Alex Ingman

Mrs. Larsen

ELA 11

14 April 2017

Illegal Immigration in the United States

Each year thousands of illegal immigrants enter the United States. Many believe that

illegal immigration is damaging to our country and should be stopped at all cost. However, they

often fail to realize the many benefits illegal immigrants actually provide our economy.

Undocumented immigrants bring an essential workforce for undesired jobs. They pay taxes and

create benefits for American consumers which gives a boost to the overall economy. Action such

as toward these illegal workers should only be taken if they commit serious crimes because they

make our economy better.

Illegal immigrants are people who enter a country without a visa or greencard which

would legally allow them to live there. Immigrants throughout our nation's history have

experienced times of persecution or discrimination by the “native” citizens. That problem still

occurs today. Examples include the syrian refugees, middle easterners and illegal immigrants

just to name a few. Many Americans believe false myths that suggest illegal immigrants hurt the

economy, when in reality they do just the opposite. Undocumented immigrants bring many

benefits to our country.

A false myth of illegal immigration is the “stealing” of jobs from American citizens.

Many believe the immigrants coming into the United States take up jobs that would otherwise be

that of American citizens. In reality, this is not an issue as many of the jobs these undocumented

workers take include low skill and manual labor jobs, many of which are not wanted by most
 Ingman 1

Americans. The false belief of illegals “overwhelming” the nation and stealing many jobs is not

true. According to the Pew Research Center, immigrants really only are “overrepresented” in the

farming, construction, and service industries, and account for only 5% of the civilian work force.

These industries are essential to our country, and these workers provide a labor force for those

important industries. Removing illegal immigrants from these positions would leave many

unfilled positions, and not only would the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) of the nation go down,

but prices and other areas of the economy would suffer. GDP growth is associated with market

activity and economic growth. When these positions are continuously empty because Americans

don’t want them. Therefore employers can get away with low wages due to a lack of workers,

and thus, generating lower prices that benefit the American consumer. Without the

undocumented workers, positions would be empty, which makes employers need to raise wages

to try and get interest in these unwanted jobs. Thus requiring the increase in the prices of

products.

Economically, the hiring of these undocumented workers benefit the average American.

Social Security is a federal program that deducts money from a paycheck throughout a person’s

life, and it provides for the disabled, dependent, retired etc. When they get older or become

disabled, they can benefit from the program when they stop working. Illegal immigrants are what

keep this program successful. The two things one can’t escape in life, as the saying goes, “death

and taxes”. Even undocumented workers pay taxes, in anything they buy; property, goods,

services etc. Many use fake numbers for their socials, allowing them to work. Each time they get

paid, their paycheck still has tax deductibles, and thus contribute to federal programs with all

other citizens and legal immigrants. However they cannot benefit from any of the programs they

contribute to in every pay check, but the money goes to federal programs that benefit Americans.
 Ingman 2

These workers pay into a system they can’t benefit from, but everyone else does. Social Security

is kept alive by undocumented workers, especially with the baby booms in the late 40’s and 60’s

that created a large number of people apart of one generation, when they get old and can’t work

they need that Social Security. With so many people asking for Social Security there needs to be

plenty of workers that can compensate for that, and illegal immigrants provide an additional

force that keeps that welfare program and others afloat. Illegal aliens also pay state sales taxes

that help pay for roads, buildings, etc, and if they own property, they will pay property taxes

which pays for the local schools. They provide a substantial amount of taxes that our government

needs. In fact, a 2010 study from the Institute for Taxation and Economic Policy, suggested that

undocumented immigrants alone paid $11.2 billion in state and local taxes. Illegal immigrants

pay billions in taxes, if we don’t have them we don’t have all the tax money they produce.

There are many people who believe the illegal aliens who enter the country are criminals,

and can threaten the security of our nation. However, the motivation for most of these

immigrants is for opportunities to work, or to seek better living conditions than the place they are

currently living. Illegal immigrants don’t pose any more of a threat to our country than American

criminals. However there will be illegals who will commit crimes, that will happen. At the same

time, American citizens do crimes as well. The people who do criminal acts deserve to be put in

jail, or deported if necessary. Deportation of these illegal aliens, according to a 2012 estimate by

the Cato institute, would have a dramatic effect on economic growth. They estimated that the

deportation of these people would reduce the economical growth by $250 billion each year, not

to mention the other cost of actually deporting these people. When thinking of illegal

immigrants as a whole, what needs to be considered is the positive effects they have, and not

stress too much about the small percentage that could commit crimes. Any action taken against
 Ingman 3

illegal immigrants should be done because of crime, not for any other reason, and deportation of

all illegals is not the answer.

If there has to be something done about the illegal immigrants, then an alternative to

deportation is to make the illegals, legal. This act would actually stimulate more economic

growth. In the article, “The Economic Effects of Granting Illegal Status and Citizenship to

Undocumented Immigrants”, it says, “...Legal status and citizenship enable undocumented

immigrants to produce and earn more than they do when they are on the economic sideline. As

legal workers, they can earn more money which they will spend on cars, clothes, food etc. thus

pumping more money into the economy. With an increase in demand for these products, more

jobs are created to accommodate for that. If these people get more money, then they will also pay

more taxes. As legals, they become more than just a worker, but a consumer and a greater

taxpayer.

Illegal immigrants offer benefits to our nation’s economy that can only be done by these

people. Many false myths make undocumented workers seem like they hinder our nation’s

economical status. In reality they do the complete opposite by paying taxes, providing an

essential workforce for unwanted jobs, benefit American consumers, and boost the economy.

Our nation without illegal immigrants would not be the same, as we would miss out on all of

these economic benefits they create. These people are makers, not takers, and without them our

country would change for the worse.

Works Cited

Ewing , Walter. "The Sooner Immigrants Become Citizens, the Better it is for the

Economy ." Immigrationimpact.com. N.p., 20 Mar. 2013. Web. 12 Apr. 2017.

Fitz, Marshall . "Immigrants Are Makers, Not Takers ."www.americanprogress.org N.p.,

 Ingman 4

8 Feb. 2013. Web. 9 Apr. 2017.

Hartete , Neil . "Illegal Immigration: Beneficial or Detrimental?" Illegal immigration

economics. N.p., n.d. Web. 9 Apr. 2017.

"Is Illegal Immigration an Economic Burden to America?"procon.org N.p., 24 Jan.

2017. Web.

Lynch , Robert , and Patrick Oakford. "The Economic Effects of Granting Legal Status

and Citizenship to Undocumented Immigrants."americanprogress.org N.p., 20

Mar. 2013. Web. 12 Apr. 2017.

"Ten Myths About Immigration ." Teaching Tolerance . N.p., 2011. Web. 12 Apr. 2017.

https://www.americanprogress.org/issues/immigration/news/2013/02/08/52377/immigrants-are-

makers-not-takers/
 Ingman 5

http://illegalimmigrationeconomics.weebly.com/the-positive-effects.html

http://www.tolerance.org/immigration-myths