Sunday, November 13, 2011

Issue of the Week: Illegal Immigration

For the issue of this past week, we had Illegal Immigration. I chose three questions that really got me thinking: when did the problem of illegal immigration first become a big issue, how will inflation affect products produced by illegal immigrants, if those immigrants are deported, and what are the advantages and disadvantages economically that we face when hiring illegal immigrants?

When did the problem of illegal immigration first become a big issue?
Immigration to North America has been present from the time it was found and settled on. Immigration was current throughout America's history, but in the 20th century it started to boom. From the 17th to 18th century it is suspected that as little as 400,000 people immigrated to the United states. Then from 1836 to 1914  30 million immigrants crossed over from Europe. From the information I found immigration has been around for, well forever, but only in the past half century have we really made it a problem.


How will inflation affect products, produced by illegal immigrants, if those immigrants are deported?
Apparently yes, from what I've seen, it seems to be thought all around, that if the illegals were deported, assuming the company hires American citizens, then the prices of the products will rise. Just like we saw in the video on the new bill in Alabama, there were no workers, and those that were working on the farms did not wan to work at the same prices that an illegal immigrant would accept. It seem that if the farmers were to hire American workers they would have to raise the workers pay, causing a raise in the cost of the vegetable, or what ever product is being made/ produced.

What are the advantages and disadvantages, economically, that we face when hiring illegal immigrants?
There are both advantages and disadvantages to having and hiring illegal immigrants. For the most part illegal workers are paid less because they do not have the same rights as an American citizen. The products produced by the illegal are significantly less then those produced by a legal American citizen. This can be seen as both an advantage and a disadvantage. While it is good that the product can be a lower prices, sometimes even at the risk of the illegal workers health (which most Americans could care less about), it can also be seen as a bad thing because it takes the job from the citizen and lowers the wages, so that citizen cannot compete with the company hiring the illegal worker. So can we say that it is an advantage to hire illegal workers, while we enjoy the fruits of there hard under paid labor, or do we say that it is a disadvantage and tell them to leave the "land of opportunity"?

source:
(this isn't all of them i couldn't find some of them)
http://reason.com/archives/2011/07/12/immigrants-dont-need-a-friend
http://geekpolitics.com/illegal-immigrants-problems-and-solutions/
http://money.msn.com/investing/would-a-us-default-mean-disaster-jubak.aspx
http://blogs.houstonpress.com/hairballs/2010/05/immigration.php

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