Outline
The paper begins with an introduction of Mexican immigration to US. It also talks about amnesty for illegal Mexicans entering into American territory.
The paper covers the following sub-topics: Impact of the amnesty to illegal Mexicans on US healthcare system and impact on infrastructure and on jobs.
The paper ends with a conclusion that restates the above points.
Introduction
Immigration in US is a serious issue that calls for world attention. It has exerted its predominant influence on the social and cultural life of that country. Considering its seriousness, US government has implemented strict actions regarding the immigrants and their rehabilitation process. Some of the immigrants get prosecuted by the US laws but majority of them escape to remote parts. The online article of CNN reports, “between October 1996 and January 2000, the number of illegal immigrants grew from about 5.8 million to about 7 million, an increase of more than 300,000 annually.” (Frieden).
It is the increasing number of the migrants that forced the American government to act tough, strictly denying amnesty to such intruders. The illegal aliens in US promote many social and legal issues and their identify itself is a matter of dispute. It was in the recent past that the US government granted amnesty to a group of Mexican soldiers. Pat Buchan illustrates the details of the Amnesty given to Mexican Army by the Bush administration.
According to him, “U.S. immigration laws are being daily mocked and violated.” (Buchanan). No one has any proper understanding of the actual number of immigrants. The paper analyses the impact of the amnesty for illegal Mexicans, especially how it affected the American social system and whether it has exerted its influence on various fields like, health care, education and the changes it caused in the basic US infrastructure.
Impact on health care system
Generally United States is regarded as the land of immigrants. A lot of immigrants are settled in America, among them Mexicans are the most. There are around 3 to 5 million illegal Mexicans living in U.S.A. Usually America forgives many offences committed by the illegal immigrants. Even when the immigrants violate any US law, they are often pardoned and granted permanent residence. Though they are not entitled to all the rights, they have the benefit of some protection from America, especially in matters of public education and emergency medical service. In the US, illegal immigrants are provided with good facilities for education.
Dwelling on the poverty among the American migrants John Mendez reviews, “The poverty rate for Mexican immigrants is dramatically higher than that of natives or immigrants in general.” (Mendez). Majority of Mexican immigrants bear lot of children as they lack education. Fortunately US government provides good education for them. In addition to this they are endowed with emergency medical services. If an illegal immigrant meets with an accident or any kind of disaster, US offers emergency medical services. Thus amnesty becomes a source of encouragement for illegal immigration than a cure of it. (Landis).
It may appear that US rewards the immigration offenders by offering them permanent residence and jobs to secure their lives. This has its negative impact in the country. Being not so well educated and unskilled, they lack productivity which reflects in their works too. This results in low productivity in United States. The immigrants do any sort of work which Americans hate to do and with cheap wages.
This creates a conflict between Americans and the immigrants in their trade. US would like to have brilliant, energetic and skilful individuals who offer benefits to the country and do not prove a burden. Amnesty for the illegal immigrants affects a lot the health care system of America too. The unprepared hospital staff has to make available emergency care to the patients who suffers from epidemic diseases. “In fact, the increasing number of illegal aliens coming into the United States is forcing the closure of hospitals, spreading previously vanquished diseases and threatening to destroy America’s prized health-care system, says a report in the spring issue of the Journal of American Physicians and Surgeons.” (Invasion USA).
Impact on infrastructure
US has always been a favorite place for immigrants. Currently immigration has become uncontrolled and consists primarily of the illegal variety. In a personal interview, Jack Martin, the Director of Special projects and Policy for the Federation for American immigration Reform says, “At 10-12 million illegal aliens residing in the country and thousands more pouring in every day, the problem is enormous in terms of job competition, depressed wages, and the fiscal impact on state and local governments, to name just several of the impacts (Interview).” (The Effects of Illegal Immigration on Society).
The immigrants obviously remit their earnings out of country which has a high impact on local economy. Generally the illegal immigrants are not entitled to take medical insurance. Everyday hospitals are filled up with illegal immigrants who are in need of special medical care but are not covered by insurance and do not have the capacity to pay the bills. Across America, school systems are struggling to find adequate resources and finance to provide basic education to illegal immigrants. Because of these reasons, illegal immigration has turned out to be an important issue in the US. Illegal immigration has affected three main segment of society: These are Healthcare, federal, state and local economies and the K-12 public education system.
Impact on jobs
Illegal immigration becomes the most serious burden on federal, state and local economies. One of the prime motives of people migrating to America illegally is to secure a job in the US labor force. Usually the jobs could be given to local citizens or immigrants who have gone through all the necessary steps to get citizenship.
According to a study in 1996 of the costs of illegal immigration by Rice University economist, Dr. Donald Huddle, it was found that illegal aliens were displacing roughly 730,000 American workers every year, at a cost of about $4.3 billion a year.” (Illegal Immigration). Illegal immigration has forced a number of American workers to leave their job which has caused a spurt in the US unemployment ratio.
However, many people point out that these illegal immigrants are taking up jobs which the Americans are not ready to do. An average illegal immigrant earns one tenth of his American counterpart and many businesses are more than eager to sign up cheap, acquiescent labor from out of illegal immigration. Illegal immigrants’ contribution in taxes is small at the same time making local governments pay the bills. ““Illegal [immigrants] sends large percentages of their United States earnings back to their home country — an estimated $23 billion last year was sent to Mexico alone.” (Nemko, Marty)” (The Effects of Illegal Immigration on Society). It would be very helpful for creating more jobs for legal citizens if this huge amount of money is invested back into American economy.
