Session 14: Immigration Policies and the Poor
Immigrants travel to the United States in hopes of obtaining a better life for their loved ones and themselves. They pack their best clothing items, their favorite compact discs, a few pictures, many memories, and a little too often- their desire to stay home. Immigrants, legal and illegal, leave everything they love to come make a better living in the United States. Contemporary immigration policies regard immigrants as "criminals". If someone who sacrifices their very essence, identity, and emotional stability with the mere intent to provide their offspring with optimum opportunities in life is regarded as a criminal, indeed, Americans have acquired a much-distorted view of reality. The United States is a nation made of immigrants. The first wave of Immigrants in the seventeenth century consisted of early colonists from England. However, the Revolutionary War of 1775 resulted in fewer English immigrants thus increasing newcomers from: Germany, Ireland, and Scotland. The second wave lasted from 1820 to 1870. More than seven million newcomers entered the United States. Virtually all of them came from northern and western Europe .The third wave was from 1881 to 1920 where more than twenty-three million immigrants from various parts of the world entered the United States; however, the predominant newcomers came from southern and eastern Europe. However, the increase of immigration from Latin immigrants to the United States is perhaps the most controversial because the universal stereotype of blonde-haired blue-eyed Americans is slowly vanishing behind the shadow of a more diverse and integrated generation of Americans. While opponents of comprehensive immigration laws affirm that illegal aliens benefit from all social programs at the expense of taxpayers they evidently fail to realize that most immigrants pay taxes, in fact, undocumented workers who get the same percentage as any given citizen deducted from their paychecks, however, unlike any given citizen they do not have the opportunity to get money back from the government because most of them work with a different identity. In 2004 the IRS declared that they had a surplus of more than $1.2 billion worth of unclaimed tax refunds, coincidently enough the top five states with most unclaimed refunds are: California, Texas, Florida, New York, and Illinois, which are also the five states with most undocumented residents. Another main argument regarding the negative impact of undocumented workers is that they lower the wages of Americans, this is a paradoxical statement since many economists argue that immigrants both legal and illegal supply the demand for gasps in the labor industry of the United States, as a result, industries maximize their profits and utility to create more job opportunities. Furthermore, it is important for individuals to realize that the economic recession we are experiencing was not caused by immigration. George W. Bush and everyone who voted for him are more responsible for our economic recession than any immigrant currently living in American soil is. The war in Iraq during the past five years have cost America $506 billion, and continue to cost the nation about $12 billion a month according to economist Joseph Stiglitz. This numbers do not include the long-term health care cost for wounded Iraq war veterans, which are estimated to range from $250 billion to $650 billion. Do you still consider Immigrants responsible for the economic recession in the United States? However, opponents of immigration are right about one thing there is a crime being committed in the boundaries of our nation. That is the crime of denying college-bound illegal immigrants, who graduated from American high schools, an opportunity to pay in-state tuitions at universities. The Dream act would provide a solution for the 65,000 undocumented that graduate from high school each year; students who have lived in the United States for five years or longer to pursue a post secondary education and become active members of our society. Unfortunately, this bill along with the illusions of these exemplary students has died many times in the Senate. Discrimination and Racism are the main forces driving the faith of millions of illegal immigrants in the United States, instead of addressing the issue; states have passed legislation that legalizes these two social enemies.
What you personally think should be done about poverty in United States and globally (e.g., policies, programs you would suggest). The passage of a comprehensive immigration law can inject a significant amount of capital into our economy because the federal government could fine immigrants who entered the country illegally. In addition, proof of tax forms would be one of the main requirements to apply for permanent residency; therefore, all immigrants who have not paid their taxes will do so immediately. Many individuals criticize illegal immigrants severely for crossing the border, but they fail to criticize border patrol for their inefficiency. If they did their job correctly, and by correctly I DO NOT MEAN shooting down innocent people just for the hell of it, then we would not have such a large influx of illegal immigrants. There is also a big moral hypocrisy regarding the immigration debate because I highly doubt any parent who has to see their child starve will have a lot of respect for diplomatic laws if he/she knew that somewhere in the land of the free and home of the brave there are better job opportunities awaiting for them. The United States and other Western countries have a great deal of responsibility for the state of the world; therefore, immigration is a low price to pay for abusing the resources of other countries.
