Immigration Reform Essay

Submitted By GreatMattsby
Words: 1047
Pages: 5

Jennifer Jacobs wrote about the economic views on allowing amnesty for illegal immigrants on her article “Liberal group says immigration reform would mean 867 new jobs in Iowa”. She explains how the earnings that an approved immigration reform would be outstanding not only in capital but in the available job market. Her outlook is based on The Center for American progress think-tank and their results show a predicted that over the next 10 years 867 jobs annually would be available, $3.3 billion cumulative increase in the earnings of all the states residents, and a $2.8 billion increase for the immigrants who would be paying an additional $283 million in state and local taxes. The Center for American Progress report also says the nation’s Social Security system would benefit, with $1.2 trillion in contributions over the next 36 years from legalized immigrants, or $606.4 billion in net contributions. The overall point of her article shows that a positive immigration reform would not only positively influence a non-border states economy in such a massive way but the economy effect will also be a nationwide positive booster for our economy. Justin Quinn, on the other hand, writes about the legalities and moral standpoint of an amnesty for illegal immigrants in his article “Conservative Perspectives on Immigration Reform”. Justin talks about the moral dilemma that surfaces when an illegal immigrant gets hurt and is then given the top-notch emergency medical care that the U.S. offers but without having to pay taxes during their lifetime here. Also, when two illegal immigrants have a child in America, that child is considered a U.S. citizen. Deporting the parents would then just be creating a numerous amount of orphaned children. The solution is to not take away their human rights but it is also not to reward them for being illegally in our country. Better foreign aid and a more engaged foreign policy may be the only options to lower the amount of illegal immigration. An excerpt from USAmnesty.org can further explain the situation “An amnesty for illegal aliens forgives their acts of illegal immigration and implicitly forgives other related illegal acts such as driving and working with false documents. The result of an amnesty is that large numbers of foreigners who illegally gained entry into the United States are rewarded with legal status (Green Card) for breaking immigration laws.” If the people who have illegal immigrated over are being rewarded for breaking the laws by forging documents. This is to say, what would stop them from breaking further laws since they have never been shown any real repercussions for breaking them in the first place, they could just move on to forging another set of paper work such as welfare checks and further stealing more money from the government just as they did in the past with no repercussions. A multi-year path to citizenship for resident illegals requiring them to pay taxes, live crime free and learn English is offered as an idea for a plan to promote hard (legal) work to become a part of our nation. Some people may argue that the immigrants pay their fair share of taxes when they buy groceries, clothing, and the money they pay their landlord eventually gets used to pay property taxes. But the immigrants use the school system without paying any taxes and that may down the line exclude a perfectly legal immigrant the opportunity to go to that school because of an over-populated class. The solution isn’t to take away any of the rights that makes the U.S. so great, but to put in place better international aid and elect a way to become a citizen that is made available to all in a easy and comprehendible way.

The liberal viewpoints are a convincing argument to let these illegal immigrants into our country through an amnesty program. The overall financial gain that the country would see in my opinion far out weighs the taxes that the immigrants have dodged in the past. The