from legal citizens, thereby raising the unemployment in this country.
ReplyDeleteSome of the reasons for illegal immigration are actually noble - wanting a better life for the rest of the family is one. Legal immigration takes a long time, and the word around the campfire is that situtations can be quite dire south of the border. Unfortunately, illegal immigration is still illegal immigration, and like any illegal activity it must be stopped.
The wall is not an effective solution. There are few occasions where a wall has worked, and the results of a peek into a history book affirm this sentiment. The great wall of China and the Berlin wall are among the most famous failure. And it’s important to remember that the border between the U.S. and Mexico is almost 2,000 miles long. The incredibly expensive Israel-Egypt wall is 140 miles long yet it costed 400 million dollars - quite a large chunk of land and coin. Is the wall worth the price and political rift that would inevitably follow?
The economics of illegal immigration have both an argued negative and positive economic benefit on the United States. In a posotive manner, the economic benefit of illegal immigration is the reduced labor costs that are imposed on these workers, as they are willing to work for less than the legal wage rate, which reduces the overall cost of producing many high demand products in america, such as agriculture. On the negative aspect, these illegal immigrants are affecting the workers who live legally inside America, as companies are more favored to hire cheap illegal workers over the more expensive, but legal, workers. This imposes a threat to the employment rate in America and reduces the taxes that are received from legal workers, because these illegal workers are usually not affected by income taxation. The wall is argued to be a solution for Trump, which i feel is more of a starting point to solve this eocnomic dispare, but is not the sole solution that will end illegal immigration
ReplyDeleteIllegal immigration has effected our country in both positive and negative ways. Considering that they are illegal they don't have to work at minimum wage so we are getting more workers for a cheaper price but that also means that business owners will hire illegals over legals because they are cheaper.
ReplyDeleteIllegal immigrant help the American Economy in tremendous ways. For example, as they're payed very little food costs less which benefits poor and middle class consumers. In addition, they also contribute billions of dollars to Social Security and will never see a dime. A wall will not stop illegal immigration as 40% of illegal immigrants come to this country via airlines. Also, Mexico will not pay for a wall on American Soil. As such we will be stuck with a large bill that could have been used in other areas like debt service, welfare, roads, etc.
ReplyDeleteIllegal immigration is a problem that needs to be dealt with. Although it does benefit the economy in some ways, such as cheap labor, there are also many things wrong with this situation. First of all, people are coming illegally instead of through the process that they are supposed to. Second, they aren't making hardly any money. Yes, this technically benefits us, but is this truly ethical? Two wrongs don't make a right. The main problem with this is illegal immigration, since without it, businesses won't be able to hire illegal instead of legal citizens. However, building a wall will only help a little, not a lot in the grand scheme of things, because it could create other unnecessary problems such as more debt and strained relations.
ReplyDeleteIllegal immigration is a problem that needs to be dealt with. Although it does benefit the economy in some ways, such as cheap labor, there are also many things wrong with this situation. First of all, people are coming illegally instead of through the process that they are supposed to. Second, they aren't making hardly any money. Yes, this technically benefits us, but is this truly ethical? Two wrongs don't make a right. The main problem with this is illegal immigration, since without it, businesses won't be able to hire illegal instead of legal citizens. However, building a wall will only help a little, not a lot in the grand scheme of things, because it could create other unnecessary problems such as more debt and strained relations.
ReplyDelete