Is immigration good?
“Nothing is yours. It is to use. It is to share. If you will not share it, you cannot use it.”
― Ursula K. Le Guin, The Dispossessed
Why do people immigrate? Why do they abandon their families, land, and life to migrate to another country? The current U.S. immigration policy makes it extremely difficult to receive visas and causes stress on the family. According to The New York Times, reporter Julia Preston said, “There are roughly 23 million immigrants, while only 11 million of which are legal.” The reason as to why people immigrate was made shockingly clear to me as I lived in Mexico as an immigrant. A gentleman named Lorenzo shared with me his story:
Lorenzo immigrated to the United States; he is a great man who was trying to start his family. He lived in an economically devastated town called, Jose Maria Morelos. Out of desperation for himself and his family, he decided to head to California for work. Unable to receive a passport or visa he was forced to travel on foot. After a 16 hour walk through the hot desert of Arizona he made it. While working in California he worked two full time jobs making minimum wage, and because he was illegal, he made on average $5 less per hour than a normal employee. Having to support his family back in Mexico he was forced to rent a one room apartment shared with 8 other people, all sleeping and living in the same room. Discouraged and tired, he eventually decided to move back home with his family, where he is a shoemaker making around 10 dollars a week.
In his story three things are about immigration are highlighted, which are the topics of this report; 1. Why families immigrate 2. Ups and downs of immigration 3. Why people illegally immigrate
Why families immigrate
The most important thing for most people is their families. They will do anything and everything to provide for them, even if it includes going to another country. There are a lot of families and kids that have immigrated as young children and are forced to live with constant anxiety and stress about deportation. The U.S. government is trying to eliminate this stress by creating more visas for illegal or part legal families living within the United States. These new visas can grant residency in three year intervals to protect and allow employment options to immigrants (Gladstone).
Ups and downs of immigration
An obvious effect of immigration is the economy. While illegal immigrants put a big toll on the economy, they also provide big benefits to our economy. The CAIR (Council on American-Islamic Relations) said how Immigration is a net drain on the economy; Large companies have the benefit of cheap labor, while taxpayers pay the main cost... $60 billion dollars are earned by illegal aliens in the U.S. each year. One of Mexico's largest forms of income (after exports and oil sales) consists of money sent home by legal immigrants and illegal immigrants working in the U.S... This is a massive transfer of money from America - essentially from America's displaced working poor - to Mexico (CAIR). “While on the other hand we can see the positives as Francine Lipman said: undocumented’s actually contribute more to public offers in taxes than they cost in social services. Moreover, undocumented immigrants contribute to the U.S. economy through their investments and consumption of goods and services; filling of millions of essential worker positions resulting in subsidiary job creation, increased productivity and lower costs of goods and services; and unrequited contributions to Social Security, Medicare and unemployment insurance programs." (Lipman)
Why people illegally immigrate
People are often forced to illegally immigrate because it is so hard to receive passports and/or visas to be able to legally travel. In 2015 there were a total of 10,891,745 visas distributed to people in 2015 (Zong) .This is only about half of the visas that are necessary, if all immigrants were granted visas.
Some would say that it is necessary that we find a way to make immigration more accessible; stating that if people are going to come regardless, we might as well find the way so that both sides can benefit. After all, we do need to share what we have.
“Nothing is yours. It is to use. It is to share. If you will not share it, you cannot use it.”
― Ursula K. Le Guin, The Dispossessed
Why do people immigrate? Why do they abandon their families, land, and life to migrate to another country? The current U.S. immigration policy makes it extremely difficult to receive visas and causes stress on the family. According to The New York Times, reporter Julia Preston said, “There are roughly 23 million immigrants, while only 11 million of which are legal.” The reason as to why people immigrate was made shockingly clear to me as I lived in Mexico as an immigrant. A gentleman named Lorenzo shared with me his story:
Lorenzo immigrated to the United States; he is a great man who was trying to start his family. He lived in an economically devastated town called, Jose Maria Morelos. Out of desperation for himself and his family, he decided to head to California for work. Unable to receive a passport or visa he was forced to travel on foot. After a 16 hour walk through the hot desert of Arizona he made it. While working in California he worked two full time jobs making minimum wage, and because he was illegal, he made on average $5 less per hour than a normal employee. Having to support his family back in Mexico he was forced to rent a one room apartment shared with 8 other people, all sleeping and living in the same room. Discouraged and tired, he eventually decided to move back home with his family, where he is a shoemaker making around 10 dollars a week.
