The trend of immigration into the United States continues to raise debates concerning the positive and negative effects of the phenomenon. Proponents of immigration cite numerous economic benefits such the increase in tax collection, availability of a large pool of cheap labor, and enhanced circulation of money within the economy.
On the other hand, opponents of immigration depict immigrants as a menace to the American people as it promotes the rise in criminal activities and causes an economic and social burden to taxpayers. I think the negative opinion towards immigration is justified since it affects key institutions such as schools, health care, national labor market, and the law enforcement and criminal-justice system.
Various considerations promote the opposition on immigration, especially due to the large number of illegal immigrants who enter America. First, Immigration contributes to an increase in the population of America. This increase occurs sporadically, and thus the national budgetary allocations in America do not account for this increase. In this regard, immigration causes financial strain on various aspects of government planning.
The government has to divert some funds into addressing the unanticipated issue of immigration. In addition, immigration causes strain on various amenities such as schools and health care facilities. Furthermore, since most immigrants enter the country illegally they do not participate in crucial obligations such as the payment of tax. Thus, they use various social services without contributing to their sustenance.
Secondly, most immigrants lack professional skills that could facilitate their accommodation in most of the sectors within the American economy. Although a portion of immigrants, especially the legal immigrants, possesses sufficient education and training, the largest percentage of immigrants comes to America solely on the notion that it is a country with opportunities for all people.
The lack of professional skills leaves immigrants with a few opportunities other than picking odd jobs to survive. The meager income in this regard leads to frustration and increases the tendency towards criminal acts as a source of additional income. In this consideration, immigrants lead to an additional burden on law enforcers and the criminal-justice system. Increased prosecution costs and the maintenance of prisons are major considerations in this regard.
Furthermore, unskilled immigrants provide a large pool of cheap labor, especially in the manufacturing sector, and thus affect sectors of the national labor market that require minimal formal education. Apart from lowering skill rates in America, they hinder the adoption of technological systems in labor-intensive manufacturing processes. This introduces technical costs in the economy.
The other consideration on immigration is its effects on housing facilities, especially among the low-income American families. The issue of housing is critical to America’s low-income earners who have to adopt stringent measures in order to cope with rising costs for housing.
Another point is that immigration creates loopholes in border-movement control systems. As such, it provides criminals with an opportunity to conduct illegal transactions. Drugs and firearm cartels exploit the lenient laws on immigration to smuggle their products into America. These vices pose adverse social and economic effects on the American population.
Various drawbacks associated with immigration emanate from the lack of appropriate immigration-control measures. Without the proper regulations on immigration, the trend of the rising number of both legal and illegal immigrants will continue to rise. Appropriate regulations should seek to minimize the number of illegal immigrants and while ensuring the full absorption of legal immigrants into the American system.