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Anel Mukic
Suddreth
English 1010
4/2/14
So close, yet so far
Illegal immigrants have long been regarded as one of the primary reasons why it is so
hard for true American citizens to find work. Not only do their sheer numbers plague the already
pathetic job market in today's society, but their desire to work for the lowest amount of money
possible just completely gives them the edge over any average low-income American worker. An
illegal worker replaces workers who have been doing their job for several years based solely on
the amount of money the company will save on the cheaper work. When these American's
suddenly become unemployed, naturally their spending on goods that normally fuel the economy
decreases significantly which is why having a work force of hard working immigrants helps
sustain the economy.
Not only do illegal immigrants take the jobs of low-wage citizens, but they also take part
social programs like hospitals and schools, not only contributing to overpopulation in certain
areas but also adds to the seemingly forever-growing national debt of now 16 trillion dollars.
Native workers who have been paying taxes to support these social programs for years are now
forced to accept lower wages or simply stop working. Statistics have shown that immigrants
have lowered the wages of over 25 million workers without high school diplomas by up to as
much as 7.5%. Americans claim that immigrants invest nothing in America and just come to take
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the jobs of legal citizens, earn a certain amount of money, and then return to their country. So
after all of these said cons of immigration, why do the majority of economists strongly support
the legalization of immigrants? The answer is simple. Illegal immigrants boost our economy
more than anyone could imagine. (Davidson, 2013)
Qualifying illegal immigrants should be fully legalized because they are the answer to
revitalizing the crumbling economy. Immigrants support the skilled workforce by helping to
distribute the work so that it is completed in the most efficient way possible. Immigrants come to
the country and spend substantial amounts of money on goods and services, which in turn
substantially boost the economy. Lastly, immigrants who come to the United States create
businesses at a much higher rate than native citizens do which in turn creates thousands jobs.
Undocumented workers have long been criticized as the reason it is so difficult for
low-level American workers to find or keep jobs. While this may be true in some places in the
country like Texas, there are ways to help these places, such as specific increased government
funding. The problems cause an abundance of immigrants present in places such as Texas pale in
comparison to the economic benefits the rest of the country receives from immigrants. The dollar
value of the benefits far outweigh the costs the problems present, making it a simple solution to
just transfer money to the local populations that may need some help. Giovanni Peri, one of the
leading economists at University of California Davis, stated that, Undocumented workers do not
compete with skilled laborers-instead, they complement them. (Davidson, 2013) He argues that
illegal immigrants have a positive affect nearly everywhere in the country.
Adam Smith, who is considered the father of modern economics wrote the "Wealth of
Nations," which is heralded as the first modern work of economics. In that piece, Smith argues
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that when workers become specialized and divide up tasks among themselves then that is when
an economy thrives. By handling the routine tasks that skilled workers would normally have to
do, illegal immigrants allow the skilled workers to simply do what they came to do and move on
to the next job. This saves the skilled worker time, and the one who hired the skilled worker the
elevated wage he would have paid him over the immigrant. Adam Davidson, a writer for the
New York Times, discusses an example of this in his article "Do Illegal Immigrants Actually
Hurt the U.S. Economy?" He talks about how an illegal immigrants willingness to do things like
clean up debris and install a toilet after a skilled worker already installed wood flooring in a
lawyers office allows for the cycle discussed to happen. Due to the money saved from not having
to pay the highly skilled worker to do those simple tasks, the company was able to book more
jobs, meaning more customers, more money, and an ever growing economy. (Davidson, 2013)
Statistics show that undocumented workers increased legal workers pay in
complementary jobs by up to 10% between 1990-2007 (Davidson 2013). This shows exactly
what Adam Smith believed in regards to the splitting up of work being the most efficient form of
labor, and illegal immigrants have shown to contribute significantly in this aspect. Americans see
immigrants as serious competition for their jobs, which in turn means lower wages for those
Americans. However, immigrants mean more workers which leads to an increase in cumulative
earnings.
While many suggest that immigrants come to the United States only looking to benefit
themselves and nothing else, this accusation is false. Immigrants come to the United States with
literally nothing but the will to work, so all of their income goes directly into just surviving for a
long time. For starters, they pay about $1,500 just to have a taxpayer I.D. number just so that
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they can work in the first place and get an apartment (Davidson, 2013). Then they pay all the
bills that an American citizen pays such as rent, electricity, water, etc. If they catch a break and
are able to save some money they are able to purchase a vehicle and other luxuries of the sort.
All the while this money is going straight to our economy. People argue that illegal immigrants
send all their money back to their country and simply hope to do that long enough so that they
can go back. In reality immigrants biggest hope is to make the U.S. their home and to be able to
bring their whole families over, who would naturally work just as hard.
