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I wrote a paper last year for school that relates to the topic of illegal immigration and I thought I'd post it here. The issue of illegal immigration was raised in another thread below. I cut and pasted it, so forgive me. My Word program did it's own formatting and changed around and added some words on its own.
Earlier this year, my wife and I bought a new house in upstate New York. We decided to change the colors from construction white to something more colorful and to our taste. At first, we were very skeptical about the cost, so we shopped around for paint and a painter. We checked with several stores and finally settled on one store which had the right price, and quality paints that we needed. The store They also, offered its own the painting services at a cost of $8,000. The job which would take them two weeks to complete. Luckily, I had a former client who was an independent painter. He was an immigrant from Italy who had been living in the United States for over forty years, and he spoke very little English. His fees came to $2,500. With the help of one Hispanic day worker, whom I assumed to be an illegal immigrant, the entire house was painted within one week. My wife and I were extremely grateful for saving so much money as we certainly could not afford the paint store’s price.
An article in the Associated Press, dated April 10, 2006, stated that, “Brian James, a fill-in talk show host with Phoenix AM radio station KFYI, suggested, on the air, last month that a solution to the immigration problem in Arizona would be to kill illegal immigrants as they cross the border.” The article, went on further to quote Mr. James as saying, “He said he would be "happy to sit there with my high-powered rifle and my night scope" and kill people as they cross the border. He also suggested that the National Guard shoot illegal immigrants and receive "$100 a head.” Though the idea is a radical one, many Americans share these sentiments, especially those living in the states that border Mexico. However, I would like to examine the question: “What would happen to the American economy if all the illegal immigrants were deported tomorrow?”
The Center for Immigration Studies, located in Washington DC, is an independent, non-partisan, non-profit organization, dedicated to research and policy analysis of the economic, social, demographic, fiscal, and other impacts of immigration on the United States. In November 2007, the Center, through a publication by Steven A. Camarota, stated that from data collected by the US Census Bureau as at March 2007, the immigrant population (legal and illegal) had reached a figure of 37.9 million or approximately 15% of the total population. Of that figure, approximately 11.3 million are here illegally. Many of them work on farms picking crops or on construction sites as day laborers, orin our homes as gardeners, or as domestic helpers, or as nannies to our children. They make up about 5% of the labor force.
The Agriculture sector would be the hardest hit if there was a sudden loss of illegal immigrants from its workforce. Many farms across the nation would literally go out of business simply because of the unavailability of willing and able workers. In my opinion, the average American has no knowledge, nor do they care about where their food comes from, nor does the average American teenager aspire to become a farmer after leaving high school or college; and the school curriculums are not geared towards agriculture. As a result, many farm owners are forced, out of necessity, to hire illegal immigrants to do the dirty, back-breaking work of farming. In an article in the Watertown Daily Times, written by Rachael Hanley, the point is emphasized when she reports that, “Last fall, officials from Farm Credit of Western New York said at a congressional hearing that an estimated 800 farms statewide were vulnerable to a severe labor shortage. As many as 445 dairy farms, with 7,000 on-farm jobs, were at risk of going out of business, they said, a shortage they blamed on a lack of domestic workers.” The report goes on to state, “A lack of domestic workers exists, local agriculture experts note, even with average wages estimated at $11.32 per hour, including benefits, in 2007.” In a state like California, which produces nearly half of all fruits, vegetable and nuts grown in America, a sudden loss of its illegal immigrant workforce would be catastrophic. Farmers in the state freely admit that 80-90% of their workforces are made up of illegal immigrants.
