Economic Benefits of Immigration Term Paper

Immigration has been used by the US government to expand their economic opportunities. During the past decades, immigrants had contributed to drive up the US economy. The US immigration law has at some period set quotas on immigrants allowed in the US or freely let people flow into the country. Immigration is positive because it helps to stimulate the economy through investment, available low-cost labor and the increase of expenses (consumption).

Immigration boosts the US economy because the immigrants are the ones who invest the most. The immigrants are more likely to own a business than the native-born Americans. According to an article on cbsnews.com, 10.5% of US immigrants own a business, compared with 9.3% of native-born Americans.

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An article from The New York Times titled “The Privileged Immigrant” written by Shanti Sekaran supports the fact when she states that “When people talk about Indians in America, they talk about success. How, they muse, has a relatively new immigrant group managed to find its way to the final rounds of spelling bees, to the Ivy League, to Silicon Valley, where 16 percent of start-ups are cofounded by Indians”. This proves how immigration helps sustain the US economy. In addition to the point of view of Shanti Sekaran, Jyoti Bansal who is an Indian-born immigrant, founded a company named AppDynamics that employs more than 900 people and valued at $1.9 billion. Both evidences show how immigration sustain the US economy.

Another advantage that immigration brings to the US economy is the demographic growth which goes with the increase of labor supply. High labor supply implies low labor cost. US companies could take advantages of the low labor cost by producing in-state instead of out-state. Producing in-state will generate more revenues and obviously, contribute to the economic growth. According to EconoFact, a website launched on January 2017 in order to analyze actual facts during the 2016 election campaign, “Regardless of education level, just by increasing the overall size of the economy, immigrants have produced a proportional growth of the nation’s gross domestic product (GDP). Between 2000 and 2015 the growth of the immigrant population constituted 50 percent of U.S. population and labor force growth”. This quote proves again how immigration is positive for the US economy. By comparison, Japan is strictly opposed to immigration. Because of its old population and the very low birth rate, it experiences a demographic and economic crisis that immigration can solve.

While opponents of immigration argue that immigrants cost to the US taxpayers, truly, immigrants benefit positively on the average of US taxpayers. Most immigrants pay taxes than they reclaim. They consume fewer social services and are not giving the right to claim any return. Unclaimed taxes reduce the tax burden of every native-born American, constitute a source of revenue for the government and help fund much needed public infrastructures and social services. According to VICE NEWS,” Unauthorized workers are paying an estimated $13 billion a year in social security taxes and are only getting around $1 billion back”. This being said, the US economy tremendously benefits from immigration. In fact, given IRS estimates that some 50-75 percent of undocumented immigrants pay taxes, the US could reduce deficits by providing those immigrants a path to legal immigration by making them all to pay taxes. By allowing so many undocumented immigrants stay in the shadows, the US significantly reduce the amount of available taxable incomes.

Immigration has historically played an important role in building the United States and they continue to carry that legacy. Even though the positive effects of immigration are obvious and cannot be denied, some lawmakers still oppose to it. Since president Trump is in power, immigration law has become tougher. From banning citizens from certain countries to children separation from undocumented parents and putting in limbo DACA’s program, the actual administration has passed executive orders to tighten its immigration law.

Since Donald Trump was elected the United States President, the potential changes in the country’s immigration policy have become a major point in several social discussions. Due to the potential changes to be implemented in this field, immigrants currently living in the United States are afraid of the future in this country and that of their children. The new course on immigration is also highly criticized by local Democrats, and they claim Donald Trump’s view on immigration is intolerant and contradicts democratic values of the United States. Taking into consideration the aforementioned points regarding the role of immigration in the domestic politics of the United States throughout its history, their claims seem to be logical.

One of the latest decisions made by Trump that were highly criticized by the American society was his immigration plan released in January 2018. In this plan, he attempts to establish a 12-year plan for the immigrants who arrived illegally as children. In addition, the plan also includes a famous project of a wall along the Mexican border. Finally, President Donald Trump also attempts to replace existing Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals and change existing green card rules. The President’s position on DACA is one of the main sources of concerns among immigrants, as it means that they might be practically deported from the United States despite living in this country for their entire lives. While they were protected under the regulations released by President Obama, they are now afraid of being enforced to live their homeland. These are seen as too radical in modern American society, as people believe the new rules almost eliminate one’s chances to become a legal immigrant in the United States.