Narayanan 1

Vinay Narayanan
Mr. Burchett
Honors Government Period 5
19th October, 2015
Why We Need to Reduce Immigration
Every single day, countless number of illegal immigrants cross our well protected
borders trying to come into our country to try and make a better living. It is estimated that on
average, our country receives 12 million illegal immigrants annually, most of whom come from
Mexico and Canada. Now some people ask why we receive so many immigrants? The primary
reason is that these immigrants want to escape harsher conditions faced in other countries. When
we look at the social and political atmosphere of the United States and compare them to that of
other countries, the U.S. is virtually at the top in both fields. Because of this, people immigrate
into our country to make a name for themselves as well as support their families. When people
enter our country legally, we account for them and make sure that we provide for them while
making sure that our own native population is not affected in any way. In converse when
immigrants begin to enter our country illegally, we do not get the chance to incorporate them
into our economy which can obviously cause some sort of stress to either our economic
atmosphere or our social lives. Due to the large influx of immigrants into our country, there have
been a number of debates, arguments, etc. about whether illegal immigration is good for our
country, or not. While there are some reasons that assert that illegal immigration is good for our
country, there is overwhelming evidence that indicates that illegal immigration is bad for our
country. This can be said because illegal immigration leads to job losses for the native

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population, it causes enormous losses financially, and threatens American society as a whole on
many different levels.
With an average of 12 million immigrants annually entering our country illegally, it is no
surprise that they will cause some sort of job displacement among the native population. If one
thinks about it, the only reason these immigrants are coming to our country is to get a job and be
successful. Many of the illegal immigrants that come to our country are poor lower class people,
who dont have enough money to make ends meet. Because of this, when they enter the country,
they are willing to do low- paying jobs that American citizens could easily do. Based on this
logical reasoning, it is clear that these illegal immigrants will pose a problem to the unemployed
Americans which will in turn, raise the unemployment rate. Donald Huddle, a Rice University
economics professor, found in 2009 that illegal immigrants were displacing roughly 730,000
American workers every year (Miller 22). So essentially what this indicates is that illegal
immigrants who enter our country are taking away a lot of jobs from native- born Americans
who are unemployed and are searching for jobs. With all of these immigrants, it is no wonder
that our unemployment rate, for the native workers, will go up. The Center for Immigration
Studies (CIS) created a report that found that Of the estimated 11 to 12 million illegal
immigrants in the United States this year, seven to eight million are thought to be holding a job
(Center for Immigration Studies.org). Also, Using the broader measure of unemployment
(referred to as U-6, which includes those who want to work but have not looked recently, and
those forced to work part-time), the unemployment rate for U.S.-born adults who have not
completed high school was 30.8 percent (Center for Immigration Studies.org). What the results
of these studies show is that because of the huge amount of illegal immigrants who are taking
American jobs, the native population, who have not completed high school, are left jobless. One

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reason for this is because employers realize that Americans who have not finished high school
can be labeled as non-hard- working, or lazy. While on the other hand, illegal immigrants who
are willing to work for a low wage are thought of as hard- working. Now as this may be true in
some cases, the underlying point is that these illegal immigrants are taking away American jobs,
which is a big problem. And because of this, the unemployment rate for those Americans has
risen to just over 30%, which is a staggering percentage in terms of unemployment. One way that
we could reduce this rate is by increasing the strength of our border patrol forces. Bob Confer, a
newspaper writer, found that If labor and immigration protocols were enforced, that would
create up to 14.4 million job openings, satisfying a good many of the 17.2 million jobless legal
residents of this nation. That would result in an unemployed population as low as 2.8 million
Americans, which works out to be an unemployment rate of 1.8 percent (Merino 84). In other
words, by tightening immigration policies and strengthening border patrol forces, we will be able
to dramatically reduce immigration and in turn, lower the unemployment rate.
Another key point worth considering is that Illegal Immigration leads to enormous
financial loses for both American citizens and the government. Keeping this in mind, it can
clearly be observed that with these losses, our economy will also be affected. The Federation for
American Immigration Reform (FAIR) conducted a study in 2004 to analyze the amount of
money illegal immigrants cost our nation. The results of the study found that illegal immigrants
alone cost the federal government $26.3 billion a year in services (Miller 23). Another
important fact worth mentioning is that Donald Huddle of Rice University set the benchmark
for today's debate with a study that concluded that the legal and illegal immigrants who arrived
since 1970 cost the US $42.5 billion in 1992, and $18.1 billion in California
(migration.ucdavis.edu). Also, $11.5 billion of taxpayer money in associated costs is the result

