The exceptional American status of “immigrant’s nation” and its globalization has been a challenge which makes migration and terrorism easier in the American territories. Illegal immigration to the United States is massive in scale. There are more than ten million illegal or undocumented aliens who are currently living in the USA. Their population is growing annually by 700,000 people. However, there is a strong statement clearly showing American boarders. Illegal immigration causes unemployment, erosion of national security, employment problems and tax evasion in the United States of America.
Solution
One of the many solutions that policy makers have established is the guest worker program. “A guest worker program is an important asset for securing the American boarder. There are many issues involved in the program but evidence shows that worker migration has positive economical impacts” (Kane & Johnson, 2006). There are various principles which would make the program effective. First of all, the program for new-comers should use biometric identifications. The technological use of biometric identifications means that the use of fingerprint scans and retinal screening would make it efficient having a list of immigrants in the country. Such a program would encourage law breakers to follow law enforcement, and would help many companies to authenticate the undocumented workers.
The department of security in Homeland has executed the program for verification of employment, and it has been very effective so far. Hence, if all the organizations in the country took the initiative to incorporate the system in each corporation, it would be a milestone to eradicate illegal immigrants in the United States. The government should make the verification program a requirement for any organization that takes a responsibility for hiring the guest workers. Otherwise, the organizations that fail to comply would be punished heavily (Press, 2005).
Advantages of Eliminating Illegal Immigration
Economic Advantage. Illegal immigration happens because foreign workers prefer to work in America where they earn more than they can at home. Consider the benefits of a Mexican young man who finished his education four years ago and yet he has not had an opportunity to get a real job. The Mexican man is too broke to even pay for his own food, leave alone the visa card. After moving to the US, his annual income would probably rise by 2.5 times. It can be revealed after adjusting the cost of living difference between the two countries. On the other hand, the disadvantages of this kind of outsourcing are that the job vacancies are taken away from American citizens in favor of a low-wage foreigner from Mexico. Recent data shows that the rate of unemployment is overflowing. The unemployment rate has remained at average of 5 percent over the years (Clemons, 2008).
Immigrations although can be looked at from another perceptive. Some economists overwhelmingly view illegal immigration as a positive economic contribution to the country. According to James Smith, “Immigrants positively contribute almost $10 billion to the US economy annually.” An NRC report shows that although immigrants cause a loss in the tax paid (due to evasion) as compared to the social services that they receive, foreign workers provide a gain to the economy in form of lower prices of commodities and services that they provide. Although native workers compete American citizens for low-skilled jobs, immigrants can provide some activities which would not exist in the area and, hence, make it beneficial to the residents. The report does not necessarily justify the act of illegal immigrants but visitors work programs can achieve beneficial results. Consequently, if the immigrants cross the boarder legally, illegal residents will be punished in a much stricter way than deportation (Smith, 1997).
Social Advantage. A study carried out by Richard in 2009 showed that eleven million immigrants or about 30% of foreigners live in America illegally. Most of them are from Mexico and lived in poverty before they settled in the United States. The plights of illegal immigrants struggling to improve their living standards evoke sympathy and sometimes admiration. One writer observed that a poor Mexican sneaking across the border to find work with the only aim to support the family can be hardly qualified as a national threat. However, if to take it globally, such action is illegal and can have devastating impact on national social structure (Schaefer, 2008).
Illegal migrants cultivate an underground economy that thrives on such crimes as identity theft and human smuggling. This makes it unsecure for the local citizens, and a lot of conflicts arise between the locals and the migrants. Another study shows that many immigrants are not fluent in English. This fact creates a threatening impact on the US culture. Most illegal workers have a tendency of living in large groups, which, therefore, makes assimilation difficult.
Environmental Advantage. Increased immigration has negative effects on the environment, especially when the level of the US economic development is concerned. The main negative impacts on a very large population in some areas are water and energy allocations. This occurs because the illegal immigrants are not part of the annual budget since they do not officially exist in the territory of Northern America. A report by Department of Resources says that if more resources are not renewed by 2020, residents of various locations in the United States will face water shortage. The illegal migrants consume these valuable resources without paying for them because they evade tax. The country’s resources are eroded, which causes a negative impact on the environment. If to consider California, we can observe a state that is highly populated by aliens. Possibly, most of them are illegal aliens, which consume the greatest level of water. Hence, there should be deliberate plans of desalination to solve the water shortage problem (Kramer, 2008).
Conclusion
Illegal immigration is a major problem for the American citizens so that the government should assume stricter measures and punishments, such as jail imprisonments, in case of breakingimmigration laws. Deportation, however, seems to be a considerate measure, but it is not good enough to eliminate the problem.