John McCain, a former candidate for the President of the United States said "I cannot
imagine or believe that unleashing 11 million hardworking people into our economy would not
be helpful(Nowicki & Gonzalez 2013). Adding a larger workforce who is eager to work as hard
as possible can only hurt those who have no desire to math that work ethic. Those that work
extremely hard with or without illegal immigrants in the picture would not object to illegal
immigration based on the grounds that their jobs would become at risk. Only those that have
been idly sliding by exerting the least amount of effort possible would suddenly burst out in
outrage that their jobs are being stolen. Immigrants benefit the economy as a whole and we
cannot hold back our economy in a futile attempt to help those who fear being outworked keep
their job. Heidi Shierholz, en established economist at the Economic Policy institute, in regards
to immigration benefitting the overall economy said, It is not controversial(Bandow, 2013).
Statistics have shown that it is clear just how beneficial immigrants are to the economy but
however the opposition argues not only the economic worthiness but how society would be
impacted upon the legalization of immigrants.
Undeniably there are several negative effects to illegal immigration that need be
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mentioned. As discussed earlier the issue some areas face in regards to an excess amount of
immigrants putting up too much competition in the work force for local citizens to have any
chance of finding work. Work isnt the only issue at hand that comes with an overabundance of
illegal immigrants, as the housing market for low-wage earners is also highly competitive.
Throwing illegal immigrants into the mix makes it even more difficult for families to manage.
For example, an American family of 5 with one earner would have a much harder time affording
housing than 5 grown illegal immigrants who would have no problem herding together in one
place of living. Immigrants can afford such rent when they come in groups and live together, and
that in turn has landlords raising prices that American families relying on one income simply
cant keep up with. This is an issue that is easily solvable by the government. As argued
previously these areas simply need economical aid from the government to function, whether
immigrants stay illegal or legal makes no difference (Davidson, 2013).
Aside from economical reasons, illegal immigrants have at times been known to commit
serious crimes and be involved with high profile gangs. These crimes include anything from
petty theft to murder. Crime is something that applies to American citizens just as much but the
argument made here by citizens is that they shouldnt have to deal with the crimes of illegal
immigrants on top of an already crime filled United States. While there are no concrete solutions
to these problems there are also proposed methods that could possibly solve some issues. Before
legalizing any immigrant it would be required that the immigrant is subject to background checks
and drug tests. Those with criminal history would not be granted citizenship and it would move
for the deportation of any immigrant committing a crime from that point on.
Immigrants are widely accused of not paying taxes and just using our country to their
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own benefit. The fact of the matter is that immigrants have it tougher in regards to taxes than
most Americans do. In 2009, the last year in which these figures were recorded, employers
recorded $72.8 billion of wages between 7.7 million illegal workers. (Lantigua, 2011) The social
security numbers recorded from these profits could not be matched to any legal workers, because
immigrants more often than not use fake social security numbers just to work. Statistics show
that over $13.5 billion dollars from immigrants went into the social security trust fund and
Medicare, which are used to retirees and health care beneficiaries. (Lantigua, 2011) Due to
illegal immigrants not having valid social security numbers, they will never get to claim any of
that money they contributed.
Overall, statistics show that legalizing immigrants will definitely have its cons, but the
pros will outweigh them without question. President Barack Obama stated, The vast majority of
these individuals arent looking for any trouble. Theyre just looking to provide for their
families, contribute to their communities (Bandow, 2013). He goes on to add that the presence
of illegal immigrants does indeed benefit most Americans. Our economy has been dreadful over
the last few years and is only getting worse. A drastic change is needed and the legalization of
the current illegal immigrants in our country could be what takes our country back to economic
stability.



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Works Cited
-Nowicki, Dan, and Daniel Gonzalez. "Immigration Reform Would Boost Economy."
Azcentral.com. The Republic, 28 Aug. 2013. Web. 01 Nov. 2013.
-Zavodny, Madeline. "Your Questions. Experts Answers." Msnbc.com.
NBC, 10 July 2007. Web. 01 Nov. 2013.
-Bandow, Doug. "Immigration Benefits The U.S., So Let's Legalize All Work." Forbes.
Forbes Magazine, 16 Sept. 2013. Web. 20 Oct. 2013.
-Davidson, Adam. "Do Illegal Immigrants Actually Hurt the U.S. Economy." www.nytimes.com.
New York Times, 12 Feb. 2013. Web. 20 Oct. 2013.
-Lantigua, John. "Nation & World." The Seattle Times.
Seattle Times, 28 Dec. 2011. Web. 01 Nov. 2013