Immigration Deportation
Francis Konneh, December 2018
Have you ever lived or grew up in a certain area but had to move? Some immigrants have felt this way because they were deported because they lacked citizenship, green cards, and other documents. Deporting immigrants would decrease the production of the U.S economy. They have filled many of the hard labor jobs, because they are a large group of individuals who are low skills workers in the economy with low wages. Although they work hard labor jobs, immigrants have an important impact on society, and they are the backbone to many businesses and the country. Immigrants should not be deported because of their contributions to society, especially if they have children who are citizens.
Deportation will hurt many businesses because they rely on foreign workers for hard labor jobs that Americans won’t do. Americans citizens with minimum skills and therefore a low income may have fewer job opportunities because immigrants had filled in many of these positions. Increasing the U.S population is one key factor to creating more jobs, and immigrants play a major role. [1] This demonstrates if the population of immigrants decrease, many Americans wouldn’t work these jobs because of the low wages.
Immigrants are not only skilled workers but they are hardworking individuals who had contributed to society in many ways. Immigrants are the thriving entrepreneurs who had formed 25 percent of the new U.S businesses. [2] Creating business means more jobs are created which helps the employment rate in the economy. Immigrants are becoming engineers, scientist, and creating life saving technologies and products for society. About 2 trillion dollars was added to the U.S GDP in 2016 by immigrants. Immigrants contributed 123.7 billion dollars in total Social Security and contributions of foreign-born individual in 2014. About 40 percent of Fortune 500 companies were founded by immigrants. Their impact is felt on the American economy, as many are contributing more than Americans who are born citizens.
What about the children? Imagine leaving your children stranded on an island. Deporting immigrant parents would lead to many abandoned children in the U.S because their parents might not have their documents. Deporting illegal immigrants with children will have a negative effect on children. The risk of a deported parent would lead to depression, anxiety, and other health problems. In 2016 doctors had reported many children exhibiting stress and anxiety behavioral changes including toxic stress. [2b]. Many immigrants without their parents, will mostly likely help bring their parents back in their adulthood because of the negative impact they endured throughout their life. A 2013-2015 study of Latino citizen children found that post-traumatic stress disorder symptoms were significantly linked to a deported or detained parent. Children are also afraid about these programs they are put in when their families are deported. They are more likely to commit suicide and other traumas because of the effect and negative impact on their families. Many of these children were put in foster homes.
In 2016 about 43.7 million immigrants was 13.5 percent of the U.S population, and 40.6 million American born children who are citizens. [3] 81 million immigrants were 25 percent of the U.S population. Although an abundant number of immigrants are residents of the U.S, many of them are less educated than many Americans because of their lack of understanding of English, which results to them not receiving a high diploma. Furthermore, immigrant’s education had improved significantly from 1970. About 12 percent of immigrants held a college degree in 1970, which was the lowest. Today 29 percent of immigrants hold a college degree, and by 2010 48 percent of immigrants held a college degree. This number has increased 16 percent by 2012. [4] Immigrants are well educated individuals who have surpass many American student by earning their high school diplomas, and their degree. Research shows that African immigrants are better educated than people born in the U.S. One report shows that African immigrants were significantly more likely to have graduates degrees with a total of 16 percent with masters and medical degree, compared with 11 percent of the U.S population. [5]
In the other hand, immigration is unsubstantial for the economy because immigrants are not meeting the standards of an American citizen. Some immigrants that cross the border to America are on welfare or are unemployed and receiving government benefits. They lack certain skills and work minimum wage jobs that increases the American workforce, which increases unemployment. Some believe that immigrants may have a negative effect on society as crime rates increase because of gang violence, drugs, and other criminal activity. About 5.4 million people were sent back to their countries, and 2.4 million of them was had committed a felony. This has negatively effected the growth of communities in certain areas. [6]
