In this Literature Review, I used both primary and secondary research to provide information about illegal immigration
Illegal Immigration: A Review of the Literature
Abstract
Illegal immigration is a big issue that polarizes people and has been an issue for a long time, especially along the border. People are always coming to America in pursuit of the American dream and for a better life, but to some people doing it the legal way takes to long and is simply financially impossible. This leads them to come into the country illegally. It’s not only people looking for the American dream that cross over, but also criminals and narcotics also. This literature review will provide information on how illegal immigration affects America.
Illegal Immigration: A Review of the Literature
Everyday immigrants come into the country illegally in search of the American dream. There are an estimated 10 to 15 million undocumented immigrants in the United States each of whom took a great risk to reach this country aware of the circumstances and dangers that come with that decision. Some Americans are against it no matter where they’re from or what the circumstances for their migration is, while other Americans are more understanding and get why they left their countries of origin in an attempt to better their lives and the lives of their children. The border patrol is in charge of making sure undocumented immigrants do not get into the country, but as time and statistics have shown, they are still getting in. The main reasons why undocumented immigrants are resented by some Americans are that they believe the immigrants could take their jobs, because they believe they don’t pay taxes and because they are using government services that they believe should only be for legal Americans. This literature review will answer the following important questions on illegal immigration:
- Can illegal immigration ever be stopped?
- How much do undocumented immigrants cost the American economy?
- How does illegal immigration affect the average American?
- Is immigration a major problem in America?
Can illegal immigration ever be stopped?
Security at the border has increased exponentially since the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001. Before 9/11, Crossing back and forth between nations without being checked on either side, but after 9/11, the lines have gotten longer, it went from any valid identification or birth certificate was enough to pass, to needing a passport to enter back into the U.S. This increase in technology and security has made it virtually impossible for an undocumented immigrant to get into the country through the various ports of entry along the border. Undocumented immigrants have had to resort to crossing through potentially dangerous areas such as deserts, underground tunnels, across the Rio Grande and even across the various different canals throughout the border. According to the department of Homeland Security, as of February 10, 2012, 651 miles of border fence has been completed with more planned to be constructed. These possible dangers and obstacles have discouraged some who were thinking of crossing, but not all. Undocumented immigrants have found more and more elaborate ways to get into the U.S. and it’s the border patrols job to keep up with them.
There have been many ideas on how to stop or reduce illegal immigration. What has to be done according to the Federation for American Immigration Reform is to limit eliminate the visa waiver program and reinstituting the power to the border patrol to conduct open-field searches. Other popular ideas include eliminating all public benefits for undocumented immigrants and stopping the automatic citizenship of children born in the U.S. to undocumented immigrants. Some solutions however are not in the hands of the U.S. such as the improvement of conditions in the native country of the immigrant. If the immigrant could stay in his home country he would.
An online survey conducted with current UTEP students asked them what they would think would be the best solution to illegal immigration. The results were as follows.
See figure 1
Of the individual options, comprehensive immigration reform was the most popular answer coming in with 44 percent choosing it as the best option, but with the inclusion of the “All of these” option it comes up to 74% of survey participants thinking it would be at least a part of the solution. The “none of these” option which had 22 percent of the votes, shows that people are still not content with the most popular solutions that have been presented for illegal immigration
How much do undocumented immigrants cost the U.S. Economy?
According to the Federation for American Immigration Reform (FAIR), a group in favor of greater and stricter immigration laws, illegal immigration costs U.S. tax payers more than 100 billion dollars each year. They state that the fact that undocumented immigrants do not pay income taxes and use many government services such as welfare and food stamps is a burden on American taxpayers. They also include the use of public schools, medical care, incarceration, as way that undocumented immigrants take up government money. The fact that undocumented immigrants usually get paid in cash means that they do not pay taxes for services that they could eventually use. For example a 2004 FAIR study found that California alone had spent $1.4 billion in 2003 on the incarceration of undocumented immigrants. That same FAIR study also found that undocumented immigrants cost the seven states studied a total of $3.08 billion in education costs and $1.4 billion in unpaid healthcare treatment for undocumented immigrants.
