Max Isabelle

Mr. Alexander
History
11/1/15
Illegal Immigrations affect on business in the United States
In the United States illegal immigrants benefit all businesses and citizens in some
way. Illegals, are; consumers while helping legal consumers indirectly by reducing
prices, potential unskilled workers too be exploited, tax payers that pay sales and all other
forms of taxes having a positive net fiscal transfer to the government, holistically
benefiting all socio-economic classes, the competition illegal provide is fundamental to
the United States Capitalist economy. The way illegal immigrants benefit all US citizens
is by their role in lowering the manufacturing cost for products and creating a niche
market to be exploited and expanded. Resulting in more jobs and productive individual
in the US illegal or not.
Illegal immigrants contribute substantially to the consumer market of the United
States. In the United States there is approximately seven million undocumented workers
or illegal aliens that are accruing an income.1 Even though the average income per
person of these undocumented workers in only about $12,000 a year they are still part of
the consumer market, which sets the United States market apart from the reset of the
world. These undocumented workers are buying houses, groceries, cars, and other
consumer merchandise adding a boast to the market that these individuals chose to settle.
While undocumented immigrants take part in the established markets of the United States
they also catalyzed the growth of new markets catered specifically to the fancies of these
individuals. Examples of these immigrants impact on the US markets can be observed in
1 Lipman, Francine. "Taxing Undocumented Immigrants: Separate, Unequal and Without
Representation." Social Science Research Network (SSRN). January 1, 2006. Accessed
January 1, 2015.

Max Isabelle
Mr. Alexander
History
11/1/15
many industries that started out as simple mom and pop store, in a niche markets.2 The
food market has grown as the people of the United States have grown fond of
Mediterranean, Mexican, Korean, and other ethnicities forms of cooking. These eclectic
ethnic cuisines first started out to cater to the taste of the undocumented consumers,
illegal immigrants. Eventually, due to the market that these undocumented consumers
created for themselves, they indirectly acquired the consumerism of the general public of
the United States. To work these ethnic restaurant would be a dream job for many
undocumented immigrants, but fortunately for the business of the United States there is
plenty of undocumented cheap labor to be exploited.
Undocumented workers provide cheap labor that is exploited in the United States, by
employers and businessmen. The United State business owners and employers quickly
found that unauthorized workers are attractive employees because they are willing to
work unpleasant jobs for low wages. They also possess a superior work ethic compared
to United States citizen laborers, while forgoing the ability to demand anything in return
due to the fact they are unable to unionize being that they are illegal immigrants.3 Sixty
percent of unauthorized workers earn less than minimum wage and are categorized as
low wageworkers.4 Each local labor markets wages are determined by supply and

2 Concentrating all marketing efforts on a small but specific and well-defined segment of
the population. Niches do not 'exist' but are 'created' by identifying needs, wants, and
requirements that are being addressed poorly or not at all by other firms, and developing
and delivering goods or services to satisfy them.
3 Francine Lipman, Taxing Undocumented Immigrants: Separate, Unequal and Without
Representation.
4 Francine Lipman, Taxing Undocumented Immigrants: Separate, Unequal and Without
Representation.
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Max Isabelle
Mr. Alexander
History
11/1/15
demand, an influx in undocumented workers seeking labor employment will drive down
the wages of all laborers.5
As wages for unskilled labors fall, skilled wages rise.6 This is due to the fact that the
fiscal invested in the market has not changed for the business owner, by the
undocumented workers accepting a lower wage the businessman has reduced his
overhead. Which would allow the businessmen to produce the same quantity of items as
they had in the past at a reduced rate. The increased profit for the businessmen not only
allows the businessmen to invest and expand their industry if the market allows, but it
also commonly results in a reduction in the cost of manufactured goods for the
consumers.
The reason undocumented workers stand for this kind of treatment in the work place is,
because even though they are being exploited and misused by the standard of an United
States citizen, for an undocumented immigrant from Mexico a menial labor job in the US
pays ten-times as much as a labor job in Mexico.7 These individuals are ignorant and
desperate so they accept lower wages. Lower wages are not the only way these
immigrants sacrifice themselves for the benefit of the people of the United States. In
almost every job in the United States a Social Security Number is required for every
5 Hanson Gordon, Kenneth Scheve, Matthew Slaughter, and Antonio Spilimbergo.
"Immigration and the U.S. Economy: Labor-Market Impacts, Illegal Entry, and Policy
Choices." Social Science Research Network (SSRN). May 1, 2001. Accessed January 10,
2015.
6 Hanson Gordon, Kenneth Scheve, Matthew Slaughter, and Antonio Spilimbergo.
"Immigration and the U.S. Economy: Labor-Market Impacts, Illegal Entry, and Policy
Choices."
7 Francine Lipman, Taxing Undocumented Immigrants: Separate, Unequal and Without
Representation.

