The Land of Opportunity

Have you become a victim to the current economy crisis that has crippled the United States of America? The USA has gone from the land of opportunity to the grounds of an immigration war between the USA and a major bordering country, Mexico. "The number of undocumented workers peaked in 2007 at 12 million and then declined to a steady 11 million in the following years" states Brian Resnick from National Journal (2013). This figure comes from the efforts of Jeffery Passel, a senior demographer at the Pew Hispanic Center. Why has the government become so relaxed when it comes to guarding our borders to prevent people from coming into our country without going through the proper channels? Currently in this country we have immigrants taking valuable jobs from natives of the United States, increasing the level of poverty and increasing the strain on the already limited state, federal and welfare programs; all of which add to the current economic crisis but yet illegal immigrants aren't being deported as they once were due to the loosely stated immigration laws that need to be changed.

There is a very popular myth going around stating that immigrants do the jobs that natives don't want to do. That couldn't be further from the truth. While immigration allows residents of the U.S. pay lower prices for things items as fruits and vegetables but it also causes problems in the overall evaluation of the wage market for all people to receive a decent hourly wage. The article "Preface to 'Does Illegal Immigration Harm US Citizens?"(2012), states that "The immigrants that account for the negative fiscal impact of immigration in California and the United States as a whole are primarily individual with low skill levels" (Preface to 'Does Illegal Immigration Harm US Citizens' 2012). These jobs are typically minimum wage jobs such as fast food, farm work, janitorial work, landscaping, construction and house cleaning. A particular place you would think would be the least populated by illegal immigrants is major fast food restaurants. There have been incidents where a general manager had to fire an employee because it became common knowledge that the employee was in the United States illegally under a false name and social security number which he submitted on his application. The very next day, the same immigrant came back to the restaurant and presented a new name and new social security number to the manager and was once again gainfully employed. "[Economist] George Borjas estimates that over the period 1980 to 2000 immigration contributed to a decrease in average U.S. wages of 3 percent" (Preface to 'Does Illegal Immigration Harm US Citizens 2012). Now obviously if the manufacturer doesn't have to pay as much to produce a product then the consumer doesn't have to pay as much in a retail setting. But the amount of people able to purchase that product is decreased due to not having income to pay.

As the number of poverty stricken families increase, we need to look to see what type of families are actually living in poverty. In an online report done from "Immigration, Poverty and Low-Wage Earners: The Harmful Effect of Unskilled Immigrants on American Workers" (2011) by Eric A. Ruark and Matthew Graham, states "Though U.S.-born children of legal immigrants are no more likely to be in poverty than those in native households, the children of illegal aliens and foreign-born children of legal immigrants are nearly twice as likely to live in poverty". Now think about all of the families that are currently living in poverty, almost half of them are immigrants whether legal or illegal. There are many ways immigrants get into the United States

legally. There are visas, asylum seekers or refugees, and a diversity lottery to name a few. The article also states

In construction, noncitizens earned less than two-thirds of natives' wage salaries, and in the two agricultural categories, they earned less than half. Wage and salary differences demonstrate how illegal and unskilled immigrants plane downward pressure on wages by providing an incentive for employers to choose them over natives. The opportunity to exploit workers is the reason big business clamors for more immigrant labor.... (Graham and Ruark 2011)

With major business wanting to hire cheaper labor in order to increase their profits, it's no surprise that more natives are unemployed than illegal immigrants.

Immigrants, whether legal or illegal, have restrictions when it comes to qualifying for welfare and other state or federally run programs. That however has not stopped them from finding ways to use all they can in any way they can. In "Immigration