Immigration Reform Essay, Research Paper

Immigration Reform

At this time, the United States has allowed more immigrants to enter the

country than at any time in its history. Over a million legal and illegal

immigrants take up residence in the United States each year. Immigration at its

current magnitude is not fulfilling the interests or demands of this country.

With the country struggling to support the huge intake of new comers, life in

America has been suffering tremendously. The excessive stress put upon the

welfare system, overuse of the family reunification laws, and the exploitation

of employment based immigration in the computer industry are reasons for

immigration reform.

The United States welfare system has difficulties supporting the huge

numbers of immigrants coming into the country each year. A majority of the

immigrants are from poor countries and come to the U.S. looking for work. A

research organization called Urban Institute revealed that immigrants use more

welfare and earn lower incomes than natives, which results in immigrants paying

less taxes. The Urban Institute is a non-profit organization that investigates

the social and economic problems of this country. Statistics from a Federation

for American Immigration Reform (FAIR) newsletter shows, ?. . . the share of

immigrant households below the poverty line (29 percent) is much higher than the

share of native households that are poor (14 percent)–more than twice as high.?

Due to the large numbers of poverty stricken immigrants, they are more likely to

take part in means-tested programs such as AFDC.

Family reunification laws generally do not serve the purpose implied by

their name. These laws create a problem that researchers call chain migration.

According to the FAIR organization, ?because of chain migration–one immigrant

sponsors several family members as immigrants, who then sponsor several others

themselves, and so on. Since chain migration began in the mid 1960s, annual

immigration has tripled.? Many sponsors have not met those they have helped, or

much less have the desire to be reunited with them. The laws are often used to

further economic goals rather than joining families. People migrate to the

United States with pipe dreams of financial securities. The high rates of

family sponsored immigration from poor countries such as China and the

Philippines rival those of richer countries such as Japan.

Immigration reform not only has a strong following but an equally large

opposition as well. The opposition argues that immigrants create job and do not

take jobs from U.S. citizens. Several studies demonstrate that there is a

positive relationship between states who admit immigrants and employment. One

study found between 1970-1980 Mexican immigration to Los Angeles County was

responsible for 78,000 new jobs. They claim that the U.S. work force,

especially the computer industry, will suffer from the withdrawl of highly

skilled workers. The current unemployment rates are blamed on the relocation of

multinational companies overseas to countries like Ireland and India.

Many big computer companies claim that employment based immigration is

vital for the survival of our economy. They feed upon the myth that the U.S.

computer industry depends on immigrants for its technological edge. In reality,

a majority of advances in the computer field have been made by the U.S. For

example:

…of the 56 awards given for American industrial advances

in software and hardware by the Association for Computing

Machinery, only one recipient has been an immigrant. Similarly,

of 115 computer-related awards given to U.S. engineers by the

Institute of Electrical and Electronic Engineers, only

nine recipents have been immmigrants.

Employers state that they need to go search other countries to find new talent

but the statistics show that their interest lies in finding bargain priced labor.

UCLA professor Paul Ong performed a statistical analysis in 1990 which

determined that the average salaries for foreign born computer professionals

were almost $7,000 lower than American born workers of the level of education.

Immigration is not to blame for the all the country’s problems but they

are increasing the effects and making them harder to solve. At the present time

the numbers are too high, creating difficulties for natives and immigrants a

like. With logical policies and better planned numbers, immigration is a good

thing. Policy improvements will help this country regain control of its borders

and better provide for the people. Modest reductions in our immigration

policies are both are fair and ethical. Too much of a good thing does more harm

than good.

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