Max Isabelle
Mr. Alexander
History
11/1/15
employee, undocumented illegals are no exception to the latter statement.8 The problem
is illegal immigrants can not possess a social security number, the only documentation a
relative few possess is an ITIN, (Individual Tax Identification Number) this number is
used to open bank accounts, pay taxes, receive an ID card, and obtain a drivers licenses.9
This document forbids these individual from working. So these illegal immigrants obtain
a counterfeit social security number for the sole purpose of obtaining a steady job in the
United States.10 This practice only works because the states and federal government
understand that these undocumented individuals are providing a large fiscal stimulus to
the social security program by paying into social security but never receiving the benefits.
An undocumented immigrant or worker is subject to the same taxes as any United States
citizen. Since the enactment of the Revenue Act of 191311, the federal government has
subjected non United States citizens residing in the United States (with or without
documents) to income tax, in the same manner as United States citizens.12 As a resident
in the United States, legal or not, an individual is required to pay taxes.13 The process for
paying taxes for an alien in the United States is the exact same as for an American
citizen; there are the same, due dates, returns, and regulation. The only difference is, that
8 The only time a social security number is not required for work is when the payment is
given in cash. Since cash is an untraceable form of income the government cannot tax
cash.
9 Something about ITIN Numbers
10 Without a Social Security number undocumented workers have to work to be
migratory labors, which are paid in cash.
11 Francine Lipman, Taxing Undocumented Immigrants: Separate, Unequal and Without
Representation.
12 Francine Lipman, Taxing Undocumented Immigrants: Separate, Unequal and Without
Representation.
13 According to the for mentioned Revenue act of 1913
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Max Isabelle
Mr. Alexander
History
11/1/15
for a non United States citizen to pay taxes they must have and ITIN number.14
Unauthorized workers pay a higher effective tax rates than similarly situated documented
immigrants or United States Citizens.15 This is due to the fact that unauthorized residents
pay taxes such as, sales and income, but many are having their income taxed twice,
because they have a counterfeit social security number and may also posses an ITIN. To
work at almost any job in the United States a social security number is required, this is so
that when the worker is paid a set amount of his/her income will be taken out, to be put
aside for a social security deposit, to the federal government. By contributing social
security money through counterfeit accounts, these illicit individual will never be able to
receive a return on there investment in this program, like all other United States
citizens.16
When these individuals using counterfeit social security numbers stop working and age to
sixty-two years, they will not receive social security checks from the federal government
even though these individual paid into the system.17 To these undocumented workers this
small annual monetary setback is well worth the wages of the United States labor market.
These undocumented workers are projected to contribute over $400 billion to the Social

14 "The Facts about the Individual Tax Identification Number (ITIN)." The Facts about
the Individual Tax Identification Number (ITIN). June 30, 2009. Accessed January 1,
2015.
15 Francine Lipman, Taxing Undocumented Immigrants: Separate, Unequal and Without
Representation.
16 Social Security- (in the US) a federal insurance program that provides benefits to
retired people and those who are unemployed or disabled.
17 Sixty-two is the youngest an individual can be before receiving a social security
check form the government. At this age it is 70% of the monthly benefit they will be
receiving at age sixty-five.
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security trust fund from 1998-2015.18