In his story three things are about immigration are highlighted, which are the topics of this report; 1. Why families immigrate 2. Ups and downs of immigration 3. Why people illegally immigrate
Why families immigrate
The most important thing for most people is their families. They will do anything and everything to provide for them, even if it includes going to another country. There are a lot of families and kids that have immigrated as young children and are forced to live with constant anxiety and stress about deportation. The U.S. government is trying to eliminate this stress by creating more visas for illegal or part legal families living within the United States. These new visas can grant residency in three year intervals to protect and allow employment options to immigrants (Gladstone).
Ups and downs of immigration
An obvious effect of immigration is the economy. While illegal immigrants put a big toll on the economy, they also provide big benefits to our economy. The CAIR (Council on American-Islamic Relations) said how Immigration is a net drain on the economy; Large companies have the benefit of cheap labor, while taxpayers pay the main cost... $60 billion dollars are earned by illegal aliens in the U.S. each year. One of Mexico's largest forms of income (after exports and oil sales) consists of money sent home by legal immigrants and illegal immigrants working in the U.S... This is a massive transfer of money from America - essentially from America's displaced working poor - to Mexico (CAIR). “While on the other hand we can see the positives as Francine Lipman said: undocumented’s actually contribute more to public offers in taxes than they cost in social services. Moreover, undocumented immigrants contribute to the U.S. economy through their investments and consumption of goods and services; filling of millions of essential worker positions resulting in subsidiary job creation, increased productivity and lower costs of goods and services; and unrequited contributions to Social Security, Medicare and unemployment insurance programs." (Lipman)
Why people illegally immigrate
People are often forced to illegally immigrate because it is so hard to receive passports and/or visas to be able to legally travel. In 2015 there were a total of 10,891,745 visas distributed to people in 2015 (Zong) .This is only about half of the visas that are necessary, if all immigrants were granted visas.
Some would say that it is necessary that we find a way to make immigration more accessible; stating that if people are going to come regardless, we might as well find the way so that both sides can benefit. After all, we do need to share what we have.
Works Cited
CAIR. Economic Costs of Legal and Illegal Immigration. 24 10 2007.
Gladstone, Michael. What's New in Immigration? A Few Thoughts for 2016. 7 2016. 30 11 2016. Government. U.S. Visas. 2015.
lipman, Francine J. Taxing Undocumented Immigrants: Separate, Unequal and Without Representation," Tax Lawyer. 4 2006.
Preston, Julia. Number of Illegal Immigrants in U.S. May Be on Rise Again, Estimates Say. 23 Sep 2013. 30 Sep 2016.
Immigration Flag. 2015. Internet. US Citizenship. Web. 10 Oct. 2016.
House in Jose Maria Morelos, Mexico. Personal photograph by author. 2016.
CAIR. Economic Costs of Legal and Illegal Immigration. 24 10 2007.
Gladstone, Michael. What's New in Immigration? A Few Thoughts for 2016. 7 2016. 30 11 2016. Government. U.S. Visas. 2015.
lipman, Francine J. Taxing Undocumented Immigrants: Separate, Unequal and Without Representation," Tax Lawyer. 4 2006.
Preston, Julia. Number of Illegal Immigrants in U.S. May Be on Rise Again, Estimates Say. 23 Sep 2013. 30 Sep 2016.
Immigration Flag. 2015. Internet. US Citizenship. Web. 10 Oct. 2016.
House in Jose Maria Morelos, Mexico. Personal photograph by author. 2016.