Dylan Lemon
English 102
Dr. Clough
9/26/16
Should Anti-Immigration Measures Between the US and Mexico Be Reformed? As any politically active American would know, the topic of Illegal Immigration has transformed into a very heated debate throughout the recent years. Many are tired of hearing about it, and can you blame them? However, when babies of illegal immigrants make up 40 percent of the total births in California’s hospitals (Smith) and that the total number of illegal Mexican immigrants in 2004 was estimated at 5.9 million (Buehn, Andreas, Eichler 30), it’s not hard to see that there’s an issue. These alarming statistics put the sheer number of Illegals entering this country into perspective. The simple fact of them entering the country …show more content…
In fact, it’s estimated that about half of the over 5 million illegal immigrants in this country obtain forged documents to gain jobs and possibly even government benefits such as insurance, healthcare, etc. (Smith). In other words, in 2005 illegal aliens were estimated to have made up approximately 4.9% of the US workforce (Liu 4). So, from the surface, the solution to the problem really seems quite simple; make the fraudulent papers harder to obtain and train businesses to know what to look for when hiring a potential illegal alien, but the problem is rooted much deeper. It all boils down to labor prices. It’s not hard for an individual in the US to find a job that pays out $100 a day, but in Mexico $100 salary would be considered decent for a 6-day work week (Avalos). A low paying job in the US gets an individual most of what they need to get by; while a low paying job in Mexico may not get an individual through the week without going hungry. With that being said, is an illegal alien going to complain about getting paid a few dollars less an hour than a legal American when their alternative is a job paying much less? Probably not, and many companies looking to save a few bucks are more than happy to oblige. A study done in the town of East Bay, California found that in a cluster of 20 careers that statistically show the largest share of illegal immigrants, the average salary of it’s workers was 27 percent lower than the average salary of East Bay workers as a whole (Avalos). The money these companies save on foreign workers simply makes it hard to justify hiring a US citizen when it’s such an economical advantage to hire an illegal alien, whether the company knows the individual is illegal or not, and the US citizen is the one who has to
English 102
Dr. Clough
9/26/16
Should Anti-Immigration Measures Between the US and Mexico Be Reformed? As any politically active American would know, the topic of Illegal Immigration has transformed into a very heated debate throughout the recent years. Many are tired of hearing about it, and can you blame them? However, when babies of illegal immigrants make up 40 percent of the total births in California’s hospitals (Smith) and that the total number of illegal Mexican immigrants in 2004 was estimated at 5.9 million (Buehn, Andreas, Eichler 30), it’s not hard to see that there’s an issue. These alarming statistics put the sheer number of Illegals entering this country into perspective. The simple fact of them entering the country …show more content…
In fact, it’s estimated that about half of the over 5 million illegal immigrants in this country obtain forged documents to gain jobs and possibly even government benefits such as insurance, healthcare, etc. (Smith). In other words, in 2005 illegal aliens were estimated to have made up approximately 4.9% of the US workforce (Liu 4). So, from the surface, the solution to the problem really seems quite simple; make the fraudulent papers harder to obtain and train businesses to know what to look for when hiring a potential illegal alien, but the problem is rooted much deeper. It all boils down to labor prices. It’s not hard for an individual in the US to find a job that pays out $100 a day, but in Mexico $100 salary would be considered decent for a 6-day work week (Avalos). A low paying job in the US gets an individual most of what they need to get by; while a low paying job in Mexico may not get an individual through the week without going hungry. With that being said, is an illegal alien going to complain about getting paid a few dollars less an hour than a legal American when their alternative is a job paying much less? Probably not, and many companies looking to save a few bucks are more than happy to oblige. A study done in the town of East Bay, California found that in a cluster of 20 careers that statistically show the largest share of illegal immigrants, the average salary of it’s workers was 27 percent lower than the average salary of East Bay workers as a whole (Avalos). The money these companies save on foreign workers simply makes it hard to justify hiring a US citizen when it’s such an economical advantage to hire an illegal alien, whether the company knows the individual is illegal or not, and the US citizen is the one who has to