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of illegal immigration (tech.mit.edu). So essentially, what these studies indicate is that we, as
taxpayers, are paying money to the government to help these illegal immigrants produce a
successful lifestyle that may or may not even happen. So in short, illegal immigrants are a big
burden on U.S. Taxpayers. FAIR says some of the largest federal costs associated with illegal
immigrants are for Medicaid. A study done by the University of Duke in 2006 reported Free
medical care given to illegal immigrants creates a burden for American taxpayers and results in
increased costs throughout the entire health care system (Merino 68). As of today, almost a
quarter of illegal immigrant households were receiving some type of assistance, as compared to
15 percent of native households. One factor that accounts for the disproportionate increase in
welfare use among immigrant households is that because recent immigrant waves are relatively
less skilled than earlier waves, it is not surprising that more recent immigration waves are also
more likely to use welfare. Now Medicare is not the only field in which illegal immigration has
an impact on. Another heavily impacted field is education, a vital part of our countrys economy.
A 2005 study done by FAIR reported that annual illegal immigrant education costs amounted to
$7.7 billion, or 13 percent of the states school budget. What this means is that illegal immigrants
who send their children to school account for 13% of the states school budget. A more recent
study conducted by the Center for Immigration Studies in March of 2011 found that the total
cost for educating the children of illegal immigrants is roughly $39 billion a year (cis.org). In
just a matter of six years, the cost of educating immigrants has increased by a little over $31
billion a year. This basically means that more money is coming out of our pockets and is going
to the education of illegal immigrant children, not for our own children. One way to drastically
reduce this number would be to allocate money towards strengthening border patrol forces. If we
did this, the number of illegal immigrants would drastically reduce and we would losing so much

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money as we are right now. If we did not have the illegal immigrants in our education systems,
we would save a lot more money, which would then spur new spending more beneficial for the
native- population.
Illegal Immigration can be seen not only as a destructive force towards the economy, but
also towards American society. Many people fear that the large numbers of illegal immigrants
will erode traditional American values and culture. One way illegal immigrants cause threats
towards American society is by increasing poverty. Most illegal immigrants are low skilled; at
least half of all illegal adults do not have a high school education. A study conducted by the
Center of Immigration Studies found that 74.3 percent of all Mexican illegal immigrants in the
United States live at or near the poverty level (Miller 40). What this means is that not only are
these immigrants adding to the poverty level of our country, they are also increasing the size of
our population, which will result in the overcrowding of areas. Another way that illegal
immigrants threaten our society is by increasing the influx of crime. Many cities with large
illegal immigrant populations report increases in serious crimes such as drug trafficking, human
smuggling rings, prostitution, and gang activity. A U.S. government study reported that in a
population study of 55,322 illegal aliens, they were arrested a total of 459,614 times, averaging
about 8 arrests per illegal alien. Nearly all had more than 1 arrest (Martin 79). This study
indicates that of just about 55 thousand illegal immigrants surveyed, they were arrested for a
total of more than 450,000 times. Now keep in mind that this is just 55,000 illegal immigrants.
Over 12 billion illegal immigrants enter our country annually. This means that the crime rate
would be more than 100 times higher than that listed above for just a small fraction of illegal
immigrants presently residing in the United States. With all of the ways that illegal immigrants
harm our societies, it is obvious and imperative that we reduce the number of illegal immigrants

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entering our country immediately. By allocating money towards strengthening border patrol
forces, we would reduce this number dramatically relieving stress and getting rid of the dangers
posed by illegal immigrants on our societies.
The whole idea of illegal immigration has been a very heavily debated topic. These
debates have brought about a number of different opinions and thoughts about whether illegal
immigration is good or bad for our country. Some ways that people believe that illegal
immigration benefits this country include that first, they help the economy. And second, that
illegal immigrants do not add to the crime rate when they come to this country. Many people
believe that illegal immigrants help foster growth in our countrys economy. A study conducted
by Pew Research in 2009 found that they [illegal immigrants] add 700,000 new consumers to
the economy each year, more than the 600,000 or so legal immigrants (Grow 49). Now in order
to add this many amount of consumers to our countrys economy, the illegal immigrants have to
be receiving jobs. And this brings back the idea that illegal immigrants are taking American jobs,
which actually hurts the economy by increasing the unemployment rate. One recent estimate by
researchers at the Pew Hispanic Center puts the number of illegal aliens in the workforce at 8
million out of an overall population of 11.2 million illegal aliens, i.e., 71.4 percent (fairus.org).
This indicates that illegal immigrants are in fact harming our economy because they are taking
71.4 percent of American jobs, which will increase the unemployment rate. Another idea that
people have is that illegal immigrants do not in fact increase the crime rate. According to a 2008
report from the conservative Americas Majority Foundation, crime rates are lowest in states with
the highest immigration growth rates. From 1999 to 2006, the total crime rate declined 13.6
percent in the 19 highest-immigration states, compared to a 7.1 percent decline in the other 32
states (immigrationpolicy.org). What this statistic says is that in the states in which immigration