Over the past eight years, the US economy saw an in increase in construction of new homes. The increase was a direct result of the easy availability of home mortgages. The demand for skilled and unskilled workers in the industry also increased as a result. Americans were just not filling these positions fast and cheap enough. On December 22, 2006, the US Census Bureau released a press statement which ranked Arizona as the fastest growing state with a 3.6% rise in its population. Out of that growth, Arizona experienced a rise in construction. By the summer of 2007, Arizona was in the midst of a construction boom. According to a report by the Pew Hispanic Center, a non-partisan organization dedicated to acquiring and analyzing data on the Hispanic population in America, 34.9% of all workers in the construction industry in Arizona in 2006 were foreign-born Hispanics. Many are there illegally from Mexico. A sudden exodus of these workers would bring the industry there to a crawl, thereby stalling the Arizona economy. In March 2005, Daniel Griswold, director of the Center for Trade Policy Studies at the Cato Institute, appeared before the U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee where he presented his findings from his research on undocumented workers in the construction industry. He told the Committee that, “Low-skilled immigrants benefit the U.S. economy by filling jobs for which the large majority of American workers are overqualified and unwilling to fill.Large and important sectors of the U.S. economy — hotels and motels, restaurants, agriculture, construction, light manufacturing, health care, retailing, and other services — depend on low-skilled immigrant workers to remain competitive.”
Illegal immigrants do not have Social Security numbers, but the Internal Revenue Service allows them to file taxes by assigning applicants individual taxpayer identification numbers or ITIN. These numbers were introduced in 1996 to encourage noncitizens with United States income, including foreign investors, to file returns. It is generally accepted that most of the 11 million numbers issued since then have gone to illegal immigrants.
“Since illegally crossing the Mexican border into the United States six years ago, Ángel Martínez has done backbreaking work, harvesting asparagus, pruning grapevines and picking the ripe fruit. More recently, he has also washed trucks, often working as much as 70 hours a week, earning $8.50 to $12.75 an hour. Not surprisingly, Mr. Martínez, 28, has not given much thought to Social Security's long-term financial problems. But Mr. Martínez - who comes from the state of Oaxaca in southern Mexico and hiked for two days through the desert to enter the United States near Tecate, some 20 miles east of Tijuana - contributes more than most Americans to the solvency of the nation's public retirement system. Last year, Mr. Martínez paid about $2,000 toward Social Security and $450 for Medicare through payroll taxes withheld from his wages. Yet unlike most Americans, who will receive some form of a public pension in retirement and will be eligible for Medicare as soon as they turn 65, Mr. Martínez is not entitled to benefits.”This excerpt was taken from an article, written by Eduardo Porter, published in the New York Times on April 5, 2005. The article helps to debunk the myth that illegal immigrants do not pay taxes. Mr. Martínez is just one of the many millions of illegal immigrants who file their taxes every April 15 with the knowledge that they will never be able to claim for Medicare or any other Social Security benefits.
The Earnings Suspense File (ESF) was created by the Social Security Administration in the late 1980’s to collect Social Security earnings reports from filers with mismatched names and Social Security Numbers. It is widely accepted that many of these filers are illegal immigrants using fake or stolen SSN’s. According to an article posted on www.consumeraffairs.com , dated February 22, 2006, the ESF “continues to accrue money at roughly $6 billion a year, with the total as of 2005 sitting at $519 billion.”
The issue of illegal immigration has always been a sore point amongst American for many years and there have been several high-profile incidents and clashes between supporters on either sides of the debate that have made national headlines in the media in recent years. In the fictional novel, America Libre, by Raul Ramos Sanchez:
“As the immigration crisis reaches the boiling point, once-peaceful Latino protests explode into rioting. Cities across the nation are in flames. Anglo vigilantes bent on revenge launch drive-by shootings in the barrios, wantonly killing young and old. Exploiting the turmoil, a congressional demagogue succeeds in passing legislation that transforms the nation’s teeming inner-city barrios into walled-off Quarantine Zones.” The reality of this fictional story is not as far from the truth as one would hope, as highlighted by the incident which took place on May 1, 2007 at McArthur Park in Los Angeles, California. According to Wikipedia.org:
“The Los Angeles May Day mêlée was a May Day pro-illegal-immigration rally which was broken up by the Los Angeles Police Department shooting rubber bullets at protestors. The tactics used by the LAPD have been controversial, and several police officers were held to account. The stated objective of the rally was to bring attention to the plight of the large population of undocumented workers in Los Angeles and the US as a whole. Organizers obtained all the necessary permits to hold a pro immigration rally at MacArthur Park on May 1, 2007 until 21:00. At about 17:15 a few protesters began blocking the street, which the rally permit expressly prohibited. When several people began pelting Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD) officers with rocks, bottles, and other debris, police commanders declared the gathering an unlawful assembly and gave the command for the crowd to disperse. The order was broadcast from a police helicopter circling the park, from police cars, and from hand-held megaphones, before police officers in riot gear formed a line and advanced slowly to clear the area. The officers proceeded about 50 feet at a time, allowing those complying with the dispersal order to retreat. The orders were given in English to a crowd of mostly Spanish speaking demonstrators.”