Illegal immigrants along with their children who sometimes are legal residents, despite various rules and restrictions, end up receiving public assistance. “However, studies have found that the percentage getting aid is less than for US households as a whole. Overall, 5 percent of American households receive cash assistance, compared to 1 percent for undocumented immigrants.”(West, 2011) Statistics about illegal immigration tend to be biased causing different statistics for the same questions. This makes it very difficult to have an accurate account of the economic impact, whether positive or negative, undocumented immigrants have on the American economy.
So do illegal immigrants’ tax contributions actually pay for the fiscal cost that they generate? Unfortunately, this question not been adequately researched. This lack of data is complicated by the fact that there is no means of discriminating tax revenues collected from illegal immigrants alone from total tax revenues collected (Camarota, 2004). Different studies present inconsistent numbers which make it impossible to know which ones are accurate. The Urban Institute estimated in 1995 that illegal immigrants paid about $1.9 billion in taxes in seven states. This, if true, would be a surplus for these states.
A general conclusion that can be inferred is that illegal immigration does impose a fiscal cost to America in the form of health care, public education, and public programs amongst other things. It can also be concluded that undocumented immigrants do pay some of their cost back in terms of sales, state and income, and property taxes.
How does illegal immigration affect the average American?
Some of the principal arguments against illegal immigration, or just immigration in general are that they are taking jobs away from Americans, that they are part of the cause of taxes being raised and that they don’t pay taxes. In these tough economic times where unemployment hovers at around 8 percent one can understand the negative sentiment that there could be for undocumented immigrants. Nobody wants to be competing for a job with someone they believe shouldn’t even qualify for the job and will do it or significantly less money. Well according to Ramanujan Nadadur they both do and don’t take Americans jobs. He states that “while only 4.3per cent of workers in the entire labor force are undocumented, 20 per cent of farming occupations, 17 percent of cleaning occupations, 12 percent of construction and 11 percent of food preparation occupations are held by undocumented workers.”(Nadadur, 2009) What this means is that undocumented immigrants are taking American jobs, but they are for unskilled labor that the average American might be overqualified for or not want to do anyways.
One thing that is always a point against undocumented immigrants is the belief that they do not pay taxes. In fact, according to West, “many pay taxes even when they are ineligible to collect social service benefits. Undocumented aliens have to pay sales taxes on purchases they make in the same way any consumer would. If they own or rent housing, they pay property taxes related to the accommodations. And it has been estimated that "between one-half and three-quarters of undocumented immigrants pay federal and state income taxes."(West, 2011) It would be nearly impossible for undocumented immigrants to live in America without ever paying taxes.
Is illegal immigration a major problem in the America?
An online survey conducted with UTEP students presented very interesting results on what people think about illegal immigration and whether it’s a major problem in the America or not.
This chart shows that, of those surveyed, nearly 6 out of 10 believe that illegal immigration is not a major problem in America. This could be different throughout the country, but one could’ve expected the number of people who though it was a major problem to be larger, especially since El Paso is a border city. The reason for these numbers could also be because the residents of El Paso have gotten used to illegal immigration to being a part of everyday life and not think of it as a big deal. President Obama made a campaign promise to present an immigration reform plan within his first year of office. We are now at the end of his first term and he did not present any reform. This is also a sign that immigration reform is not at the top of the governments’ to-do list.
See Figure 2
It is difficult to pass any type of law, let alone one on such a polarizing issue as is illegal immigration. Especially on election years, politicians tend to move closer to their political base in order to get votes. This doesn’t allow them the flexibility they need to cross party lines and work with the opposing party in order to pass something that should be done by a bipartisan group such as comprehensive immigration reform.
Conclusion
Illegal immigration will always be a dividing issue in America. The American government has had trouble thinking on what would be a good solution to the illegal immigration issue. The main reason nothing seems to get done in congress is the very different viewpoints that there are on this issue. Whenever one political party comes up with a solution, the opposing party shoots their plan down and vice versa. Without real bi-partisanship nothing will ever get done unless if there’s a super majority in both houses of congress and a president of the same party. As long as there are people from other countries coming to America, there will always be people who oppose them and people who are in favor of them coming to America.