For several years, debates have occurred on whether illegal immigrants should be allowed to stay in the United States. Laws used to regulate both legal and illegal immigration have caused debates in social and political settings. Some leaders have supported measures aimed at controlling the influx of immigrants.
Recently, republicans in Kansas differed on whether or not to extend work permits for some immigrants. The immigrants were required to have no criminal records in a period of five years (Ziegler, 2012).
The American population has a large percentage of immigrants from different continents. Europeans came to America several years ago in search of resources. Other immigrants were brought as slaves and others were allowed in through legal means.
There are benefits associated with immigrants in the United States. It is known that immigrants are a source of cheap labor. Most illegal immigrants do not have enough education.
Therefore, they have to do blue color jobs which are despised by Native Americans (Lynch and Woodyard, 2006). Most construction companies and farms rely on immigrants for cheap labor. Pessimistic economists argue that giving immigrants jobs, transfer wealth from Americans to foreigners.
Diversification of culture, food, customs, believes, religion and talent of Americans was contributed by immigrants. Today, people go to Chinese, Korean, Mexican, Ethiopian and Japanese restaurants to enjoy traditional foods. These foods and other traditional activities were brought by immigrants.
However, several people believe that immigrants jeopardize American cultures, customs and economy (Hirschman, 2006). On the other hand, several ideas which have been used in technology, medicine, politics, education and administration were generated by immigrants.
Whether immigrants are legal or illegal, they have valuable attributes which are beneficial to the United States. Some technological developments which are currently enjoyed by Americans were contributed by immigrants. Technology has helped Americans to develop at a higher rate.
Immigrants have also contributed negatively. This has made Americans to have a poor perception towards immigrants from some regions in the world. What happened on September 11 was an unfortunate event in history of the United States. People who carried out the attacks were immigrants who had been trained in American institutions. As a result, most people changed their perception towards such immigrants (The New York Times, 2011).
Use of drugs in several states has been attributed to increased number of immigrants from foreign countries. Illegal immigrants are used by drug dealers to bring drugs to the United States. It has been argued that without illegal immigrants, use of drugs would be lower (Shah, 2008). However, some of the drugs in question have a positive effect in medicine.
Opiates have been incorporated into several pain killers which are prescribed by medical practitioners. It was initially brought from Asia as a stimulant but researchers used it to develop pain killers. Marijuana is illegal in most states but it is prescribed by doctors to patients who suffer from glaucoma and other chronic diseases.
This drug was introduced to the United States by immigrants from Central America and Caribbean countries. Some American people believe that illegal immigrants use social amenities without paying tax. This is not entirely true because when immigrants buy products, they pay taxes indirectly.
If they are accepted into the American system, they can pay taxes like American people. Government started keeping records of immigrants in 1820. The records show that over 80 million people have immigrated into the United States (Hirschman, 2006). Therefore, people should know that most Americans are descendants of immigrants who were despised during their time.
Works Cited
Hirschman, Charles. The impacts of Immigration on American society: Looking Backwards to the Future. Border battles; the U.S. Immigration debates. 2006. Web.
Lynch David J., and Woodyard Chris. “Immigrants claim pivotal role in economy.” USA Today. 4 Nov. 2006. Web.
Shah, Anup. Immigration. Global Issues. 2008. Web.
The New York Times. “Immigration and Terrorism.” The New York Times. 5 Oct. 2001. Web.
Ziegler, Laura. “Controversy in Kansas over Proposed Immigration bill.” Kansas City Public media. 7 Feb. 2012. Web.