Immigration: The Fault Of Our Economy Decline Or Not
“We all carry biases with us all. We learn them as a part of our socialization into our communities”(Carola) Due to ignorance, sometimes stereotypes are accepted by us all due to how much news and information we consume. No matter how much we oppose it, many of our views on controversies such as immigration are influenced by stereotypes. Immigration today is a word with multiple meanings. Immigration is the process of action of coming to live in a new foreign country. However now when people hear the word immigration, the first thing they think is “Illegal”.
What impact does immigration have on the U.S. economy? “Economic theory points to possible effects on the employment and wages of domestic workers, U.S. trade with other countries, the size and growth rate of the economy, and the prices that Americans pay for goods and services”(immigration effects). “In the U.S., 50% of adults recently reported that immigrants are making the economy worse. Immigration is blamed for either causing or aggravating the unemployment problem. In the U.S., a common charge is that immigrants do not pay taxes and do not contribute to Social Security; yet they benefit from public services such as public education, welfare, food stamps, and Medicaid”(Carola)
“Immigration affects the rate of growth and size of our economy, as well as the prices that Americans pay for goods and services”(Immigration). The people against immigration argue that immigrants are at fault for taking their jobs and cramping all the space in the US according to Smith, and “Anti-immigrant narratives depicting new arrivals as criminals, drug dealers, human traffickers, and terrorists”(carola)
The most serious problem about immigration today is the fear that immigrants are bringing the crime into the U.S. Immigrants today, mostly from latin america, are stereotypically assumed to be “rapist, violent criminals, and murderers”(Sladky).“Immigrants comprise about 14 percent of the U.S. population: more than forty-three million out of a total of about 323 million people. Together, immigrants and their U.S.-born children make up about 27 percent of U.S. inhabitants”(Blake). “When adults were asked what word came to mind when thinking about immigrants, about 12% used the word, illegal”(Sladky). Immigration has been a controversy in political debates for years. “Congress has been unable to reach an agreement on immigration reform for decades”(Blake) . “President Donald J. Trump was elected on pledges to take extraordinary actions to curb illegal immigration and prevent terrorism, including controversial plans to build out the border wall with Mexico, deport millions of undocumented immigrants, and temporarily ban Muslims” (Selee).
Among its major actions on immigration in 2017, the administration: “Banned nationals of eight countries, most majority-Muslim, from entering the United States”(Selee). “Reduced refugee admissions to the lowest level since the resettlement program was created in 1980. Reversed the decline in arrests of unauthorized immigrants in the U.S. interior that had occurred during the last two years of the Obama administration”(Dakota). “Cancelled the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program, which is currently providing work authorization and temporary relief from deportation to approximately 690,000 unauthorized immigrants brought to the United States as children”(Blake). “Ended the designation of Temporary Protected Status for nationals of Haiti, Nicaragua and Sudan, and signaled that Hondurans and possibly Salvadorans may also lose their work authorization and protection from removal in 2018”(Imigration effects).
Critics of Trump’s plan have cited the 1st Amendment’s protection of those voicing disagreement with federal policy as relevant in this instance. “But state and local governments, even though they certainly can and should express themselves, don’t necessarily enjoy 1st Amendment protections the way individuals do. President Trump’s threat to begin releasing detained immigrants in “sanctuary cities” seems like dirty politics, even in 2019. It is also, almost certainly, illegal”(Blake). “While there is nothing explicit in the Constitution prohibiting presidents (or Congress) from punishing states and localities for their policies, long-established precedent suggests Trump’s plan wouldn’t survive legal scrutiny”(Smith).
Some possible solutions in preventing immgration controversies according to sensible would be “Eliminating the visa lottery, ending chain migration, reforming the outdated practice of birthright citizenship, eliminating visas for unnecessary foreign workers, and reducing fraud in the asylum and refugee programs” .The defenders of immigration argue that immigrants aren't fully at fault for smuggling drugs and weapons, and due to sending them back to their home country, families are being separated and more problems are occuring.
What happens to the children when their parents are deported? How does deportation affect the families? “The number of immigrants removed has steadily risen, from close to 190,000 deportations in 2001 to close to 400,000 per year in the past four years”(Sladky) Deportations have a large effect on families, Kids are put into foster care for no other reason other than the illegal status of their parents. “Deportation forces children into foster care as their parents are shipped out of the country and leaving single mothers struggling to make ends meet. The total costs to foster each child (between administrative and maintenance costs) are significant-close to $26,000 per year”(Sladky). Due to this children of illegal immigrants have to live in constant fear of separation and fear of being deported. Even those who are not sure are in fear with their little knowledge on the matter. With about more than 11 million unauthorized immigrants living in the U.S, these deportations affect a wide group of the population.
Some people believe that all immigrants are causing the decline of our economy and they’re the reason we have terrorist attacks and they’re the reason for bringing drugs across the border. However, that’s not entirely true. All these problems aren’t caused by one group, and because of these stereotypes, this one group are being affected with constant fear in their lives.
Work Cited
Smith Dakota, “La times” l, April 16 2019,
https://www.latimes.com/local/lanow/la-me-ln-california-sanctuary-city-trump-democrats-20190416-story.html April 21
Blake Mike, “Us immigration debate” July 2018
https://www.cfr.org/backgrounder/us-immigration-debate-0 April 20
Selee Andrew ,“Immigration under trump” Dec 2017
https://www.migrationpolicy.org/research/immigration-under-trump-review-policy-shifts April 21
“Sensible solutions”2019 https://www.numbersusa.com/solutions April 22 2019
“Immigration effects”,2019 https://www.nap.edu/read/5779/chapter/6 April 22 2019
Carola, “reimagining migration” 2019
https://reimaginingmigration.org/what-are-the-predominant-stereotypes-about-immigrants-today/ April 29 2019
Sladky Lynne “immigration enforcement” 2019
https://www.americanprogress.org/issues/immigration/reports/2012/08/20/27082/how-todays-immigration-enforcement-policies-impact-children-families-and-communities/ April 29 2019