Impact on education
America’s public institutions are under terrible budget constraints these days. There are so many reasons behind this. We cannot ignore that one of the main reasons is the enormity of illegal immigration. The present US rules permit illegal immigrant to access a free k-12 grade public education. But there is no free education for citizens or other legal students. With 1.5 million illegal immigrants living in America as well as their 2 million American born siblings of school going age the effects of illegal immigration on education are massive. (Breaking the Piggy Bank).
Due to the continuous flow of illegal immigrants to the schools the size of the classrooms is growing all the time. This causes major fund problems particularly in regions of serious troubles, which must be resolved for the sake of good education.
The financial cost of educating illegal immigrant is very high. So the federal government should take necessary steps to control the illegal immigration; otherwise the government will be forced to spend millions of dollars on their education. The American education system never compromises with the quality of education. But recent research shows that there is possibility of fall in the quality of education with the effect of enormous illegal immigration. (Higher Education for Illegal Immigrants).
Conclusion
Even though, immigration may be very important to any country, illegal immigration creates negative impact on society. Today, numerous illegal immigrants acquire the benefits of being a US citizen but choose to avoid the legal requirements to get legal citizenship. The federal government must think about necessary changes in the immigration policy and enforcement procedure so that the unfavorable things that the illegal immigrants cause to society are minimized.
Annotated Bibliography
The website CNN.com/U.S’s article entitled INS: 7 Million Illegal Immigrants in United States reports, “Between October 1996 and January 2000, the number of illegal immigrants grew from about 5.8 million to about 7 million, an increase of more than 300,000 annually.” According to this article states that the illegal immigrants in America endorse many social and legal issues and their identify itself is an issue of argument. Illegal immigration has forced a number of American workers to leave their job which has caused a spurt in the US unemployment ratio. In my point of view, Mexican illegal immigrants are not taking the jobs away from the Americans they are only doing the work which the Americans not willing to do.
According to Buchanan his article entitled A Bush Amnesty For a Mexican Army recalled, “U.S. immigration laws are being daily mocked and violated.” According to me, this statement point out the loophole of American governance. They are not doing there duty to protect their boarders instead of making statements like this.
American migrants John Mendez article entitled Illegal Immigration: Mexico’s Shame, reviews “The poverty rate for Mexican immigrants is dramatically higher than that of natives or immigrants in general. The reason behind that Mexicans does not have the higher standard of education. Education really reflects their income and occupation that means either Mexicans getting lower skilled jobs or higher unemployment rate than other immigrants which is directly affect to their income.
The Andrew Mclndoe’s article The Effects of Illegal Immigration on Society revealed “Illegal [immigrants] sends large percentages of their United States earnings back to their home country — an estimated $23 billion last year was sent to Mexico alone.” (Nemko, Marty)” this article states that the flow of dollars to Mexico is really affected to American economy. We can not stand the statement of Marty because the conversion rate of dollar to peso (Mexican currency) is much higher. So Mexicans are supporting their nation’s economy via sending their earnings to their nation.
The article entitled Breaking the Piggy Bank: How Illegal Immigration is Sending Schools in to the Red mentioned about the free K-12 education of illegal immigrants become burden for the American economy. Many illegal immigrants from Mexico blamed that they are not getting enough standard of education.
The article Higher Education for Illegal Immigrants talks about the financial cost of educating illegal immigrants and necessary step to control the illegal immigration. Government of America should take the necessitate action to overcome from the both crisis.
The evening edition of World Net daily’s article Illegal aliens threaten U. S medical system says the illegal immigrants spreading diseases which is threatening to United State’s healthcare system. This is very serious issue and I totally agreed with this report. The government has to take strong preparation for protecting the health of Americans.
The book named Out Laws in the Promised Land Publisher: Grove Press (August, 1986)… describes about the contribution of illegal immigrants to the federal government of America which is very apparent.
Jason Din, his article The Environmental Impact of Immigration into the United States describes the environmental impact of immigration into the U.S. the high amount of immigration effects on nature of America such as hectic traffic jam, crime rates, healthcare and welfare system, job climate and economy.
The book of The Economic Consequences of Immigration By Julian Lincoln Simon,publisher University of Michigan Press, 1999 demonstrating that immigrants relocate fewer occupation than they generate, are well educated than the greater part of American workforce. And this book specially deals with the public-policy issue.
Works Cited
Breaking the Piggy Bank: How Illegal Immigration is Sending Schools into the Red. FAIR: Federation for American Immigration Reform. 2005. Web.
Buchanan, Pat. A Bush Amnesty for a Mexican Army. 2002. Web.
Frieden, Terry. INS: 7 Million Illegal Immigrants in United States: Mexicans make up nearly 70 percent of total, figures show. CNN./U S. 2005. Web.
Higher Education for Illegal Immigrants. Economics of Education: The Demand for Quality Education is Exceeding Supply. 2009. Web.
Illegal Immigration: A case Study by Congressman Randy Forbes: Virginia’s Fourth Congressional District: Economy. J. Randy Forbes: 4th District of Virginia. 2009. Web.
Invasion USA: Illegal aliens threaten U.S. medical system: Docs journal reports hospitals being closed, previously vanquished diseases being spread. World Net Daily: Evening Edition. 2009. Web.
Landis, S. How Do We Stop Illegal Immigration? Associated Content: Business & Finance. 2009. Web.
Mendez, John. Illegal Immigration: Mexico’s Shame: Mexico’s Mass Exodus. American Thinker. 2009. Web.
The Effects of Illegal Immigration on Society. Andrew McIndoe. 2005. Web.