Research Paper

There is no doubt that there are illegal immigrants in our country and if you ask a majority of people living here they have seen immigrants. This is a topic that has been debated for many years and is still all the rage today. The stereotype that Immigrants steal jobs and ruin the economy is really just a myth and it is apparent that immigrants are a vital need to our community. Many people are also quick to demean immigrants but the fact of the matter is we all came from illegal immigrants. With the information I have researched it changes my opinion towards immigrants altogether. It helps me accept them and fully understand the hardships they go through and what they can do to even help our economy. The question posted by an author from www.alcu.com asked "Is it true that immigrants take jobs away from Americans and are a drain on the economy?" (Immigrants and the Economy 1)



Before anyone thinks they have the right to discriminate against immigrants we must first look at ourselves. Every one of us descended from an Immigrant. Even the native americans that were setteled here were once immigrants but we all had one thing in mind when we moved here. We were all looking for a better life. Later in my blog I will discuss a song made in Britain which explains how great life in the U.S. is. Also a political cartoon I found on www.poloticalhumor.about.com (Kurtzman, Daniel 1) explains this idea and is quite humorous. Everyone is so quick to judge immigrants now but at one time we were all immigrants and we should just learn to accept them because they are a vital source of our economy.

In our nation's history we have welcomed immigrants into our country. In the eighteen fifties the United States began industrializing, making mass production of goods in factories. We had one little problem, we needed workers to work in these factories and we were willing to pay highly for the labor. In Britain many factory workers heard of this news and started migrating towards the United States. The song that I will post soon is actually one from the British proclaiming how great work in America is. An author in Voanews.com says "Many had spent years in British factories. Pay was poor in Britain, and these skilled workers could get much more money in America. So, many of them came. Hundreds of thousands. Some factories -- even some industries -- seemed completely British."(Immigrants: America's Industrial Growth Depended on Them 1) Soon enough most factories were completely filled with British workers. This is a classic example of our country welcoming immigrants to our country. Our country seems to welcome them when we need them but when something goes wrong we blame them for it, it's a huge example of using immigrants as our Country's scapegoat.


Most importantly whenever anyone hears people talking about immigrants the first thing in people's minds are "They ruin the economy." In some ways this idea is wrong because immigrants are the reason why our recession isn't catastrophic. Immigrants are often stereotyped as people who ruin our economy but in reality they help it very much. "Immigrants pay more than $90 billion in taxes every year and receive only $5 billion in welfare. Without their contributions to the public treasury, the economy would suffer enormous losses." (Immigrants and the Economy) As we can see immigrants pay more taxes than they take benefits. Also we can take into account the American goods they buy and the taxes on property. Most people argue that immigrants don't pay income tax but they don't take into account the amount of other taxes the immigrants are forced to pay. Without immigrants buying American goods and paying taxes our economy could be much worse than it is now.

Looking back at the points given we can agree that immigrants should not be discriminated against as fiercely as they are. There have been reports about people in the south shooting anyone they see crossing the border and this course of action is extremely over the top. Our country seems to forget that our ancestors were originally immigrants at some point. We also tend to forget that there were times when our country needed immigrants and welcomed them to our country. Everyone's opinion on immigrants is that they ruin our economy and they are the reason we are in a recession. The truth is they keep us out of an even worse recession than the one we are in now and people need to realize they help us more than hurt us. Another stereo type is that immigrants take awya jobs from our citizens. An author from www.aclu.com said "Contrary to popular belief, immigrants do not take away jobs from American workers. Instead, they create new jobs by forming new businesses, spending their incomes on American goods and services, paying taxes and raising the productivity of U.S. businesses." (Immigrants and the Economy 1) As you can see what most people say about immigrants isn't always the truth.


Works Cited
"Immigrants: America's Industrial Growth Depended on Them | Special English | Learning English." VOA | News | English. 19 Oct. 2005. Web. 06 Jan. 2011. .
"Immigrants and the Economy." American Civil Liberties Union. 12 Mar. 2002. Web. 06 Jan. 2011. .
Kurtzman, Daniel. "Show Me Your Papers - Immigration Political Cartoon." Political Humor - Jokes Satire and Political Cartoons. Web. 06 Jan. 2011. .