In the contemporary society human being is proclaimed to be the main value and everyone should take care and protect it from any possible humiliation of its dignity. The era of humanism and tolerance is supposed to come, when everyone should have equal rights. Unfortunately, things are not so good as it is stated. Living standards differ from country to country, making the great contrast between the conditions under which people live.
It is obvious to suppose that it is difficult to remember about the right of each human being for good social services in the states, where the majority of the population lives on the edge of starvation. However, the man has a strong survival instinct and it is natural for him to move in the search for better conditions. Their arrival to the other countries with the higher living standards is quite understandable and seems the right thing to be.
However, another problem appears. It is very difficult to get citizenship in the happy state. Having moved and not having any opportunity to become the rightful member of the society, people become illegal immigrants, who have not any abilities to get a good job and pay taxes. However, they still need social care and the conflict appears. Being illegal, they receive the services which are paid by the taxes of the citizens of the country and the level of intolerance rises.
The problem of the illegal immigration becomes very keen for the developed states, such as Germany, France, England and so on. In the USA illegal immigrants present “approximately one third of the total U.S. immigrant population (38 million)” (Becerra, Androff, Ayón and Castillo p. 112). Overwhelming amount of people, living above the law, left no one indifferent. The society is divided into two parts, giving argument for and against.
The main obvious reason for the immigrants not to get social services is the fact that “since they’ve broken the law, they should be punished. A part of that punishment involves denying them health care services through public entitlement programs or federal subsidies that are dependent on Americans’ tax dollars” (Mukherjee para. 2). Great sums of money is spent and that is the main question.
In 2010 the common immigrant family “received around $24,721 in government benefits and services while paying some $10,334 in taxes” (Rector and Richwine para. 12). As we can see, the obvious adverse balance is noticed. The trouble is that it burdens the taxpayer. In the times of the economical crisis it is the weighty argument against the social services supply for illegal immigrants.
Another problem lies in the sphere of Medicaid treatment. It is obvious that any man in need should be helped. The idea of letting someone die from decease contradicts the principles of humanism and the whole notion of humanity. However, the government also “pays about $2 billion a year for emergency treatment for a group of patients who, according to hospitals, mostly comprise illegal immigrants” (Galewitz para. 2).
It is rather cynical to argue about the right of a human being for medical service but the fact remains. It also should be remembered, that medical service is sometimes unavailable for the citizens of the country because of its high price.
In this terms, no matter how xenophobic it sounds, it is just vital to concentrate the forces on the law-abiding citizens, who pay taxes and try to do something for the improvement of their state. Illegal immigrants should be replaced on the other level, where they should pay taxes and work, guarantying their right for medical service.
One more argument, against supplying the illegal immigrants with Medicaid treatment to be mentioned is the obvious swindle they do in order to break the law. There is a great number of so called “anchor babies” which are born each year by women in order to help them to change their status of the illegal immigrants and become recognized as a citizen, as according to the laws of the USA everyone who was born on its territory automatically gets citizenship (Galewitz para. 11).
The worst thing is, that many of these children serve just as the remedy to obtain the precious status of the citizen and after having done it, they become the inhabitants of the asylums, which supply also depends from the taxes of the common Americans. That is why this practice should be suppressed in order to reduce spending and stop the flow of the immigrants.
Having analyzed the issue it is possible to come to some disappointing conclusions. It becomes obvious that illegal immigrants cost a lot for the government, especially in the developed sates, where their amount is great. Having moved from their homes because of the bad conditions, they need some compassion.
However, it should be remembered, that each state is based on the work of its citizens and it is pernicious for it to be sentimental in the questions like this, Illegal immigrants, as the lawbreakers, should be denied from any social services, until they do something in order to correct it. The state should prevent illegal immigration in the first turn, rather than thinking about the ways of its supply.
Works Cited
Becerra, David, David Androff, Cecilia Ayón and Jason Castillo. Fear vs. Facts: Examining the Economic Impact of Undocumented Immigrants in the U.S. PDF file. n.d.
Galewitz, Phil. How Undocumented Immigrants Sometimes Receive Medicaid Treatment. 2013.
Mukherjee, Sy. Why Undocumented Immigrants Should Have Access To Taxpayer-Funded Health Care. 2013.
Rector, Robert and Jason Richwine. The Fiscal Cost of Unlawful Immigrants and Amnesty to the U.S. Taxpayer. 2013.