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rates are the highest, the state sees the highest decrease in crime rates, an idea that some say
otherwise. Numerous studies have been conducted to see whether illegal immigration actually
increases the crime rate. The results of these studies have been going both ways, that
immigration does increase the crime rate, or the opposite. But a majority of these studies have
showed us that illegal immigration does tend to cause some sort of rise in crime. According to
the Center for Immigration Studies, another 23 percent, more than 43,000 illegal aliens, were
convicted of drug offenses. The violent crime category of assault, robbery, sexual assault, and
family offenses comes to 12 percent (ConstitutionParty.com). This shows that illegal
immigrants do indeed raise the crime rates and do not reduce them. With all of the debate
surrounding illegal immigration, it is clear that even though many people believe that illegal
immigration benefits our country, the evidence strongly indicates that illegal immigration hinders
the growth of our country, politically as well as socially.
From the very beginning of its founding, the U.S. has always been labeled as the place
where dreams come true and one can make a name of oneself. This concept or idea is what draws
people from other countries to immigrate into our country. When illegal immigrants enter our
country, they take away jobs from the native population, cause enormous losses financially to
our government, and threaten our societies. One way to reduce the number of illegal immigrants
entering our country would be to strengthen our border patrol forces. One way we could do this
is allocate money towards those forces which would enhance their equipment which would aid in
the capture of more illegal immigrants trying to enter our country. By allocating money to
strengthen border patrol forces, we would be able to effectively get rid of the obstacle hindering
our countrys growth and development, illegal immigration, once and for all.

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Works Cited:
Books:
Grow Brian. Illegal Immigrants Do Not Harm Americas Economy. Opposing Viewpoints
Illegal Immigration. Michigan Greenhaven, 2006. 49. Print
Miller, Debra A. "Does Illegal Immigration Harm the U.S. Economy." Illegal Immigration.
Detroit: Greenhaven, 2007. 22. Print.
Miller, Debra A. "Does Illegal Immigration Harm the U.S. Economy." Illegal Immigration.
Detroit: Greenhaven, 2007. 23. Print.
Miller, Debra A. "Does Illegal Immigration Harm the U.S. Economy." Illegal Immigration.
Detroit: Greenhaven, 2007. 40. Print.
Martin, Jack. Illegal Immigration leads to Higher Crime Rates. Illegal Immigration. Michigan:
Greenhaven, 2012. 79. Print
Merino, Noel. "Does Illegal Immigration Harm the U.S. Economy." Illegal Immigration. Detroit
Greenhaven, 2012. 68. Print.
Merino, Noel. "Does Illegal Immigration Harm the U.S. Economy." Illegal Immigration. Detroit:
Greenhaven, 2012. 84. Print.
Website:
Camarota, Steven A. "Amnesty for Illegal Immigrants and the Employment Picture for LessEducated

Americans." Center for Immigration Studies. Center for Immigration Studies,

Feb. 2013. Web. 22 Oct. 2015. <http://www.cis.org/amnesty-for-illegal-immigrants-andthe-employment-picture-for-less-educated-americans>.

"From Anecdotes to Evidence: Setting the Record Straight on Immigrants and Crime." From
Anecdotes to Evidence: Setting the Record Straight on Immigrants and Crime. American
Immigration Council, 25 July 2013. Web. 22 Oct. 2015.
<http://immigrationpolicy.org/just-facts/anecdotes-evidence-setting-record-straightimmigrants-and-crime-0>.

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Gemma, Peter B. Illegal Alien Crime and Violence by the Numbers: Were All Victims / The
Constitution Party. Illegal Alien Crime and Violence by the Numbers: Were all victims/
The Constitution Party. Constitution Party, n.d. Web. 31 Oct 2015. <
http://www.constitutionparty.com/illegal-alien-crime-and-violence-by-the-numberswere-all-victims/>.
Martin, Philip. "Illegal Immigration: Numbers, Benefits, and Costs in California - Migration
News | Migration Dialogue." Illegal Immigration: Numbers, Benefits, and Costs in
California - Migration News | Migration Dialogue. Migration News, n.d. Web. 18 Oct.
2015. <https://migration.ucdavis.edu/mn/more.php?id=298_0_2_0>.
Normandin, Ryan. "Illegal Immigration: It's Illegal - The Tech." Illegal Immigration: It's Illegal The Tech. N.p., 13 Jan. 2010. Web. 18 Oct. 2015.
<http://tech.mit.edu/V129/N61/normandin.html>.
Passel, Jeffrey S. "Immigration Issues." Illegal Aliens Taking U.S. Jobs (2013). Federation for
Immigration Reform, 2013. Web. 22 Oct. 2015. <http://www.fairus.org/issue/illegalaliens-taking-u-s-jobs>.