The impacts of immigration on the USA Economy

[Atubiga]

What are some of the effects of immigration on the united states economy?. Is immigration doing more harm than good?. Can you mention some of the immigrant groups and their contributions to the American economy. What do you think must be done especially to the US immigration laws?. Do you think America should restrict some immigrant groups from coming in while allowing others?

[Gloria]

Immigration is a major transforming social force in American society and culture. Since the changes it brings tend to be slow and subtle, the size and direction of immigration’s reshaping force is not always apparent to most Americans. The contribution of immigration to America’s industrial and agricultural might and its rich cultural diversity are inarguable and well documented in a vast literature. But like every other enriching social phenomenon, from industrialization to trade unionism to feminism and automation, immigration brings cost in terms of social divisions, economic disruptions, urban tensions and individual anxieties, grafting, in society as in human body, is rarely without pain and is not always successful. America no less than the immigrant shares in the discomfort of the adjustment process.
There are two types of immigrants: the legal immigrants who entered America well documented or some who may attain this through birth, and on the other side the illegal immigrants who may have come through unlawful means or for example those whose visa expiration date is due but still in the country. However, both these groups have positive and negative effects on the United States.
Population growth has been the driving force behind much of America’s economic growth from the colonial times to the present. The factors that underlie population rate of growth- the birth rate, death rate, and immigration rate- imply much about economic conditions in America. Some non-oil producing Caribbean and Central American sending countries such as El Salvador, Jamaica, Nicaragua and Haiti, which have long been heavy suppliers of immigrants to the united states suffered devastating economic slumps as early as the mid-1970s and hence the need to head towards the north.
From 1847 to 1864, more than 100,000 Irish immigrants arrived each year; between 1852 and 1854, German immigrants averaged 150,000; another 200,000-plus arrived from Italy each year. In the 1940s it was the turn of the Vietnamese and the Soviet Jews. Many driven factors such as poverty, hunger especially in the wake of the potato famine in Ireland and many other factors drove these immigrants to America. The preferred destination of about one of every six legal immigrants in the 1980s was New York City metropolitan area. California was easily the preferred state with 28 percent of the new permanent residents in 1986 planning to reside there, concentrating in Los Angeles, Orange County, San Francisco, Jersey City, which had 13.5 immigrants per thousand inhabitants. Other communities popular among new immigrants were Chicago, Washington D,C and the Miami-Hialeah area. This accounts for why some places like New York in America is densely populated whiles some other states are not all that densely populated. When there are overcrowding in such places, the possible outcome is the general pressure on social amenities and pressure on the government. Large scale environmental pollution occurs in such areas. The water bodies are constantly polluted with waste materials from industries, the air is filled with dangerous and harmful gases such as Carbon monoxide from the exhaust of the thousands of outnumbered cars hovering the streets all day in and out. Also, noise from factories and so on fills the air. A 1989 report published by Sierra club population committee summarized the club’s traditional position on the environmental damage caused by America’s population growth and also identified the need to address immigration. “ The Sierra club has long supported the idea that an end to population growth in America and each country around the world is essential to environmental protection. In particular, the club’s policy calls for “development by the federal government of a population policy for the United Stated and for America” to end (its) population growth as soon as feasible”. Aside its impact on the population distribution and structure of the America’s economy, immigration also has a very significant impact on America’s electoral processes.There is a general rule that Americans do not vote in large solid blocs. However, the most conspicuous exception to this rule is the Blacks. Blacks do and it has important consequences for both major political parties. Since about 1932, Blacks have strongly supported Democrats. They have in fact been consistently the most cohesive constituency group in the Democratic Party, giving about 80 to 90 percent of their votes to Democratic candidates. But before 1932, Blacks tended to be overwhelmingly Republican. Traditionally then, Black voting patterns have tended toward bloc voting. This monolithic cast to Black voting is one of two major differences between Blacks and Whites in overall voting behavior. The other is in registration and turnout rates which have been lower among blacks. For example, Only about 10 million out of the 17 million blacks eligible to register did so in 1982 and only 7 million of these actually voted. Blacks in New York, for instance reacting to the Hayes bargain, were led by T. Thomas fortune, editor of the New York age, to vote Democrat in rather large numbers as early as the Cleveland election of 1892, in the 1912 election of Woodrow Wilson. In 1924, James Weldon Johnson in a seminal article painfully characterized the Black vote as ‘Political nonentity” because “He the Negro demands less by his ballot, not only in the actual results but even in mere respect for himself as a voter than any of the groups that go to make up the American citizenry. Although some of these groups are far smaller in numbers and even weaker economically, they do not put the price of recognition as a participator in the administration of the affairs of his government. Some use sentiment rather than logic as basis for voting therefore affecting the general implication of the electoral process. Also, for example in 1980, 14.6 million Hispanics were counted in the United States Census. Hispanics are the fastest growing minority in America and it has been estimated that because of continued immigration and a high birth rate, they will shortly become the largest minority. Their political impact has increased already owing in part to their numbers and in part to their location. They make up a sizable proportion of the voting age population of many Western states and Florida as well as large metropolitan areas in North east and mid West. In terms of national security, immigration plays a very important role in America. Immigrants especially the legal immigrants join the army, the navy to mention but a few to help protect national security especially at borders and throughout the world as happening in Iraq. Despite this important role, Senator Edward M. Kennedy, joined by
