Illegal Immigrants

Immigration has become more of a controversial topic in recent years. However, the controversy surrounds one particular type of immigrants and less attention is paid to another group. The US immigration policy needs to address both of these groups, considering whether they burden or benefit the economy. In this paper, we define two major types of immigrants: illegal immigrants and skilled legal immigrants. Largely from Mexico and South American countries, illegal immigrants take low paying manual labor jobs in fields such as construction and agriculture. This particular group has gained public attention in recent years. Another immigrant group is skilled legal immigrants who have a better chance of getting a better life as opposed to their non-skilled counterparts.

While both of these immigrant groups contribute to the American economy, illegal immigrants are at the center of the controversy. The Department of Homeland Security has raided metropolitan area to remove illegal immigrants. However, these immigrants may be beneficial to the economy. They contribute to our economy by taking manual labor jobs that are disdained by American citizens. Therefore, these immigrants are actually fulfilling the demands of the American economy. Second, some of these immigrants are actually paying taxes like American citizens. This in a sense can be beneficial to American interests because they are not claiming the social benefits of social security. Therefore, removing working immigrants who pay taxes is counterproductive.

The government has successfully limited the number of illegal immigrants crossing through the borders; however, they have spent too much money and effort on border patrol. Their proposal to build a concrete wall is strategically preposterous and financially absurd. We need to limit this expenditure since they are counterproductive for our economy. The overly strict border control and a need for illegal immigrants in agriculture and other industries made it hard for producers to be able to supply enough products to the market.

While these illegal immigrants contribute to our economy, they should not be legalized because this will create a propensity for more illegal immigrants to attempt to cross the border. If we legalize these immigrants, their services would be as inexpensive as it currently is. In fact, some companies may depend heavily on illegal immigrant labor because they can pay them less than American workers. However, their living condition and safety should be a concern of the government. We need to address their working conditions and safety so that businesses that use their services can guarantee their safety and basic treatment. Since wage is the main concern of illegal immigrants, the improvement in working conditions and safety is not going to attract more illegal immigrants to cross the borders.

Critics might argue that illegal immigrants are posing a threat to our national security and are responsible for many crimes. However, most of these illegal immigrants are trying to gain higher wages than what they would gain from their home countries in order to aid their families. From this understanding one should not stereotype immigrants