Immigration to the United States and Farmingville Essay

Submitted By tfinn3
Words: 640
Pages: 3

Immigration is a controversial topic when discussed among the citizens of the United States. There are positive and negative effects of immigration. There are two types of immigration, legal and illegal. Issues tend to arise in areas that are highly populated by illegal immigrants. Residents of areas where this occurs aren’t always pleased with the effect that immigration has on their community. While there are pros and cons to immigration, there seemed to be an issue with the government turning a blind eye to the negative effects that immigration has taken on certain affected areas across the United States. On Long Island the town Farmingville, just North of the expressway, was a highly populated area of day laborers. The members of the community of Farmingville started to notice a problem of over crowding on their streets due to day laborers. The entire documentary “Farmingville” was about the approach the members of Farmingville took as anti-immigration factions began to arise. Farmingville was a perfectly centered location on Long Island for employers to hire and pick up these workers for their day jobs. Due to the location in comparison to the expressway, many houses in the town of Farmingville became overcrowded with twenty to twenty-five day laborers living in small residencies. A major concern was from the families living in Farmingville. Mothers were worried about sending their small children around the block on a bike ride or a run, of their own community that they had lived in for years, all because of the day laborers that would just stand on the corners of intersections waiting for employers to give them work. Daughters, wives, sisters were getting sexually harassed just by walking by these groups of immigrants. When this rapid immigration of day laborers to Farmingville occurred, it was a shock to local residents and it soon created tension. Some may claim that there are positive and negative effects of the immigration that has taken a toll all across the United States. In times of economic frustration, day laborers such as immigrants accepting of lower pay than American citizens fill up the work force. This means that more American workers are unable to get jobs because the immigrants are taking jobs reducing the quantity of jobs available. Immigrants max out the capacity of the need for unskilled workers. Another negative effect which discourages American workers is the illegal workforce.