Michael Notkin
Mr.Scinto
AP Micro/Macro Economics
31 October 2014
Immigration
What is immigration? Immigration is the action of coming to live permanently in a foreign country. There have been immigrants for just about as long as there has been the country of the United States. Arguably even longer since the first people to settle the United States had been immigrants from England. This is to show how long immigration has been going on in the world. Immigration is connected to the economy in many ways. As seen in article one, “Immigration both creates and saves jobs” making immigrants an important aspect of our economy (Sherter). Contrary to article one, article two states that, “Immigration implies the distribution of a nation's wealth to those who do not have a right on it” (Oak). Both articles show a connection to the economy and are on opposite sides of the argument on immigration. Article one is primarily summarizing the pros of immigration. A positive notion of immigration is that for every one thousand immigrants living in a county, forty six manufacturing jobs are made or preserved. This is to show that, “communities with higher rates of immigration retain more manufacturing jobs than areas with fewer immigrants” (Sherter). Immigration according to article one is a good thing. That without the United States having immigration we would not have as many jobs which in turn would raise the unemployment rate. Another aspect is that, “Immigrants contribute economically by earning and spending money” (Sherter). Their earning and spending contributes economically through benefiting local businesses and by generating tax revenue. There are forty million immigrants which is roughly thirteen percent of the population. That’s from ten million which is roughly seven percent in 1950.
Housing is additionally gone over in article one. “Another way immigrants benefit communities is by creating demand for housing” said Jason Marczak who is the director of policy at the Americas Society/Council of the Americas. Also, increasing population by whatever manner does increase prosperity and fortune. Immigrants are usually drawn to prosperity; however, they cause prosperity where they go. To recap article one, immigration in most cases leads to economic benefits as well as benefits in general. Article two, contrary to article one, is more on the cons of immigration. A negative notion given in article two for immigration is the transfer of diseases. Immigrants can bring with them diseases that are more common in their countries. “Disease-causing agents may transfer from one country to another through immigrants, thus leading to spread of diseases” which can be very detrimental to the country (Oak). A present day example of disease being transferred by immigrants is the Ebola epidemic. If the country had stricter immigration laws then maybe the disease would not have reached American soil. Another negative aspect of immigration is the financial burden.