Senator Sam Brownback in a Congress meeting on October 17, 2001 said the terrorist attacks on September 11 made it clear that the United States current intelligence and terrorism prevention net leaves its members vulnerable to serious security dangers. Strengthening immigration laws should be an indispensable part of the nation’s efforts to prevent future terrorist attacks. Effective immigration and border controls can have a significant impact on our national security. In both Senators views, By making better use of intelligence information to identify high risk individuals who seek to harm us, and ensuring that timely information is in the hands of the proper authorities, this legislation will help the nation meet the serious security threats we face from abroad, without obstructing the free flow of goods across America’s borders or the entry of more than 31 million foreign nationals who legally enter U.S each year as visitors, students, and temporary workers.
To continue, Undocumented workers, if not used directly to undercut the bargaining position of citizen and document labor, can be used politically and organizationally to fragment labor at several levels. First, they can be brought into competition with negatively privilege citizen labor, most particularly Blacks, Latinos, women and youths. As competitors for the same category of jobs (example in service and retail, trade), undocumented workers provide the equivalent of a decrease in the overall wage levels associated with those jobs or a diminution of minimum wage laws in that sector. The latter strategy provides the equivalent of a reduction in the guarantees of citizenship without directly expressing the battle in those terms. Also, many opponents of expanded immigration support this idea that the United States does not need a million newcomers each year to ensure a strong economy. Dan Stein, executive director of the Federation for American Immigration Reform (FAIR), which opposes high immigration levels said “Most immigrants are not well educated entrepreneurs” but “Poorly educated people who take low-skilled jobs for little money”. In steins view, immigration largely benefits employers by providing a cheap and plentiful labor force. Moreover, he says, the newcomers take Americans’ jobs and suppress wage level., However, according to the proponents of immigration “we’re getting a lot of the best and brightest from other countries, and of course these people benefit the American economy because “they are driven to improve their lots” says Bronwyn Lance, a senior fellow at the Alexis de Tocqueville Institution, which works to increase understanding of the cultural and economic benefits of legal immigration. Lance and others say immigrants are more likely to start businesses from corner grocery stores to giant companies- than native born Americans. Even newcomers with little education aid the economy. Immigrants take undesirable jobs that employers cannot fill with native- born Americans. According to a L.A. Times analysis summarizing the best available research, “immigrants contribute mightily to the economy, by paying billions in annual taxes, by filing low-wage jobs that keep domestic industry competitive, and by spurring investment and job-creation, revitalizing once-decaying communities. Many social scientists conclude that the newcomers, rather than drain government treasuries, contribute overall far more than they utilize in services.” The studies conducted by the Rand Corporation, the University of Maryland, the Council of Economic Advisors, the National Research Council and Urban Institute all show that immigrants do not have a negative effect on the earnings and employment opportunities of native-born Americans. A 1989 Department of Labor study found that neither U.S. workers in complementary jobs, nor most minority workers, appear to be adversely affected by immigration “The truth is that the challenges we face as a nation have not been imported by our immigrants, nor would they disappear if we could only succeed in sealing our borders for good- even if that were possible. In fact, there is good reason to believe that some of the problems we should take most seriously as a people- from the decline in our economic competitiveness to the decay of our community values- are problems that the new immigrants can help us solve”.
Taking immigration and its effects on the age structure of America into consideration, Steven A. Camarota, the Director of Research at the Center for Immigration Studies said, Immigrants who have arrived in the last two decades plus all of their U.S.-born children have only reduced the average age in the United States from 37 to 36 years. He continues to say that, all levels of government provide services to children therefore, it is necessary to understand the effect of immigration policy on the number of children being born in the United States in order to better anticipate spending on services, especially public schools.
Mr. Camarota continues in their research analysis that, in 2002, 23 percent of all births in the United States were to immigrant mothers (legal or illegal), compared to 15 percent in 1990, 9 percent in1980, and 6 percent in 1970. Even at the peak of the last great wave of immigration in 1910, births to immigrant mothers accounted for a slightly smaller share than today. After 1910, immigration was reduced, but current immigration continues at records levels, thus births to immigrants will continue to increase. It is estimated that 383,000 or 42 percent of births to immigrants are to illegal alien mothers. Births to illegals now account for nearly one out of every 10 births in the United States. He concluded by saying that, the large number of births to illegals shows that the longer illegal immigration is allowed to persist, the harder the problem is to solve. Because as U.S. citizens these children can stay permanently, their citizenship can prevent a parent’s deportation, and once adults they can sponsor their parents for permanent residence according to U.S. immigration laws.
