Immigration in the Workplace
Over than 10 million illegal immigrants live in the United States, and 1,400 more arrive every day (Katel). Seeing the great economic opportunity in the U. S. immigrants cross the border to work low wage jobs and begin a new life. While illegal immigrants only take up a small 5 percent of the United states workforce, these illegal aliens take up American jobs, threaten national security, and ruin culture because the refuse to assimilate (Katel).Many agree in this debate that the presence of so many immigrants actually boost our economy. Illegal immigration raises difficult questions about the American economy and how the country continues to seek low wage labor while at the same time providing opportunities for its citizens. The United States government should pass a law penalizing the corporate Americans and homeowners alike for hiring illegal immigrants.
This bill will give less incentive for illegal aliens to penetrate the U. S. border and will help control the immigration population.In 2005 there were 21. 7 million legal immigrants and 10. 3 million illegal immigrants in the United States (Katel). The number may seem low for illegal immigrants but the facts show that sense 2005 the number of illegal immigrants has grown. The United States government grants over 1 million immigrants citizenship a year. This means that the U. S. government is allowing immigrants to come to America legally. When immigrants get desperate, they enter the country illegally. Illegal immigrants enter not because there is no proper way to become a U. S.
itizen but because the legalization process is long, it costs money to the individual, requires them to take a history test about the United States, and is the harder way to gain access to the United States of America. Since the early 2000’s the United States has seen a growth of illegal immigrant far beyond the “traditional gatekeeper states” such as Texas and California (Greenblatt). The concern is that too many of these illegal immigrants are taking thousands if not hundreds of thousands of jobs away from legal citizens, as well as costing tax payers more and more money to pay for things like education, hospital bills, and welfare.The government is now considering whether or not to spend millions of dollars so that traffic signs can have Spanish and English on them. With the growing luxury of not even having to learn English, many illegal immigrants are finding it easier and easier to live in the United States. Something needs to be done to slow and eventually stop what could one day be a threat to national security. In order to fight illegal immigration, society must first see what drives immigrants to flock to the United States.
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To start off illegal immigration has become a prominent part of corporate America. Sense the U. S. conomy has been on a roller coaster sense the early two thousands; Illegal immigrants have found more and more opportunities in the corporate world. In fact, “20 per cent of farming occupations, 17 per cent of cleaning occupations, 12 per cent of construction and 11 percent of food preparation occupations are held by undocumented workers” (Wagner). While things like “being a dry-waller, brick-layer, house framer, painter, roofer, carpet layer, plumber, or electrician was a decently compensated, middle class trade,” it has now become “the work for illegal aliens at far less than the free market rate” (Wagner).The middle class seems to be less and less prevalent as illegal aliens over take their jobs.
Now Corporate America is becoming greedy by continuing to hire illegal aliens for cheaper labor. And with cheaper labor it gives them more money in their pocket. It can be clearly seen that the relationship between employer and immigrant is one of great reward for both parties. With this type of guarantee that immigrants will find jobs in America it is no wonder why they have no incentive to stay home. Corporate America shows no signs of stopping the hiring illegal immigrants.As Alan Greenblatt put it: “the idea that employers could be persuaded not to hire illegal immigrants is a fairy tale” (Greenblatt). With no penalty in place large business and even small home owners have no reason to not hire cheap labor through illegal immigrants.
A big part of the argument that the corporations have is that some Americans will not want to do the more blue-collar work that the majority of the illegal immigrants do. This is true to some extent. But when an American man or American woman is hungry and jobless, they will wish that they had that job.The United States has an unemployment rate of 9. 8% (Recession). Also, this great country has over 310,000,000 Americans living in her borders (Census). That means that 30 million Americans are jobless.
The illegal immigrants represent 5% of the workforce and have jobs that those 30 million Americans do not have (Katel). If the economy is ever going to improve, then the unemployment rate will need to go down. This means that those employers hiring those illegal immigrants will have to stop hiring illegal immigrants and hire U. S. citizens.Another major concern for native born Americans is the constant reshaping of American culture to fit in with the immigrant’s culture. For example many parts of Texas and California have become both Spanish and English speaking towns.
Schools now require multiple years of foreign language and many companies would like for their employers to be bi-lingual. While this helps broaden our horizon as a society it allows for a more easy transition into our nation for illegal aliens. Problems like these continue to arise daily between native born Americans and illegal immigrants building more and more tension in U.S. citizens. But with an economy that is 20 times better than the one many illegal aliens come from, there is again no incentive for them to stay home. It is the little things that are allowing immigrants to take hold and start a new life in America.