The issue of illegal immigration was not very high on the president-elect’s, Barrack Obama, priority list. However, the issue has grown into monstrous proportions, and the animosity against immigrants or perceived illegal immigrants by American citizens is growing to dangerous levels as indicated by an article in the Associated Press, dated April 10, 2006. It stated that,
“Brian James, a fill-in talk show host with Phoenix AM radio station KFYI, suggested on the air last month that a solution to the immigration problem in Arizona would be to kill illegal immigrants as they cross the border.” The article, went on further to quote Mr. James as saying, “He said he would be "happy to sit there with my high-powered rifle and my night scope" and kill people as they cross the border. He also suggested that the National Guard shoot illegal immigrants and receive "$100 a head.” Though the idea is a radical one, many Americans share these sentiments, especially those living in the states that border Mexico. Illegal immigration is just another problem to be added to the long list of issues affecting the American economy that the newly elected President, Barrack Obama, will have to address during his time in office. I am not going to debate neither the pros nor the cons of illegal immigration.
For several years, successive US presidents have avoided tackling the monster that illegal immigration has become because of its delicate value to the US economy. The hard fact is that, the demand for illegal immigrant workers will continue until Americans decide to fill the jobs of illegal immigrants. Illegal immigrants workers are intricately woven into the American economy and a wholesale deportation could bring our economy to a sputtering standstill. Without these illegal immigrants, the prices of our foods, goods and services will soar and lose their competitive edges; the prices of our homes will increase. It would behoove the president-elect to address this problem within his term in office as it has gone unchecked for too long. America cannot afford a widespread civil unrest of its 11.3 million illegal immigrant population, whilst, at the same time, it cannot allow its citizens, like Brian James, to start taking the law into their own hands and become vigilantes.
Barbassa, Juliana. “Farmers fear impact of illegal immigrant crackdown.”http://nctimes.com/Wednesday, August 15, 2007 8:18 PM PDThttp://nctimes.com/articles/2007/08/16/news/state/15_11_108_15_07.txt
Bosworth, Martin H. “The Earnings Suspense File: Social Security's "Secret Stash"
"Money from Nowhere" Fattens Government Accounts.”http://www.consumeraffairs.com/ February 22, 2006
http://www.consumeraffairs.com/news04/2006/02/ss_secret_stash.html
Fischer, Howard. Capitol Media Services “Illegal immigrants filling construction jobs.” http://www.eastvalleytribune.com/ March 8, 2007 - 4:40AM http://www.eastvalleytribune.com/story/85429
Hanley, Rachael. “Illegal aliens hard at work on north farms.” http://www.watertowndailytimes.com/ October 12, 2008 http://www.watertowndailytimes.com/article/20081012/NEWS03/310129984/Illegal+aliens+hard+at+work+on+north+farms
“Los Angeles May Day mêlée” http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Los_Angeles_May_Day_Mêlée
“Louisiana Loses Population; Arizona Edges Nevada as Fastest-Growing State.” http://www.census.gov/ RELEASED: 12:01 A.M. EST, DECEMBER 22, 2006 (FRIDAY)
http://www.census.gov/Press-Release/www/releases/archives/population/007910.html
“Radio host's call to kill border crossers dangerous.” APUpdated: April 10, 2006 07:44 AM EDThttp://www.kvoa.com/Global/story.asp?S=4744652
Sanchez, Raul Ramos. America Libre (Author’s website)http://www.raulramos.com/
Immigrants in the United States, 2007A Profile of America’s Foreign-Born Population
Illegal Immigrants. Let’s deport them Now!