Max Isabelle
Mr. Alexander
History
11/1/15
This mass of undocumented money can be viewed

by the federal government as a banker views interest, income. Since the individuals who
provided these funds will never be able to accrue any of the usual benefits, which are
exclusively for United States citizens.
In fact these undocumented workers/immigrants and their families use fewer government
services, than similarly situated documented immigrant, or United States citizens.19
Undocumented immigrants are barred from almost all government benefits, including
food stamps, temporary assistance for needy families, Medicaid, unemployment, social
security, Medicare, and others.20 The only benefit that is absolute across the United
States to undocumented immigrants is emergency medical care.21 Other services are
provided State to State such as education for children but many undocumented
immigrants live in constant fear of being caught and deported that they do not even
attempt to access the help that is made available to them in particular States.22 These
undocumented immigrants fear of using what little is provided to them though social
programs allows their presence in the United States to provide a positive fiscal transfer to
the government. Every Empirical study of illegals economic impact demonstrates the
18 Francine Lipman, Taxing Undocumented Immigrants: Separate, Unequal and Without
Representation.
19 Francine Lipman, Taxing Undocumented Immigrants: Separate, Unequal and Without
Representation.
20 Francine Lipman, Taxing Undocumented Immigrants: Separate, Unequal and Without
Representation.
21 Francine Lipman, Taxing Undocumented Immigrants: Separate, Unequal and Without
Representation
22 Wright, George. "Federal Immigration Law and the Case for Open Entry." Digital
Commons at Loyola Marymount University and Loyola Law School. June 1, 1994.
Accessed January 1, 2015.
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Max Isabelle
Mr. Alexander
History
11/1/15
opposite, undocumented actually contribute more to public coffers in taxes than they cost
in social services.23 These undocumented immigrants do more than martyr themselves
for the benefits of the government they help all group directly or indirectly.
The presence of undocumented immigrants in the labor markets across the United States
has benefited all residents of the United States and even other Countries. The United
States has the largest consumer market in the world. This is a testament to the wealth of
all people in the United States, since a country that is significantly less populous than
countries such as China or Russia is still able to consume so much. In the United States
even the poor own houses and cars24. This phenomenon has been greatly influenced by
undocumented workers. The economic enormity of the United States as a producer and
consumer can be contributed in someway to the undocumented workers. Since without a
cheap and abundant labor force the price of all good and services would escalate causing
widespread inflation though the United States as the CPI (Consumer Price Index)
skyrocketed, and the price of everyday consumable would grow25. This inflation in price
would not be limited to simply within the border of the United States. The United States
is the lynchpin of the world economy. As seen in the 2008 world recession, when the
economy suffers in the United States it can not consume what it previously was capable
of consuming, affecting the world market as the United States pull out its money.26
23 Francine Lipman, Taxing Undocumented Immigrants: Separate, Unequal and Without
Representation.
24 Nathaniel Alexander, Discussion. Richlands High School at second period AP US
History.
25 The consumer price index (CPI) measures changes in the price level of a market
basket of consumer goods and services purchased by households.
26 Economic downturn was not limited to just the US, the entire world felt the affect of a
suffering US market.
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Max Isabelle
Mr. Alexander
History
11/1/15
Undocumented workers allow the United States to prosper because they take jobs that are
essential, but unsolicited by the usually welfare receiving general public of the United
States citizens27. Not only do undocumented workers take these jobs that nobody wants,
they will accept less since they do not have a safety net of social programs to fall back
and rely on like the United States citizen does. Undocumented workers must work or die,
and they contribute more to the United States economically because they are unable to
take in the forms of social services. They can only give back by sacrificing themselves to
poor working condition and wages. They are the molecules that the cell is built from;
they build the houses, roads, and infrastructures of the United States. They lower the cost
of consumable goods and services. While lower prices benefit everyone, the
undocumented workers existence is also a paradox.
"There are advantages [to immigration]. Businesses can hire new immigrants at lower
pay; and consumers gain because reduced labor costs produce cheaper

