Immigration system

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Essay

immigration economy reform

What comes into your mind when you hear the word immigrants? Is it the people who illegally move to another country and live there by receiving welfare? Is it the people who drain the U.S economy, while not paying taxes? Is it the criminals? Who are the 11 million or so people who fit that description?

Jeff Passel, senior demographer at the Pew Hispanic Center, says the one he hears the most -- at least the one he can repeat -- is “a single young man who's working in day labor.” That man is probably from Mexico, where he probably snuck across the border. It's not that nobody fits that description, says Passel. Plenty do. But, he says, the stereotypes are “mostly wrong.” It turns out that the majority of unauthorized immigrants living here are couples with children, and an estimated 40 percent of illegal immigrants are actually women. (Krissy Clark, Marketplace)

We have to take a big action to pass an immigration reform bill this year, to increase the efficiency of the U.S. economy. It will create millions of new jobs and boost the United States' Gross Domestic Product by billions, according to a study released by Regional Economic Models, Inc. And it will help a lot of families to stay together; and lessen the moral damage the immigrants may receive. In order, to understand this problem better, we have to define the word immigrants. We have to refute the stereotypes that people impose around this word. Therefore, there are going to be clear reasons on why we have to pass a comprehensive immigration reform bill.

Immigrants are the people who travel to different parts of the world and settle there. In America, people who come from different countries come for different reasons such as; economy issues, family unification, and natural disaster or for political purposes. That's why the U.S government controls the number of immigrants who enter America every year. There are several types of immigration quotas that were designed to control the amount of immigrants who come to America; family based immigration, employment based immigration, refugees, other forms of humanitarian relief and US citizenship.

Do immigrants cross the border illegally? The truth is, “Around 75% have legal permanent (immigrant visas; of the25% that are undocumented, 40% overstayed temporary (nonimmigrant) visas” (INS Statistical Yearbook) The majority of the immigrants are legal residents and a minority of them are illegal.

Do immigrants come to the U.S to receive welfare? Immigrants come to work and reunite with families. “Immigrant labor force participation is consistently higher than native-born, and immigrant workers make up a larger share of the U.S labor force (12.4%) than they do the U.S population (11.5%). It's been estimated that immigrants earn about “$240 billion a year, pay about $90 billion a year in taxes, and use about $5 billion in public benefits”. (American Immigration Lawyers Association, Urban Institute) Immigrants are the reason for the economy growth in U.S.A. Immigrants fill jobs and they also start their own businesses. As Alan Greenspan, American economist, points out,”70% of immigrants arrive in prime working age”.

Do immigrants pay taxes? All immigrants pay taxes whether income, property, federal, state, local, Social Security, Medicare taxes, etc. Also, undocumented immigrants pay taxes as evidenced by the Social Security Administration's “suspense file” (NAOS, Cato Institute, and Urban Institute) In “suspense file” they saw that the taxes can't be matched with the names and social security numbers of other workers. How's that? Well, it turns out that even undocumented immigrants also have money automatically deducted directly from their paychecks. It happens because, they get on the payroll by using fake or fraudulent social security numbers or social security numbers of the deceased, which are easily available. “Social Security Administration estimates that 75% of undocumented immigrants are actually on formal payrolls and are paid by check just like anyone else”. “It is impossible to know exactly how many illegal immigrant workers pay taxes. But according to specialists, most of them do. Since 1986, when the Immigration Reform and Control Act set penalties for employers who knowingly hire illegal immigrants, most such workers have been forced to buy fake ID's to get a job”. (Eduardo Porter, New York Times)

It's a fact that the majority of immigrants are not criminals. The numerous studies over the past hundred years showed that immigrants are less likely to commit crimes than the native born. “It's been proven that native born Americans commit more crimes than immigrants commit” (Immigration Policy Center). Many of the immigrants get charged with an immigration violation and nothing more. The federal government decided to imprison undocumented immigrants instead of deporting them. For example, the story from Jesenia, a girl from Brownwood, Texas, who tells about her father being illegal in this country over 20 years. “I'm seventeen; I and my family hide my father when they come. We are all so scared that one day he won't come back.” (myimmigrantsstory)

In fact, immigrants create more jobs. “Companies begun by Chinese and Indian immigrants generated more than $19.5 billion in sales and nearly 73,000 jobs in 2000” (Brookings Institution) Immigrants create jobs and start their own businesses which help to create new jobs in the United States each year.

The most common stereotype is that the majority of immigrants don't want to learn English or become Americans assimilate. “It's a fact that within ten years of arrival, more than seventy five percent of immigrants speak English very well. Immigrants demand for English classes at the adult level exceeds supply”. (U.S. Census Bureau, U.S. Department of Homeland Security, Bureau of Citizenship and Immigration Services). Many immigrants have achieved a high level of education and put all of their efforts to succeed in learning English. For example, there is story of a lady, Dela who came to the United States of America at age of twenty. She tells that she had to learn English and went to college and graduated with honors. (myimmigrationstory)

So, as we refute the stereotypes about immigrants and bring the real statistics, we can clearly see that majority of the immigrants are only benefiting the U.S.

The economic advantages are significant. Many immigrants are natural entrepreneurs, establishing companies, creating jobs, and driving innovation. Well-educated and highly-trained foreign workers are inventive and productive. Expanded work forces increase business flexibility, allowing companies to quickly respond to changing demands. Larger labor forces also encourage specialization. Labor productivity rises as companies adjust to larger work forces and invest in employees. (Forbes)

Ergo, the immigration reform bill will boost the efficiency of the U.S. Doug Holtz-Eakin, economist, president of the conservative American Action Forum, told the Senate Judiciary Committee,” I've done some estimates that, for benchmark reforms, suggest you could have as much as nearly a full percentage point faster growth over 10 years”. (Ezra Klein, Washington Post) Faster economic growth, of course, means more jobs.

Overall, I want to state that the majority of immigrants keep America running and have beneficial impact on the economy of the United States of America. Immigrants who come to America mainly come for a better life and greater opportunities. We all know that the majority of people, who live in America once, emigrated from different countries and their descendants adapted to new cultural traditions that developed over some period of time. Therefore, we must pass a comprehensive immigration reform bill, to let 11 million undocumented people get out of the shadow and make the United States of America better, by working and living here legally.

References

1. Bandow, Doug. “Immigration Benefits The U.S., So Let's Legalize All Work.” Forbes, 16 September 2013. Web.

2. Klein, Ezra. "Five ways immigration reform will help low-wage workers." Wonkblog. PostTV. The Washington Post, 22 April 2013. Web.

3. Krissy, Clark. "Who are the 11 million undocumented immigrants?."MARKETPLACE Wealth & Poverty Desk, 28 January 2013. Web.

4. Top 10 Immigration Myths and Facts. 2003. Chart. National Immigration ForumWeb.

5. Jessenia. "THE STORIES OF U.S. IMMIGRANTS IN THEIR OWN WORDS." My Immigration Story. Web.

6. "ICYMI: NEW STUDY FINDS IMMIGRATION REFORM WILL CREATE JOBS AND BOOST GDP." National Immigration Forum. Washington, D.C, July 23, 2013. Web.

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