illegal immigration

illegal immigration Essay Examples

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Published: Friday 25th of January 2013

How to Write an Essay About Illegal Immigration (Example)

Unlawful Migration

Illegal immigration refers to the entry of a person or a group of people across a nation’s border with the intention of remaining in that particular nation so that it violates the immigration laws of the host nation. Illegal immigration is overwhelmingly from a poorer to a richer nation or from economically undeveloped areas to more developed ones. Usually, unlawful immigration is the result of the desire to improve social mobility or avoid persecution. It is termed as illegal because the immigrant does not have a right to be in that country at a particular time. If people are illegally immigrating, they can often be detained or deported against their will by the host nation, posing danger to them. Illegal immigration can be a controversial issue and there are many factors to consider in any decisions to be made, whether they are from the level of an individual or the level of government. It’s important to be able to understand illegal immigration and the effects it can have both on the society and the immigrants. Who benefits the most from illegal immigration? Questions like this are fundamental to understand the issue and live in a free society.

Further Terminology and Definition

There have been many attempts to reform the definition of illegal immigration, mainly, because the term is seen by some as to belittle the people involved. People have tried to discourage the term “illegal immigrant” as it suggests that a person is creating wrongdoing and that they are illegal people themselves, when in fact all they are trying to do it better for themselves or avoid persecution. As borders are largely social constructions, do we have the right as a free society to impose rules about who comes in and who should stay out, purely based on arbitrary border lines? This is why many people often refer to illegitimate immigrants as undocumented or unauthorized migrants.

Revenue Increases

There are a vast number of advantages of illegal immigrants for the host country that they move into. One of the first examples is the case with tax increases. The United States, housing over 10 million illegal migrant workers, is one of the best examples. You can find that within the United States most of them have to pay taxes just like any other citizen that resides there. These people are also the subject of higher taxation compared to native citizens. This proves immigration to be greatly advantageous for the host country as it can benefit from higher revenues through tax. The tax can be used in all sorts of ways to benefit the host country and boosts its economic prosperity resulting in even further economic growth, so illegal immigrants can help boost the tax revenue of a host nation for the better. Illegal immigrants, of course, also have to abide by the usual tax rules with consumer spending, so they can lead to greater sales tax purely as a result of more people in a country. Just because they’re illegal it doesn’t mean they can pay for goods and services without tax - that would be absurd! Taxes paid by immigrants can vastly prosper the host country’s health facilities, living standards, and overall well-being. The majority of those that have property in the host country is also obliged to pay real estate tax just like everybody else. These taxes, however, are higher than native citizens have to pay, once again benefiting the host country even more as a result.

Low Wage Jobs

Just think about the kind of journey that illegal immigrants have to make in order to reach the host country. Do you really think that they will put in all that effort just to lie around and not do anything? This could, of course, be a possibility but most of them, moving to industrialized countries or more prosperous countries, come in search of work. They are often keen on improving their standards of living by gaining higher wages in the host country, meaning that they often tend to work harder in general or take lower wage jobs. As a result, illegal immigrants are mostly casual workers in the low paid sector. It is often the case that host countries have got a high amount of skilled labor force, so citizens are trying to avoid low paid jobs if they can. Illegal immigrants face discrimination towards them that essentially subjects them to low wage jobs, so they will enter the host country to pick up the pieces so to speak, and take the jobs that many citizens will refuse outright for being badly paid. This is an advantage of the immigrants because even though these wages may be significantly lower than native people expect, the earnings will often be much higher than they can get at home. But what is the advantage to the host nation? What if unlawful immigrants take all the jobs, leaving nothing for country citizens? This, in fact, is not likely to be true. Taking the low-skill positions freezes up a lot of labor force in higher skilled sectors that can be done by native citizens. Of course, native citizens that are uneducated suffer to some degree, but in countries, such as the United States, this only comprises around 10% of native labor force loss. Because of the sheer distance and the hardships that illegal immigrants have put themselves through, they are likely to be hard workers as a result. This leads to a native country having a strong labor force of low skilled work, which has enormous benefits to companies. Unfortunately, this may cause the exploitation of illegal immigrant labor, because a lot of employers can hire and fire these workers as they have fewer rights purely on the basis that they are illegal. However, if we are talking about benefits to the native economy then it is certainly an advantage. Illegal immigrants will offer industries the cheaper labor, so what advantages does this pose? As a result, costs can be cut and this will be reflected in the products available for consumers. If a company can cut a cost of their product, this will mean that they pass it to consumers at a lower price, so consumers benefit from lower-priced goods overall. This can also make exports to other nations more competitive thus bringing in even more revenue for businesses and putting the host country at a competitive advantage by means of economy. With immigrant labor, it is entirely more possible for a country to compete with others around the world and sell their products at lower prices. This brings substantial benefits towards the host country’s economy.

A Greater Pool of Consumers

You will find that many illegal immigrants moving to other countries, actually, create growing markets for products which are produced there. Since there are more people in a country, they can buy more goods and services, and economic demand will generally increase, thus stimulating economic growth as a result. Because of this a lot of industries will grow and people within industries will enjoy higher profits and, perhaps, higher need to innovate and invest in new technologies. Illegal immigrants will buy things and keep the economy moving, sometimes even more actively than native people, because they open up new markets for goods that aren't bought by native citizens.

Improved Standards of Living

As previously mentioned, the journey of an illegal immigrant is a tough one. So what does this say about the motivation of an illegal immigrant? Social mobility is an underlying factor here. Why would a person start a dangerous and unlawful journey into a country where you do not know anybody in order not to make the most of your opportunity? These people are often moving to other countries because they want to make their lives better. Of course, there may be a lot of immigrants that wish to do people harm, but the majority of cases do not reflect this. Developed countries provide better opportunities in terms of jobs, education, livelihood, and healthcare which are readily unavailable for a lot of immigrant’s countries. So they are moving to countries where can have a good life, but this needn't be done at the expense of the native population. Upon moving they work harder and proceed with their education in order to benefit the native population. A lot of anti-immigration campaigners cite that unlawful immigrants cause a lot of problems for the native population, but trying to make the most of your life is not going to cause that much harm. Of course, immigrants may come from countries where it is natural to engage in fraudulent activities or illegal practices. Less economically developed countries have a worse state of affairs than developing countries, yet it is often the sheer determination to advance up the social ladder, not the one to ruin a country. In the end, why can't everybody have the right to improve their standards of living? Some may say “not in my country”, whereas others may be more sympathetic to the needs of society in general.