goods and

services. But, generally speaking, the gains from high immigration go

to those who

use the services provided by new immigrants. If you are likely to

employ a gardener or

housekeeper, you may be financially better off. If you work as a gardener or

housekeeper, or at a factory job in which unskilled immigrants

are rapidly joining

the labor force, you lose. The last twenty years of immigration

have thus brought

about a redistribution of wealth in America, from less- skilled

workers and toward

employers."28
27 There are jobs that low-income individuals will not work in the United States due to
either conditions or pride. Undocumented workers do not have such discrepancies.
28 Pat Buchanan, To Reunite a Nation, speech delivered in Yorba Linda, CA, January
18th, 2000.
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Max Isabelle
Mr. Alexander
History
11/1/15
Undocumented immigrant workers in the United States markets help everyone, but, they
also along with helping the lower class labor population in the United States, are
detrimental to its existence. They serve as a superior option to employers in comparison
to the American citizen. They are an imperfect substitute in the eyes of the employer.
Undocumented workers take from United States civilian unskilled labors by providing
competition detrimental to their livelihood. In all things for there to be gains there have to
be losses. In business if one cellphone provider gains customers another cellphone
provider has to loss customers. All action have consequence, the presence of
undocumented workers in the unskilled labor market in the United States is detrimental to
the legal working United States citizens in this same market. The presence of
undocumented immigrants in a labor market lowered pay of high school equivalently
educated workers, always.29 This demonstrated the adverse affect of having
undocumented immigrant workers in a job market, for legal laborers.
Fortunately for the labor market of the United States as a whole, these undocumented
immigrant workers only accumulate in certain states, thus only hindering particular
markets.30 In 2012 three states held an estimated 47% of the illegal immigrant
population, California 25%, Texas 16%, and Florida 6%.31 Due to these statistics as an
unskilled laborer neither one of these three state would be a good place to make a living.
29Borjas, George, Richard Freeman, and Lawrence Katz. "Searching for the Effect of
Immigration on the Labor Market." National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER).
February 1, 1996. Accessed January 1, 2015.
30 George Borjas, Richard Freeman, Lawrence Katz. Searching for the effect of
Immigration of the Labor Market.
31 ProCon.org, "Demographics of Immigrants in the United States Illegally,"
ProCon.org. Last modified August 19, 2014
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Max Isabelle
Mr. Alexander
History
11/1/15
What these undocumented immigrants do to these areas is employers see them as
superior investment, when compared to legal workers. These illegal workers do not
receive health benefits, work harder, and charge less than their legal counterparts. So for
a company that wants to construct a building that should take 10,000 man hours lets say
illegals demand eight-dollars an hour and legals demand twelve-dollars an hour. The
business would save $40,000 by hiring the illegals.
Legal workers cannot compete with the desperate illegals that without work have
nothing to fall back on, like legal United States citizens.32 This is the problem that when
legal laborers do not want to stoop to the level of the illegal workers and accept low wage
and poor conditions they have the luxury of abusing the United States social system. The
undocumented workers presence in a labor market increase the cost that the United States
government has to spend on social services to those laborers put out of work, provided by
the competition of the illegals.
While the illegals do not cost the United States government much directly, their presence
indirectly put hundred of thousand of United States laborers out of work who then begin
collecting unemployment. The United States system will provide a family of four in
poverty on average $36,000 worth of benefits.33 This is more than most of these out of
work laborers could make with full time jobs.

32 Citizens of the United States have a bevy of safety net programs to fall back on in
time need such as; welfare, unemployment, Medicaid and others. So a US citizens will
not accept the working conditions and pay of undocumented workers because as a citizen
of the United States they are entitled to all the social programs.
33 Ye Hee Lee, Michael. "Do welfare Recipients Get $35,000 in Benefits a Year?"
Washington Post. December 5, 2014. Accessed January 9, 2015.
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Max Isabelle
Mr. Alexander
History
11/1/15
An unemployed illegal is of no cost to the United States, but unemployed United States
citizens are costly. The two are imperfect substitutes in every way. While the illegal is a
much better worker and more cost effective for the employer, it is vary costly for the
government for the citizen to be out of work. The question is does the increased business
efficiency catalyzed by the illegal workers offset the cost of the laid of worker? This is
the United States were capitalism is still alive and necessary so let the competition
continue.
Undocumented workers provide competition in the unskilled labor market.
Competition is the backbone of Capitalism. As a capitalist nation the United States
endorses competition in the workplace to drive down the price of goods, and ensure that
the best possible product is produced, at the lowest cost to the consumer. This is the
dogma of the economic system of the United States. This is why undocumented workers
fit in so well to the ideology of the United States economic market.
They provide competition at the most basic level of the economy, unskilled
labors. Unskilled laborers drive all that is the United States market, from consumer
products, manufactured goods, services, and even federally subsidized projects. While
there presence does paradoxically hurt the lower class unskilled laborers of the United
States public, by taking their jobs, and also helping them indirectly by reducing prices on
consumer goods. This is capitalism at its finest and most raw form. Not everyone can be
successful in a capitalist system, this is not communism were the doctor makes the same

