Economic Effects of Illegal Immigrants

1288 Words6 Pages
Economics 105 Professor O’Gorman Economic Effects of Illegal Immigrants The impact of immigrants in the United States is a very controversial topic when it relates to whether they can help or hurt the economy. Illegal immigrants are all foreign-born non-citizens who are not legal residents. Most of them either entered the United States without being inspected or were admitted temporarily with a visa and stayed past the date they were required to leave. Because illegal immigrants obviously do not have proper identification and are not documented, it is hard to say exactly how many illegal immigrants are in the United States. According to the Department of Homeland Security's Office of Immigration Statistics (OIS), the number of unauthorized immigrants resided in the United States as of March 2012 is estimated to be 11.6 million (Frequently Asked). As we all know, the more consumers spend their money, the more consumers help build the economy, helping businesses stay open and most importantly, help create jobs. One argument against illegal immigrants is that they are taking jobs that should belong to citizens. The truth is that the spending by illegal immigrants employs about 5% of the total workforce of the United States. Taking that into consideration, if the United States deported all illegal immigrants, the unemployment rate would rise from 8% to about 13%. Imagine America with a 13% unemployment rate. The highest recorded unemployment rate in American history was 10.8% in November of 1982. People would lose hope in the economy (Unemployment Rates). Most people who are against illegal immigration in the United States begin the base of their argument that they do not pay taxes. Citizens do not think its fair that everybody works and that people who enter the country illegally are paid but do not pay any taxes. On the other hand, each year,

More about Economic Effects of Illegal Immigrants

Open Document