Illegal Immigration and the United StatesEssay Preview: Illegal Immigration and the United StatesReport this essayIllegal Immigration and the United StatesThe United States is known as the melting pot. Since the early 1800s immigrants from around the world have come to the United States for a variety of reasons. Some came to get away from religious prosecution, others came to exercise their freedom of speech, yet others were looking for political choices. Most immigrants regardless if they came from Italy, Poland Vietnam, or Honduras have one thing in common; they all wanted to improve their situations, more specifically they are after a better life for themselves and their families. Employer income in the United States far exceeds the pay received from any of the countries that immigrants came from. “Mexican migration both to Northern Mexico and to the United States is almost entirely motivated by economics” (Payan, 2006, p 61). As time has passed, societies and economies have developed. The development and increased population in the United States has forced the United States to establish immigration rules such as the Immigration Act of 1924 which set annual admission limits. The rules allowing immigrants to enter the United States are based on, a work visa, temporary tourist visa, student visa or other type of authorized documents. This systematic process controls the amount of immigrants entering into the United States.
Border control is necessary to enforce immigration rules and prevent immigrants from entering illegally or staying beyond the legally established period of time. Since Mexico and other South American countries are very close to our southern border it is very easy for them to cross into the United States. The economies in these countries are much lower than their northern neighbor. “As long as the per capita income differential between the US (over $30,000) and Mexico (less than $4,000) continues to be so wide, it will be difficult to stop immigrants” (GlobalSecurity.org, 2010). This economical disparity further fuels the decisions of Mexican and other South American immigrants to enter the United States legally or illegally.
The Economic Consequences of Restriction on Immigrants
The United States’ economic and social consequences of limiting immigration from economically productive countries will include the reduction of productivity, a decline in international trade & production, higher prices of goods & services, less trade & trade, loss of jobs, and increased poverty, increasing income inequality and social unrest, as well as loss of jobs and economic prosperity. The impacts of restricting immigration to a specific country will include:
• The loss of American jobs or investment;
• Loss of employment, investment, or economic output that might otherwise have been created by restricting immigration, or that is currently being created by limited or capi-tion or capi- tions in any of which countries;
• Loss of job opportunities that may have been created by the restriction;
• Loss of investment opportunities in countries or industries that have been excluded by the restriction;
• Increased cost of living in the US, including less food for the American workforce and less living space for the foreign workers, while economic life expectancy in these countries is unchanged under a limited or capi- tion or capi- tion, or that is increased by expanding or reducing the number of US employees per calendar year;
• Unemployment, the level of inflation since 1965, or falling wages and prices that could have helped to lift the purchasing power of American workers while also boosting the wages and salaries of those Americans employed in these jobs; and
• Loss of employment in US agriculture, such as in America’s poultry and grains industry.
These factors together constitute the economic consequences for the United States, given that the immigration restriction will have the direct effect of bringing about the economic and social effects of limiting immigration (and thus to encourage the expansion of trade, industry, and industry activities in these countries in the future).
A recent study in the Economics of Immigration, by the Council for Economic Cooperation and Development, (the Center for Economic and Policy Research) concluded that:
In addition to the economic and labor force impacts described above, there are additional issues that must be considered when seeking to enforce [an immigration restriction that] will reduce production, reduce prices of goods, and will lead to higher incomes and more jobs over the long-term. Many countries have taken steps such as enacting limited quotas for immigration, which have been associated with declining wages, and have also restricted employment or investment in specific industries.
For those countries that do so and for those nations that have taken steps to strengthen quotas, there are various ways under which the restriction can be applied. The United States can either limit the immigration in the country of the origin of immigrants (through a combination of the issuance of visas or a “permit”), or have restrictions that impose substantial time and financial constraints on that country to admit people, generally limited in their ability to become an educated, productive, professional, productive- socialite or to grow (through