Many immigrants are deported because they fail to obey the terms of visa and to maintain their status. Non-immigrants like a tourist are not allow to work, and if they do not abide by this rule, they will become deportable. Some people faced with this situation decide to file for asylum, and are always denied because they lied about their asylum and are most likely deported under the terms of the 1965 INA act. Immigrants with greens cards are permitted to rely on government assistance such welfare, and other programs that help sustain them. In the I.N.A of section 237 (a) 5 states that if a green card holder become a public charge within the five years after the date of entry, they may be eligible to be deported. [7] For this reason, many immigrants are deported daily because of crime, and other felony that would cause them to be deported. An economic reason immigrants should be deported is because of the cost of illegal immigrants is higher than the cost of deportation. A report shows a 746.3 billion fiscal cost created by immigrants compared to 67.6 billion of FY in 2012 deportation costs. It is more expensive to allow immigrants into the country and remain here than it is to deport them out the country. [8]
Despite these realities, in my view, immigrants should not be deported because they play a huge role in American society. They are a strong workforce that work a low skill job with low wages. Although they work hard labor jobs, they help many companies sell goods by paying low wages to their worker to reduce cost. Immigrants are also entrepreneurs who branch out and build companies to help create jobs and bring value to the economy. Immigrant are 25 percent of the U.S population and are a thriving group of individuals that sustains the majority of the country’s wealth. Many are well educated with prestigious degrees and are doing well. If more immigrants were deported, the population would result in an economic crash, because some abundant undocumented immigrants are the backbone of majority of businesses. Although others believe there is a downside about being an immigrant, for example, false green cards, criminal activity, fake marriages, cost of deportation, jobs, education, and overpopulation. While there is some evidence to support these beliefs, the majority are myths based on anti-immigrant prejudice. They may not be citizens or treated fairly with the same rules as American citizens, but immigrants are a well-rounded group with motivation, and a hard work ethic.
Immigration has been a long conversation for many years because of the rising percentage of immigrants within the U.S economy. It has sparked many accusations and alert to politicians, authorities, presidents, and citizens. President Donald Trump stirs a conversation about deporting immigrants because he claims they are filing fraud asylums, disobeying green card policies, are overpopulated, and are affecting the country badly as a whole. There have been many bills and laws passed about immigration.
Still, there would be no growth with immigrants. Some immigrants are not efficient for the economy, but the immigrants that are helping to make the country thrive should be valued more highly. There are millions of immigrants with business that contribute more than American citizens. As for an example, Gary V, a Soviet Union entrepreneur from immigrant parents, built a wine company that’s worth 65 million and runs a billion-dollar social media company. Children who have at least one immigrant parent are motivated do better than their parents because of the mentality of creating the American dreams. In today’s society, many children of immigrant descent are becoming entrepreneurs and changing the world with technology and science.
Therefore, to prevent deportation from occurring, current laws should be better enforced to help sustain immigrants without legal residence obey the law and abide by the rules. And those with residence should also be restricted under certain laws. Deporting immigrants should be allowed under certain circumstances. The conversation about immigration will certainly be around in the near future. But nobody knows the future of immigration and what new polices will be pass to help regulate immigrants in and out the country.
This essay is meant for you to think about immigration as a whole and put yourself in their shoes. If a born-American citizen does not abide by the same laws as an immigrant but disobey all laws, would their citizenship be taken away, and where would they deport them if they are a born-citizen? What law would be passed, and how would the deportation process work? Immigrants shouldn’t be the only group to abide by these laws. There should be equality.
Notes
[1] Patrick Gillespie [source missing]
[2] Dinah Brin [source missing]
[2b] American Immigration Council [source missing]
[3] Amadeo, Kimberly. “Immigration Pros and Cons.” The Balance Small Business, The Balance, 29 Nov. 2018, thebalance.com/how-immigration-impacts-the-economy-4125413.
[4] Ibid.
[5] Simmons, Ann M. “African Immigrants Are More Educated than Most – Including People Born in U.S.” Los Angeles Times, 12 Jan. 2018, latimes.com/world/africa/la-fg-global-african-immigrants-explainer-20180112-story.html.
[6] Ambrousius, Christian; Leblang, David [source missing]
[7] Bray, Ilona, and J.D. “Legal Reasons a U.S. Immigrant May Be Deported.” com, Nolo, 5 Mar. 2015, www.alllaw.com/articles/nolo/us-immigration/legal-reasons-immigrant-may-be-deported.html.
[8] Camarota, Steven A. “Deportation vs. the Cost of Letting Illegal Immigrants Stay.” Center for Immigration Studies, 3 Aug. 2017, cis.org/Report/Deportation-vs-Cost-Letting-Illegal-Immigrants-Stay.
Further Reading
IMMIGRANTS AND IMMIGRATION ARE GOOD FOR AMERICA, Fwd.us, 14 Feb. 2018.