Immigration and U.S. economy

Introduction

At the heart, of the debate on illegal immigration, there is a key question: Is immigration beneficial or harmful to the economy? Overall, the general public thinks it is harmful. In a recent poll New York Times / CBS News, 74% of respondents said that illegal immigration was harming the economy, against 17% who believe it strengthens it. However, for most economists the consensus is that immigration, both legal and illegal, makes a positive contribution to the economy.

Discussion and Analysis

Immigrants provide cheap labor; can lower prices as well as fruits and vegetables for new homes, which allows consumers to spend less for their purchases. They also help fill the boxes - and to fund pensions - retirement of an aging American workforce, which in the coming decades will retire in a large number. How, therefore, explain such a discrepancy between the perception of the impact of immigration on the economy, and the facts? On the issue, many theories are well known. Some refer to the ravages of the Great Depression, stress and anxiety and the threat felt by the people in front of an influx of new workers (the anti-immigration sentiment was still very well rooted before the crash of 2008). Others emphasize the weight that undocumented immigrants pose to public services, schools, hospitals or prisons. Others, again, emphasize the role of the racial issue, and assume that the foreign act as depository convenient fears and insecurity in the country. Each of these explanations has some truth, but they are insufficient.

Obama poses, as in the previous three-part plan to solve the U.S. immigration dilemma. First, tighten border security agent enters the country only a handful of illegal immigrants. Second, the editing system, especially for highly skilled migrants who have sharply reduced their numbers because of laws currently ...