Earlier this year, my wife and I bought a new house in upstate New York. We decided to change the colors from construction white to something more colorful and to our taste. At first, we were very skeptical about the cost, so we shopped around for paint and a painter. We checked with several stores and finally settled on one store which had the right price, and quality paints that we needed. The store They also, offered its own the painting services at a cost of $8,000. The job which would take them two weeks to complete. Luckily, I had a former client who was an independent painter. He was an immigrant from Italy who had been living in the United States for over forty years, and he spoke very little English. His fees came to $2,500. With the help of one Hispanic day worker, whom I assumed to be an illegal immigrant, the entire house was painted within one week. My wife and I were extremely grateful for saving so much money as we certainly could not afford the paint store’s price.
An article in the Associated Press, dated April 10, 2006, stated that, “Brian James, a fill-in talk show host with Phoenix AM radio station KFYI, suggested, on the air, last month that a solution to the immigration problem in Arizona would be to kill illegal immigrants as they cross the border.” The article, went on further to quote Mr. James as saying, “He said he would be "happy to sit there with my high-powered rifle and my night scope" and kill people as they cross the border. He also suggested that the National Guard shoot illegal immigrants and receive "$100 a head.” Though the idea is a radical one, many Americans share these sentiments, especially those living in the states that border Mexico. However, I would like to examine the question: “What would happen to the American economy if all the illegal immigrants were deported tomorrow?”
The Center for Immigration Studies, located in Washington DC, is an independent, non-partisan, non-profit organization, dedicated to research and policy analysis of the economic, social, demographic, fiscal, and other impacts of immigration on the United States. In November 2007, the Center, through a publication by Steven A. Camarota, stated that from data collected by the US Census Bureau as at March 2007, the immigrant population (legal and illegal) had reached a figure of 37.9 million or approximately 15% of the total population. Of that figure, approximately 11.3 million are here illegally. Many of them work on farms picking crops or on construction sites as day laborers, orin our homes as gardeners, or as domestic helpers, or as nannies to our children. They make up about 5% of the labor force.
The Agriculture sector would be the hardest hit if there was a sudden loss of illegal immigrants from its workforce. Many farms across the nation would literally go out of business simply because of the unavailability of willing and able workers. In my opinion, the average American has no knowledge, nor do they care about where their food comes from, nor does the average American teenager aspire to become a farmer after leaving high school or college; and the school curriculums are not geared towards agriculture. As a result, many farm owners are forced, out of necessity, to hire illegal immigrants to do the dirty, back-breaking work of farming. In an article in the Watertown Daily Times, written by Rachael Hanley, the point is emphasized when she reports that, “Last fall, officials from Farm Credit of Western New York said at a congressional hearing that an estimated 800 farms statewide were vulnerable to a severe labor shortage. As many as 445 dairy farms, with 7,000 on-farm jobs, were at risk of going out of business, they said, a shortage they blamed on a lack of domestic workers.” The report goes on to state, “A lack of domestic workers exists, local agriculture experts note, even with average wages estimated at $11.32 per hour, including benefits, in 2007.” In a state like California, which produces nearly half of all fruits, vegetable and nuts grown in America, a sudden loss of its illegal immigrant workforce would be catastrophic. Farmers in the state freely admit that 80-90% of their workforces are made up of illegal immigrants.
Over the past eight years, the US economy saw an in increase in construction of new homes. The increase was a direct result of the easy availability of home mortgages. The demand for skilled and unskilled workers in the industry also increased as a result. Americans were just not filling these positions fast and cheap enough. On December 22, 2006, the US Census Bureau released a press statement which ranked Arizona as the fastest growing state with a 3.6% rise in its population. Out of that growth, Arizona experienced a rise in construction. By the summer of 2007, Arizona was in the midst of a construction boom. According to a report by the Pew Hispanic Center, a non-partisan organization dedicated to acquiring and analyzing data on the Hispanic population in America, 34.9% of all workers in the construction industry in Arizona in 2006 were foreign-born Hispanics. Many are there illegally from Mexico. A sudden exodus of these workers would bring the industry there to a crawl, thereby stalling the Arizona economy. In March 2005, Daniel Griswold, director of the Center for Trade Policy Studies at the Cato Institute, appeared before the U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee where he presented his findings from his research on undocumented workers in the construction industry. He told the Committee that, “Low-skilled immigrants benefit the U.S. economy by filling jobs for which the large majority of American workers are overqualified and unwilling to fill.Large and important sectors of the U.S. economy — hotels and motels, restaurants, agriculture, construction, light manufacturing, health care, retailing, and other services — depend on low-skilled immigrant workers to remain competitive.”
