With increased globalization, people are able to move from one region and relocate to other regions. Immigration has also been enhanced by the fact that mobility of labor is increasingly becoming perfect, compared to ancient years. The United States has received many immigrants being the largest economy in the world, and still, many more will want to relocate there.
Unfortunately, the limited slots allowed by the government and the requirements that must be met do not allow everybody to get into America legally. As a result, many people decide to sneak through the porous borders and get into America. Once in America, these illegal immigrants always enjoy various social services that are given by the government. This has elicited debate as to whether these people should enjoy social services in the first place.
The illegal immigrants offer cheap labor to the economy which the natives are unwilling to do. On the same note, they carry out manual jobs which would otherwise have been difficult for the natives to do. In this regard, the illegal immigrants positively contribute to the economy and should, therefore, receive social services (Tanton 5).
Furthermore, when illegal immigrants arrive in America they consume local commodities because they cannot survive without buying anything (Weaver 230). Therefore, though they might not pay direct taxes due to their unemployed status or sometimes the nature of their employment, they cannot avoid paying indirect taxes. Consequently, they qualify for social services like any other American. It should be noted that not every Native American pays direct taxes because not everybody is employed.
Once in the United States, illegal immigrants find it impossible to move from one state to another in search of jobs, for fear of being caught by authorities. Consequently, these immigrants are forced to do all sorts of manual jobs that they can find which are also paid poorly, thus they constrain themselves in order to meet their daily requirements. Therefore, it is the moral duty of the government to offer social services to these people to at least alleviate their suffering (Weaver 234).
It should, however, be noted that offering social services to illegal immigrants negatively affects America. To begin with, illegal immigrants strain social amenities thus barring the natives from receiving quality services. The law states that emergency medical cases must be attended to, irrespective of whether the person will be able to pay (Jansson 406). As a result, illegal immigrants receive medical services which they are sometimes unable to pay for. This has increased the burden of hospitals and even led to the closure of some hospitals due to unbearable debts.
Additionally, providing social services to illegal immigrants lessens the difficulties they face in the U.S. Consequently, many more people cross the borders illegally knowing that their lives will not be that difficult in America; they will get the most basic services free. This has led to an increase in the number of illegal immigrants in the U.S (Jansson 411). Moreover, it has become expensive for the government to offer social services since the number of illegal immigrants is increasing time and again. This has led to the reduction in funds allocated to other sectors of the economy thus straining the budget (Tanton 7).
The issue of illegal immigrants is a problem for every nation, America included. Unfortunately, it is hard to control the immigrants from entering into the U.S. Therefore, the available option is to discourage people from coming, and the ones already in the country from continuing to stay. Social services should, therefore, not be offered because they alleviate illegal immigrants’ miseries. This will not only discourage many more who have plans to illegally relocate to America but will also make some find live unbearably and decide to go back to their home countries.
Works Cited
Jansson, Bruce S. The Reluctant Welfare State: Engaging History to Advance Social Work Practice in Contemporary Society. Stanford: Cengage Learning, 2011. Print.
Tanton, John. “Welfare Cost of Immigrants.” The Social Contract Journal, 3.1 (1992): 4-13.
Weaver, Kent R. Ending Welfare as We Know It: Context and Choice in Policy toward Low-Income Families. Washington: Brookings Institution Press, 2000. Print.