Environmental Controversy – Immigration and Population in the U.S.

This week’s environmental controversy focuses on the question: should Immigration into the US be reduced? Review the background information. Then, using the References along with resources from your own research, write a 1-2 page response to the questions that follow. Remember to cite your sources using proper APA format.

Background Information

Legal and illegal immigration into the United States is discussed in your textbook. Advocates of liberal immigration argue that both legal and illegal immigrants are needed to perform difficult and low paying jobs that most citizens won’t take. Advocates also sympathize with immigrants because many of them are fleeing poverty and tyranny in their homelands. Immigrants pay taxes, help to support the US social security system, and contribute to American society.

Opponents of immigration include individuals that want to ban or significantly reduce all immigration, and those that simply want more stringent efforts to end illegal immigration. Opponents argue that current immigration policies and border patrol methods are too lenient and allow terrorists to infiltrate into the US.

References:

PR, N. (2014, June 19). Illegal Immigration Costs California Taxpayers More Than $25 Billion a Year, Finds FAIR. PR Newswire US.

Illegal Immigration Costs California Taxpayers More Than $25 Billion a Year, Finds FAIR

WASHINGTON, June 19, 2014 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ — A new study released by the Federation for American Immigration Reform (FAIR) finds that providing education, health care, law enforcement, and social and government services to illegal aliens and their dependents costs Californians $25.3 billion per year according to FAIR’s report The Fiscal Burden of Illegal Immigration on California Taxpayers. The state’s 3 million illegal aliens and their 1.1 million U.S.–born children cost the average California household — headed by a U.S. citizen – $2,370 annually.

Among the report’s key findings:

The report finds that taxes collected from illegal aliens amounts to about $3.5 billion annually.

“Twenty-five billion dollars a year in costs associated with illegal immigration represents a fiscal crisis that affects California’s ability to meet its basic obligations to citizens and legal residents,” said Dan Stein, president of FAIR. “While clearly the Federal government bears responsibility for its failure, or refusal, to enforce our immigration laws, in California’s case many of the burdens of illegal immigration are self-induced.

“Despite overwhelming evidence that illegal immigration represents an unsustainable fiscal burden to the state, the California Legislature and local governments across the state continue to provide new benefits, new services, and new privileges to illegal aliens, even as the state neglects the needs and concerns of other Californians. The costs will continue to grow so long as the state continues to reward illegal immigration and impedes immigration enforcement. California taxpayers will continue to be the losers in this unhappy scenario,” concluded Stein.

About FAIRFounded in 1979, FAIR is the country’s largest immigration reform group. With over 250,000 members nationwide, FAIR fights for immigration policies that serve national interests, not special interests. FAIR believes that immigration reform must enhance national security, improve the economy, protect jobs, preserve our environment, and establish a rule of law that is recognized and enforced.

_____________________________________________________________________________

Hoyt, J. (2004, May 10). Why business should speak out on immigrant workers. Crain’s Chicago Business, 27(19), 11-11. Retrieved April 14, 2009, from Regional Business News database.

Why business should speak out on immigrant workers

Section:

OPINION

President George W. Bush in January announced his principles for a temporary worker program and regularization of the status of some of the nation’s 7 million to 11 million undocumented immigrants. Democrats responded with legislation by Sen. Edward Kennedy of Massachusetts and Rep. Luis Gutierrez of Chicago. And the partisan race is on for the increasingly important Latino vote in November.

The issue is of deep interest to Illinois’ business community, which should make itself heard.

Undocumented immigrants play an important economic role: There are some 500,000 undocumented immigrants in Illinois. They fill critical low-wage labor needs. Our agricultural, manufacturing, restaurant, tourism, health care and service industries would grind to a halt without them. We can continue to turn a hypocritical blind eye to the obvious, or address real world problems pragmatically.

Immigration policies that respect the market demand for labor will restore the rule of law in the U.S.: Inflexible immigration policies result in massive flows of illegal labor, with both workers and employers complicit in the hypocrisy. The Illinois economy is global. Over 94% of the net labor-force growth in the Chicago area during the 1990s was attributable to immigrant workers.

Reform will facilitate the movement of skilled workers and business professionals to meet market needs, create a legal flow of temporary workers with strong labor protections and allow the vast underground of hard-working undocumented workers to come out of the shadows.

Legalization will unleash the economic potential of Illinois’ immigrant communities: Chicago’s banking community was shocked by the influx of $100 million in immigrant savings in the few short years since banks began accepting the “matricula consular” (consular ID) issued by the Mexican government to its foreign nationals in the U.S. Several weeks ago, Crain’s wrote about the thriving market in home mortgages for the undocumented, despite the lack of a secondary market. The entrepreneurial engine of the Mexican-American community in Chicago, the 26th Street business district, pays the second-highest amount of sales tax after the Magnificent Mile along North Michigan Avenue.

Security: There is a tiny group of people who would enter this country to hurt us. The existence of large, increasingly sophisticated networks of smugglers of human beings and purveyors of false IDs, serving millions of undocumented who want only to work, is bad for national security. Legalization will reduce the demand for human smuggling and false IDs.

The moral imperative: I come from a tradition of Catholic business people who take their faith seriously. Many in the business community would agree that it is a moral outrage that we have ended up with a large underground of vulnerable workers and children, where a family of four earns on average $10,000 less a year than legal workers. It may be very convenient to have these people cleaning our homes, caring for our children and cutting our grass on the cheap, with no prospect of bettering their lives. But a sense of right and wrong, as much as economic and security imperatives, is a fine reason for the business community to speak out on this issue.

Questions that needs to be answer for the paper.

How do the views presented in the articles differ? How does illegal immigration both hurt and help state economies? Do you feel that the author’s of these two articles are ignoring each others side, or is it possible that the Illinois economy is simply better equipped to absorb illegal immigration? Before answering this final question make sure to consider the affiliations of the authors.