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Allison Smith
Honors Reading Seminar 250
Professor Schur
3 November, 2017
One Side of the Coin

After reading Ann Coulter’s book ¡Adios, America!, I am infuriated not only by her

personal beliefs (which I will set aside), but also her lack of fully representing an argument about

immigration. By reading Coulter’s book, I have learned what makes for a weak argument even if

you have done research for your position. To make a decent argument, for any topic, you can not

only address the pros or cons of the topic; you must address both the pros and the cons, then

persuade your audience why your position is more important/correct over another. Coulter’s lack

of addressing the good that has come from and currently comes from immigration makes her

argument too weak for her argument to be valuable.

Coulter’s ¡Adios, America! makes the case that immigration is ruining the United States,

with both the media and the left side assisting in this deterioration. Coulter makes an unfiltered

argument which points out the negatives associated with immigration, the media’s attempt to

hide these cons and its desire to deter anyone from discussing them, and the democrats’ support

of immigration, or the “browning of America” as Coulter puts it, being tied to their desire of

being the dominant political power in the United States. While Coulter argues extensively that

current immigration policies and viewpoints are turning the United States into a “Third World

hellhole,” she fails to recognize what immigration has done to benefit this country.

While Coulter argues immigration should be stopped as it deteriorates the economy and

harms citizens, her assertions are not well-supported. Coulter states that, on average, legal
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immigrants will get back about $4,000 from government services than they pay in taxes (47), but

research has shown otherwise. According to the director of the Center for Trade and Policy

Studies at the Cato Institute, an immigrant and his/her offspring will pay more in taxes during

their lives than they collect in government services by $80,000 (Griswold). This directly

disagrees with Coulter’s claim. Furthermore, in cities where immigration rates are high, the

economy is prospering (Hesson). For example, Nashville, Tennessee’s economy has been

deemed one of the fastest-growing in the nation; this rapid growth happens to coincide with the

foreign-born population in the area more than doubling in the last fifteen years (Hesson). In this

town not only are immigrants simply living there, they are helping the entire community by

boosting the economy and offering services to the area by owning businesses and working in

industries. In a San Francisco study, immigrants were found to have expanded the economy as

well due to promoting specialization, causing efficiency gains and income boosts for individual

workers, overall increasing the productivity of the economy (Godlin). If immigrants end up

giving more than they take and boosting local economies, why would we want to halt their

ability to live in the United States? Immigrants do not put a strain on the economy; they do the

exact opposite.

What else do immigrants bring to the United States? Immigrants increase tourism,

develop technology and companies, become our scientists and engineers, and, most importantly,

keep us open-minded (Furman and Gray; Kelly). As immigrants talk about the qualities of the

nation they live in to others, they increase the desire of others to travel there, as long as the talk is

good. This tourism brings more money to the United States and allows various cities to flourish.

Immigrants create new technology and build companies such as Google and Intel (Furman and

Gray). These companies not only aid the public in their purposes, but also offer more jobs to
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Americans. Immigrants make up over 30% of engineers and almost 25% of physical scientists in

the United States (Furman and Gray). These career options contribute directly to enhancing the

lives of those in the United States by increasing public health and advancing technological,

architectural, and mechanical ingenuity. Lastly, immigrants keep the United States open to new

ideas and beliefs. As immigrants settle to new areas, they bring their identities with them. These

identities bring new norms, faiths, values, and more to that area. This exposes those already

living there to these new ideas, and causes people to consider other views and ways of life than

their own. This flow of different ideas gives people the opportunity to increase their knowledge

and interests simply by being around others. Immigrants have a multitude of good they bring to

the nation they travel to, and we are lucky to the place they bring that good to.

Immigrants offer an immense amount of benefits to the United States, but Coulter fails to

acknowledge any of them in her own argument about immigration. This failure to address both

sides of an argument weakens her own as it completely ignores any good, and focuses solely on

the cons to immigration. Every coin has two sides, but failing to acknowledge one side leaves the

audience ill-advised to provide fair and knowledgeable criticism to the subject at hand. Failing to

acknowledge the other side of an argument also diminishes the strength of an argument as it

provides no room for being able to support your claims when opposing ideas arise. As Coulter

limits her discussion to one side of the immigration coin, she fails to convince me that her

position on immigration is well-supported and worthy of being taken seriously. As I continue my

college career, Coulter has taught me exactly what not to do when writing argumentatively: do

not only use evidence from one side to support your position on a topic.
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Works Cited

Coulter, Ann. ¡Adios, America!. Washington, DC: Regnery Publishing, 2015. Print.

Furman, Jason and Danielle Gray. “Ten Ways Immigrant Help Build and Strengthen Our

Economy.” The White House: President Barack Obama. USAgov, n.d. Web. 31 Oct. 2017.

Goldin, Iam. “How Immigration has changed the World-for the Better.” World Economic

Forum. World Economic Forum, 17 Jan. 2016. Web. 31 Oct. 2017.

Griswold, Daniel. “Immigrants Have Enriched American Culture and Enhanced Our

Influence in the World.” CATO Institute. CATO Institute, 18 Feb. 2002. Web. 31 Oct. 2017.

Hesson, Ted. “Why American Cities Are Fightint to Attract Immigrants.” The Atlantic.

Atlantic Monthly Group, 21, July 2015. Web. 31 Oct. 2017.

Kelly, Nataly. “Seven Surprising Ways Immigration Helps Build a Stronger America.”

The Huffington Post. HuffPost News, March 2013. Web. 31 Oct. 2017.