Illegal Immigration and the Economy
Illegal immigration has become one of the key political issues of the 1990s, especially in border states such as California. The Bureau of the Census estimates that there are now 4 million illegal aliens living in the United States and that about 300,000 more settle permanently each year. Four million illegal immigrants is undeniably a large number of people, but it is far below the "invading army" of 8 million 10 million aliens regularly reported in the media and by anti-immigrant lobbyists. Illegal aliens constitute only about 1.5 percent of the 260 million people living in the United States.Myopic and xenophobic Americans were (and are) threatened by what they perceive as waves of "foreigners" invading the U.S. shores and taking jobs away from hardworking "real" Americans. The fact of the matter is that is simply not the case.In the 1980s concern about the surge of illegal aliens into the U.S. has led Congress to pass legislation aimed at curtailing illegal immigration. The Immigration Reform and Control Act of 1986 allows most illegal aliens who have resided in the U.S. continuously since January 1, 1982, to apply for legal status. In addition, the law prohibits employers from hi
Immigrants are economically advantageous to the United States for remarkably simple reasons. As a share of the population, immigrants today are far below historical levels for the United States. California, moreover, had gone far beyond what was required by federal law in granting benefits to illegal aliens, including in-state tuition in the Cal-State University system and free prenatal care The simple economic facts of the matter regarding immigration is that If America hopes to compete and win in today's global economy, policy makers need to realize that the importation of human capital is one of America's greatest competitive advantages. In fact, the study stated, residents in the vast majority of the country enjoy a net tax gain, because immigrants are concentrated in just six states but their taxes mostly go to the federal government The anger toward illegal immigrants has grown steadily among Californians in recent years, fueled both by the huge number of illegal aliens living in the state - nearly two million, or about half of the country' s entire illegal population - and by the state's somewhat lingering economic recession. immigration law revision), now what needs to happen is a change in Americans' attitude regarding immigrant workers. They take the jobs that must be done that Americans do not want for themselves or believe are somehow "below them," such as the service industry work (food service, janitorial, domestic), and construction and agricultural labor. " This then has something of a twisted logic. There are appropriate measures that could and should be taken have already been noted (i. The simple facts of the matter are that this has become an issue that needs to be dealt with in terms of compromise and cooperation rather than confrontation. Immigration raises the cost of public services in areas with large numbers of immigrants, but the influx of non-American residents benefits the U. For many years federal officials have attempted to deter illegal immigration by denying undocumented aliens access to the U. Bibliography Burrell, Cassandra Immigrant Study Days Cheap Labor Helps U.
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