Illegal immigrants do not have Social Security numbers, but the Internal Revenue Service allows them to file taxes by assigning applicants individual taxpayer identification numbers or ITIN. These numbers were introduced in 1996 to encourage noncitizens with United States income, including foreign investors, to file returns. It is generally accepted that most of the 11 million numbers issued since then have gone to illegal immigrants.
“Since illegally crossing the Mexican border into the United States six years ago, Ángel Martínez has done backbreaking work, harvesting asparagus, pruning grapevines and picking the ripe fruit. More recently, he has also washed trucks, often working as much as 70 hours a week, earning $8.50 to $12.75 an hour. Not surprisingly, Mr. Martínez, 28, has not given much thought to Social Security's long-term financial problems. But Mr. Martínez - who comes from the state of Oaxaca in southern Mexico and hiked for two days through the desert to enter the United States near Tecate, some 20 miles east of Tijuana - contributes more than most Americans to the solvency of the nation's public retirement system. Last year, Mr. Martínez paid about $2,000 toward Social Security and $450 for Medicare through payroll taxes withheld from his wages. Yet unlike most Americans, who will receive some form of a public pension in retirement and will be eligible for Medicare as soon as they turn 65, Mr. Martínez is not entitled to benefits.”This excerpt was taken from an article, written by Eduardo Porter, published in the New York Times on April 5, 2005. The article helps to debunk the myth that illegal immigrants do not pay taxes. Mr. Martínez is just one of the many millions of illegal immigrants who file their taxes every April 15 with the knowledge that they will never be able to claim for Medicare or any other Social Security benefits.
The Earnings Suspense File (ESF) was created by the Social Security Administration in the late 1980’s to collect Social Security earnings reports from filers with mismatched names and Social Security Numbers. It is widely accepted that many of these filers are illegal immigrants using fake or stolen SSN’s. According to an article posted on www.consumeraffairs.com , dated February 22, 2006, the ESF “continues to accrue money at roughly $6 billion a year, with the total as of 2005 sitting at $519 billion.”
The issue of illegal immigration has always been a sore point amongst American for many years and there have been several high-profile incidents and clashes between supporters on either sides of the debate that have made national headlines in the media in recent years. In the fictional novel, America Libre, by Raul Ramos Sanchez:
“As the immigration crisis reaches the boiling point, once-peaceful Latino protests explode into rioting. Cities across the nation are in flames. Anglo vigilantes bent on revenge launch drive-by shootings in the barrios, wantonly killing young and old. Exploiting the turmoil, a congressional demagogue succeeds in passing legislation that transforms the nation’s teeming inner-city barrios into walled-off Quarantine Zones.” The reality of this fictional story is not as far from the truth as one would hope, as highlighted by the incident which took place on May 1, 2007 at McArthur Park in Los Angeles, California. According to Wikipedia.org:
“The Los Angeles May Day mêlée was a May Day pro-illegal-immigration rally which was broken up by the Los Angeles Police Department shooting rubber bullets at protestors. The tactics used by the LAPD have been controversial, and several police officers were held to account. The stated objective of the rally was to bring attention to the plight of the large population of undocumented workers in Los Angeles and the US as a whole. Organizers obtained all the necessary permits to hold a pro immigration rally at MacArthur Park on May 1, 2007 until 21:00. At about 17:15 a few protesters began blocking the street, which the rally permit expressly prohibited. When several people began pelting Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD) officers with rocks, bottles, and other debris, police commanders declared the gathering an unlawful assembly and gave the command for the crowd to disperse. The order was broadcast from a police helicopter circling the park, from police cars, and from hand-held megaphones, before police officers in riot gear formed a line and advanced slowly to clear the area. The officers proceeded about 50 feet at a time, allowing those complying with the dispersal order to retreat. The orders were given in English to a crowd of mostly Spanish speaking demonstrators.”