11

amount of money as the janitor.34

Max Isabelle
Mr. Alexander
History
11/1/15
In the United States there will be losers, everyone

cannot benefit from all things, this, is not a utopia, it is the United States.
The undocumented workers provide the competition required to phase out the lazy inept
individuals in the unskilled labor market of the United States, as bankruptcy and failure
phase out the weak and unstable businesses, in white collar America. Social Darwinism
is still at work, capitalism is still thriving just in the form of black market employment,
which is the epitome of a free market. A market out of the bureaucratic reach of
government imposed regulations.35 While illegal, the market of undocumented immigrant
workers is strong and thriving, it is an overlooked driver of the United States economic
aptitude. By providing competition in the unskilled labor market and keeping prices low
on consumer good, this is capitalism at work in the United States: business owner
understanding how to further themselves and the United States economically at the cost
of some undocumented immigrants.
The undocumented workers in the United States contribute greatly to the prominence of
this nation. They consume and create niche markets, are exploited as workers, abused by
the tax and social systems, benefit all people directly or indirectly, and are central in the
United States ideology of capitalism. Even though this group of individual is taken
advantage of in every scenario, for the further-meant of the monetary opulence of the

34 In the former USSR the doctor that headed the nuclear medicine program was
responsible for treating individuals after the Chernobyl incident in the USSR. He
received a slightly higher pay than the janitor who cleaned his roam.
35 The United States is classified as a free-market due to the fact that it is the freest in
the world at this time. The United States governments still impose a bevy of regulations
in every market and factor of the economy.
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Max Isabelle
Mr. Alexander
History
11/1/15
United States. They are happy and living the dream, Only in the United States do the
poor own a car and a house36

Bibliography:
"The Facts about the Individual Tax Identification Number (ITIN)." The Facts about the
Individual Tax Identification Number (ITIN). June 30, 2009. Accessed January 1,
2015.
Olney, William. "Do Firms Respond to Immigration?" Social Science Research Network
(SSRN). November 6, 2009. Accessed January 1, 2015
Hanson Gordon, Kenneth Scheve, Matthew Slaughter, and Antonio Spilimbergo.
"Immigration and the U.S. Economy: Labor-Market Impacts, Illegal Entry, and
Policy Choices." Social Science Research Network (SSRN). May 1, 2001.
Accessed January 10, 2015.
Hanson, Gordon, and Antonio Spilimbergo. "Illegal Immigration, Border Enforcement,
and Relative Wages: Evidence from Apprehensions at the U.S.-Mexico Border."
National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER). May 1, 1996. Accessed January
1, 2015.
Kessler Glenn. "A Misleading Chart on welfare Spending." Washington Post. February
21, 2013. Accessed January 1, 2015.
Borjas, George, Richard Freeman, and Lawrence Katz. "Searching for the Effect of
Immigration on the Labor Market." National Bureau of Economic Research
(NBER). February 1, 1996. Accessed January 1, 2015.

36 Nathaniel Alexander, Discussion.

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Max Isabelle
Mr. Alexander
History
11/1/15
Wright, George. "Federal Immigration Law and the Case for Open Entry." Digital
Commons at Loyola Marymount University and Loyola Law School. June 1,
1994. Accessed January 1, 2015.
ProCon.org, "Demographics of Immigrants in the United States Illegally," ProCon.org.
Last modified August 19, 2014. Accesssed January 4, 2015
Ye Hee Lee, Michael. "Do welfare Recipients Get $35,000 in Benefits a Year?"
Washington Post. December 5, 2014. Accessed January 9, 2015.
Lipman, Francine. "Taxing Undocumented Immigrants: Separate, Unequal and Without
Representation." Social Science Research Network (SSRN). January 1, 2006.
Accessed January 1, 2015.
"Taxation of U.S. Resident Aliens." Internal Revenue Service (IRS). May 30, 2014.
Accessed January 9, 2015.
Griswold, Daniel. "Willing Workers: Fixing the Problem of Illegal Mexican Migration to
the United States." Cato Institute. October 15, 2002. Accessed January 6, 2015.
"Consumer Price Index (CPI) Definition | Investopedia." Investopedia. November 19,
2003. Accessed January 13, 2015.
Mulligan, Casey. "What Caused the Recession of 2008? Hints from Labor Productivity."
National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER). February 1, 2009. Accessed
January 11, 2015.
Passel, Jeffrey, Randolph Capps, and Michael Fix. "Undocumented Immigrants: Facts
and Figures." Undocumented Immigrants: Facts and Figures. January 12, 2004.
Accessed January 12, 2015.

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