The issue of illegal immigration is a threat to the American economy. For it is believed that most illegal immigrants take the law in their own hands and engage in all sorts of anti-social behaviors. In fact, when such cases happen, it is very difficult to apprehend such people because of unstable identity. Detective Mike Connors a member of the New York Drug enforcement task force in Queens 1982 said “If it’s coke-related”, “it’s mostly Colombians”. Who are mostly illegal immigrants. Mayor Fernando Wood in an address to the city’s leading citizens believed that Irish and German immigrants were devoid of respect for the law. Wood warned that the “evil upon all who come within range of their depraved minds” had become a matter “exceedingly serious and demanding immediate and complete eradication.” “The simple fact is that we must not and we will not surrender our borders to those who wish to exploit our history of compassion and justice.” And “when people enter this country illegally and commit crimes whiles they are here, it is not fair to ask the states to bear the entire cost of their imprisonment”. (President Clinton.). And so, “…..we must say no to illegal immigration so we can continue to say yes to legal immigration.” (Vice president, Gore).
More over, as an important section of the United States immigration laws, before one is given a permanent residency green card, legal immigrants must demonstrate that they are free from communicable diseases and drug addiction. However, an illegal immigrant who walks across the borders unchecked comes in healthy or sick. According to Dr. Madeline Cosman, Polio was eradicated from America but now reappears in illegal immigrants. Intestinal parasites were mostly obliterated. He said “Our fine sanitation and microbe-safe food supplies made them disappear. But they are back in the bodies of illegal Aliens”. Malaria was obliterated but now is re-emerging in Texas and other states. “No mosquito that bites a person infected with malaria checks identification papers before biting another person to transmit debilitation fever”. Dr. Cosman continued to say that, the infectious disease called Kawasaki claims the lives of about 4000 young children under age five every year in America. Youngsters develop fever, red eyes, “strawberry tongue” and acute inflammation of their coronary arteries and other blood vessels. Many suffer heart attacks and sometimes even death. Also disease like Leprosy which was sometimes called disease of the soul in Biblical days and medieval Europe, so horribly destroys flesh, faces and fingers. Lepers quarantined in leprosaria sounded noisemakers when they ventured out to warn people to stay far away. Leprosy or Hansen’s disease was so rare in the United States that for 40 years only 900 people were afflicted. However more than 7000 cases of leprosy are now reported. Leprosy is now endemic to northeastern states. There are now leprosy clinics in New York City. According to Dr. Cosman, illegal Aliens and other immigrants brought leprosy from Brazil, Mexico, India and the Caribbean.
Despite the rapid population growth, the native Indian population however fared badly. When the British settlement began, there may have been as many as 300,000 indigenous people in the eastern half of the country. However, by the time of the revolution, the Indian population had shrunk to 100,000 or less. European diseases such as measles and smallpox, to which the native population had no natural immunities ravaged the indigenous population. Apart from its economic or fiscal impacts, immigration is also playing a very important role in the transformation of the American society. Despite the fact that immigrants are transformed by America, most immigrants will shed or at least contain their native cultures while embracing the mores and languages of the host country. This accounts for the over thousand different languages and cultures in America. This emergence of segmented assimilation has convinced some people that immigrants emphasis on diversity and ethnicity threatens the traditional “melting pot” of American society. As the Washington Post reported, “There is a sense that especially as immigrants population reach a critical mass in many communities, it is no longer the melting pot that is transforming them, but they who are transforming American society.” Most immigration advocacy and ethnic groups view “assimilation” as a dirty word, and prefer metaphors such as “Salad bowl” and “mosaic” to describe the sense of separate identities within one nation. Aside this, intermarriage as an indicator of societal integration is very common within such societies.
In his opinion, Mr. Brimelow, a Forbes magazine senior editor, makes what many consider a strong case of restrictive immigration policy. He argues that unless the flood of newcomers to America’s shores is halted or at least curtailed, the United States will become a nation of ethnic fiefdoms, each pulling in a different direction. If present trends continue, Brimelow writes “Americans themselves will become aliens to each other”. However, according to the one hundred seventh Congress, first session on October 17, 200l, America’s immigration policy is based on a number of values that relate to the core social and economic principles on which the nation was founded. These values are complementary and interweave to create the rich fabric that is beneficial to all Americans. Among the most important values are the unification of American families, employment related immigration to keep America Strong in a global economy; asylum protection for refugees fleeing persecutions; Naturalization based on allegiance to the principles contained in the constitution and laws, a system based on law, with fair , uniform, and predictable requirements. And so, looking at some of these factors and many others, Bonjas and Tienda in the “Hispanic in the United States economy” therefore concludes that increased knowledge of the socioeconomic standing of this significant and growing proportion of the populace and better understanding of the workings of the labor market of the sort should lead to better opportunities for all minorities which means greater progress for the entire economy.