The issue of illegal immigration was not very high on the president-elect’s, Barrack Obama, priority list. However, the issue has grown into monstrous proportions, and the animosity against immigrants or perceived illegal immigrants by American citizens is growing to dangerous levels as indicated by an article in the Associated Press, dated April 10, 2006. It stated that,
“Brian James, a fill-in talk show host with Phoenix AM radio station KFYI, suggested on the air last month that a solution to the immigration problem in Arizona would be to kill illegal immigrants as they cross the border.” The article, went on further to quote Mr. James as saying, “He said he would be "happy to sit there with my high-powered rifle and my night scope" and kill people as they cross the border. He also suggested that the National Guard shoot illegal immigrants and receive "$100 a head.” Though the idea is a radical one, many Americans share these sentiments, especially those living in the states that border Mexico. Illegal immigration is just another problem to be added to the long list of issues affecting the American economy that the newly elected President, Barrack Obama, will have to address during his time in office. I am not going to debate neither the pros nor the cons of illegal immigration.
For several years, successive US presidents have avoided tackling the monster that illegal immigration has become because of its delicate value to the US economy. The hard fact is that, the demand for illegal immigrant workers will continue until Americans decide to fill the jobs of illegal immigrants. Illegal immigrants workers are intricately woven into the American economy and a wholesale deportation could bring our economy to a sputtering standstill. Without these illegal immigrants, the prices of our foods, goods and services will soar and lose their competitive edges; the prices of our homes will increase. It would behoove the president-elect to address this problem within his term in office as it has gone unchecked for too long. America cannot afford a widespread civil unrest of its 11.3 million illegal immigrant population, whilst, at the same time, it cannot allow its citizens, like Brian James, to start taking the law into their own hands and become vigilantes.
Work Cited
Barbassa, Juliana. “Farmers fear impact of illegal immigrant crackdown.”http://nctimes.com/Wednesday, August 15, 2007 8:18 PM PDThttp://nctimes.com/articles/2007/08/16/news/state/15_11_108_15_07.txt
Bosworth, Martin H. “The Earnings Suspense File: Social Security's "Secret Stash"
"Money from Nowhere" Fattens Government Accounts.”http://www.consumeraffairs.com/ February 22, 2006
http://www.consumeraffairs.com/news04/2006/02/ss_secret_stash.html
Fischer, Howard. Capitol Media Services “Illegal immigrants filling construction jobs.” http://www.eastvalleytribune.com/ March 8, 2007 - 4:40AM http://www.eastvalleytribune.com/story/85429
Hanley, Rachael. “Illegal aliens hard at work on north farms.” http://www.watertowndailytimes.com/ October 12, 2008 http://www.watertowndailytimes.com/article/20081012/NEWS03/310129984/Illegal+aliens+hard+at+work+on+north+farms
“Los Angeles May Day mêlée” http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Los_Angeles_May_Day_Mêlée
“Louisiana Loses Population; Arizona Edges Nevada as Fastest-Growing State.” http://www.census.gov/ RELEASED: 12:01 A.M. EST, DECEMBER 22, 2006 (FRIDAY)
http://www.census.gov/Press-Release/www/releases/archives/population/007910.html
“Radio host's call to kill border crossers dangerous.” APUpdated: April 10, 2006 07:44 AM EDThttp://www.kvoa.com/Global/story.asp?S=4744652
Sanchez, Raul Ramos. America Libre (Author’s website)http://www.raulramos.com/
Immigrants in the United States, 2007A Profile of America’s Foreign-Born Population
Paul Marin -19 is one thing, 20 is a whole other matter. It gets even worse if they win the UCL. *groan*. 
05/18/2011.MU fans naah cough, but all a unuh a vomit?-Lazie 1/11/2015
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