Now the opposing view might say that all they want is a better life for their family and what better country to do that in then America. The problem to this is that there is a right and legal way to become a U. S. citizen but too many are too impatient or poor to take this step.While it is understandable why so many immigrants are crossing our borders each day it is an issue that needs to be dealt with through government regulations. Unfortunately the facts show that the United States Government has not done much to stop this issue. To many it seems like the government is playing this issue safe by avoiding it at all cost.
But when asked why the government has not made a great effort to stop the hiring of illegal immigrants on National Public Radio, Senator Kennedy replied the United States of America needs "To be energized we need new workers, younger workers, who are going to be a part of the whole economy.We don't have them here in the United States” (Greenblatt). Senator Kennedy along with others feel that the standard view of the average American is to have an illegal immigrant to do the work for them. Today we see homeowners hiring someone of a different nationality to do yard work and other things around the house for them. In a sense Kennedy was right. Illegal immigrants have the energy and the want to do the low level, low wage jobs that others refuse to do. The ultimate problem with illegal immigration seems to be laziness followed closely by a drive for success with the use of cheap labor.
After seeing the reason for the increase of illegal immigrants, many question if they are a detriment to society at all. If principle doesn’t force you to think that the hiring of illegal immigrants should stop then the effect they have on our economy should. Illegal immigration brings a negative impact on government spending. Illegal aliens do not pay taxes yet they still use U. S. schools hospitals and public facilities. All of these things are paid for by hard working legal Americans.
The illegal immigrant group seems to take from the system without ever giving back. It is the local governments though, that are hurting the most. For example, when a small town has more illegal immigrants going to school than legal residents the school is well underfunded and lacks the resources it needs to function. In the state of Texas, the state requires the richer school districts to pay a portion of their money to the poorer districts. In 2004, 134 school districts paid over 1. 2 billion dollars to the other districts (Brief History). Not every district that received money is solely comprised of illegal immigrants, but Texas has one of the largest amounts of illegal immigrants.
These districts, must take tax dollars to support the poverty built by the number of illegal immigrants living off U. S. money and those who cannot find jobs over these illegal aliens. This incoming wave of immigration has increased the “load on the welfare systems as there are fewer working poor and more welfare recipients” (Wagner). This goes to show that illegal immigration affects the nation’s economy in multiple ways. First, they compete for jobs with legal citizens. This then causes legal citizens to lose jobs and adds to the increasing poverty.
While immigrants make up a hefty size of our low wage work force. It all comes back to a break down in public policy. If the government could regulate the amount of illegal immigrants in the country already, it would be a stepping stone to solving a much bigger problem. But with so many illegal aliens already in the country it is seemingly impossible to deport a large number of illegal citizens without causing a political uprising. While it may not be evident in the national economy, illegal immigrants effect the smaller local governments.This is why the national government must create a set of laws to help enforce the deportation of illegal immigrants whether it is forceful or not. The United States government needs to pass a law that will penalize business and home owners alike for hiring illegal immigrants.
Last year the U. S. government only handed out 9,317 dollars in fines to businesses that hired illegal immigrants (Jordan). This statistic is unacceptable and disturbing. Whether one agrees that illegal aliens affect our nation positively or negatively everyone must agree that there is some principle in deporting those who are illegal.If we don’t deport them then we must cut them off from what they are here for..
. work. So, if the rich man in a suit gets scared away from hiring an undocumented worker then the illegal immigrants will find it harder and harder to live in the U. S. profitably. This law should include homeowners hiring undocumented workers to do jobs around the house for cash. This kind of business is happening everywhere and needs to be stopped.
Now, there is the problem of crossing the line in this and being racist towards those who are true American citizens.The government can’t just go up to every person that looks like they are illegal and ask to see their papers like the latest law in Arizona. So to solve this problem I feel as if our law enforcement agencies should handle each situation with care and when they have probable cause they can take action. This is just one solution to a problem so vast that it may never really see an end. In conclusion, illegal immigration is a very very complicated issue. Even when it is broken down into one area like this there are still so many parts to it.Illegal immigration is now fueled by America’s laziness and the government’s predisposition to please the masses.
Because of these two things illegal immigration has been a steady incline since the early 2000’s and has no signs of stopping. In order to fix the illegal immigration problem there will have to be drastic measures that will not please both sides of the argument. If the government passes a law putting large fines on those who hire illegal immigrants the government will have forced many undocumented immigrants out of the country without even touching them.
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Immigration in the Workplace. (2019, Feb 09). Retrieved from https://phdessay.com/immigration-in-the-workplace/
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