[cinbadd]

If no one had ever emigrated from their native land to settle down in what we now know as The United States of America, the country would still be soley populated by Native Americans!

I believe the United States needs to have a zero tolerance policy on anyone coming into the country illegally. Period.

Sounds simple, doesn't it? I think we all know it's not that simple. What to do with illegal aliens who have American born children? Again, not simple.

Still, just because we don't know what to do with the undocumented people who already live in the US doesn't mean we should allow people to continue to enter illegally. A very strict-- secured borders-- policy needs to be implemented immediately-- and enforced constantly! If one wishes to come to the US, s/he must follow rules and regulations, just as our legal citizens have.

[jacob]

thank u very much for sharing such a valuable info, where did you get these info.

[Chris]

I think its very clear that immigration and illegal immigration controls need to be tightened in America. Indian owned gas stations and convince stores popping up left and right - which don't have to pay income taxes is a huge drain on our country.

Mexicans jumping the fence and getting imprisoned, hospitalized, disabled, etc drains our country as well.

It is definitely time to tighten up on this crap.

[RioKwik]

I think it is clear to anyone who has ever had to deal with the immigration process or policies, that they need to be updated and the system really needs an entire overhaul.

Our country needs immigrants, we benefit from them being here and they benefit from being here as well so it really is a mutual relationship. The influx that we have had over the last several years has had its strain on the country though, and the fact that they were not willing to wait to get in legally changed things.

A rocky economy and rising unemployment rates doesn't make things any easier for the rest of the country who sees these individuals as taking advantage and possibly taking food out of their own mouth.

Right now I think everyone needs to put their attention to changing the immigration system.

[zowie]

Illegal immigration to the USA has been a major problem recently. Mexicans and other people who came here illegally reduced the wages of hard working Americans. They do not have medical insurance and so when they get sick they will end up in the hospital and not in a position to pay their bills. In the end the American tax payers have to pay their medical bills.