ILLEGAL IMMIGRATION

Illegal Immigration

Illegal Immigration

Thesis Statement

The government needs to enact better immigration laws to help illegal immigrants to obtain legal status because this will decrease conflict and allow them to be productive members of society.

Introduction

Illegal immigration has been a longstanding issue in the United States, creating immense controversy but everyone agrees that change is necessary and inevitable. Unfortunately, at the heart of the issue is the fact that the U.S. economy is dependent on hiring illegal migrant workers. Nevertheless, as the migrant labor force in the U.S. increases, the benefits to all parties affected may not outweigh the problems it poses to society in general. Undoubtedly, hosting illegal immigrants imposes costs on the legal residents of United States particularly in jobs, crime, and taxes.

Migrant workers, most of them illegal immigrants, supply the bulk of the labor force for picking and packing fresh fruit and vegetables. Without the labor that migrant workers provide, it would mean paying a great deal more for the same fruits and vegetables. Furthermore, a great deal of fruit would rot on the ground due to a shortage of available American workers willing to do the job. Additionally, illegal immigrants also make up a large portion of the work force for other industries such as construction, hotels, and restaurants. According to Unauthorized immigrants are especially popular with many employers because the employer can pay less than the legal minimum wage or have unsafe working conditions and the employee is not likely to object because of the risk of incarceration or deportation.

Discussion

Many illegal immigrants risk life and limb to enter the U.S. in search of a better life. If they are one of the lucky ones, they become modern day slaves doing backbreaking labor and surviving in the poorest of living conditions and filth. Nevertheless, for many this is an improvement from their homeland. Laws have been established to help protect migrant workers from abuse and poor living conditions, but few if any would consider going to the police and risking deportation. As described by Schlosser, "Migrants are among the poorest workers in the United States.

Immigrants are often disproportionately male and at early ages of labor market entry and advancement. Because young males are disproportionately likely to be involved in crime in all parts of the world that we know about (Hirschi and Gottfredson, 1983), this may also contribute to increases in crime...we will probably want to know whether immigrants who enter the country contribute to crime beyond what we could otherwise expect of citizens of similar numbers, ages, gender, and so on. A further complication in assessing the involvement of immigrants in crime is that immigrants may not be treated the same as citizens in the criminal justice system. If immigrants are more or less vulnerable than citizens to arrest, detention, conviction, and imprisonment, their representation in official crime statistics may be correspondingly biased. ()

Unfortunately, looking the other way when it comes to illegal workers and having no real policy with which to separate those we want ...