Illegal Immigration in the United States

Background

Illegal immigration refers to the process of moving across the borders of another country in a way that violates the country’s immigration laws, such as failure to provide the required immigration documents among others, while intending to remain in the foreign country. The United States is one of the countries in the world that faces a significantly high problem of illegal immigrants. Between 2005 and 2009, the number of illegal immigrants in the U.S. declined from an annual average of 850,000 to approximately 300,000 ( Wharton PPI, 2018) . As of 2015, the number of illegal immigrants in the region was estimated at 11 million people, which represents approximately 3.4% of the total U.S. population. The more massive proportions of unlawful immigrants who gain entry into the U.S. are Mexicans, comprising of about 90% of the total illegal immigrants ( Wharton PPI, 2018) . The significant factors that influence unlawful immigration into the U.S. include family reunification, famine, freedom from violence, protection from political oppression, accessing a higher degree of freedom, and the search for better employment opportunities.

The issue of illegal immigrants has become a significant area of debate in the U.S. in recent years since illegal immigrants are associated with causing tremendous social and economic problems in the region. For instance, they are associated with committing higher rates of crime, ranging from illegal drug trafficking to human trafficking among others. Moreover, illegal immigrants are argued to put higher pressure on America's already unstable economy since they use the country's resources, yet they do not pay taxes given that they are not documented citizens ( Appelbaum, 2014) . Hence, they hurt the economy by receiving such services as free public education yet only the legal citizens pay the taxes that support the children’s education. Moreover, illegal immigrants offer cheap labor to American employers; as a result, hardworking Americans are denied their much-needed employment opportunities, an element that further hurts the U.S. economy.

These factors have contributed to policymakers and other relevant parties in the U.S. are indulging in debates to determine the way forward for the illegal immigrants. Some of the critical considerations for dealing with the illegal immigrants include implementing more efficient mechanisms to shield the country against the immigrants in future, legalizing the immigrants so that they can also contribute to the economy by paying taxes and deporting the illegal immigrants. Based on the available literature pertaining to the adverse effects that illegal immigrants present to the U.S. economy and society, it is clear that it is vital to address the problem of the immigrants to prevent the economy from suffering. Hence, this study will focus on the effects of illegal immigrants on the U.S. economy and society, with the aim of providing viable solutions to the problem of illegal immigration. 

Study Objectives

The following objectives will guide the study:

To determine whether illegal immigration in the U.S. contributes to increased rates of crime

To examine whether illegal immigration leads to loss of job opportunities for the U.S. citizens

To measure the cost of maintaining illegal immigrants in the U.S. 

Definition of Variables

The key variables that will be used and measured in the study include illegal immigration and the socio-economic effects of illegal immigration in the U.S. The problems are categorized into the perceived criminal threats, the overall cost of maintaining illegal immigrants, and the threat of loss of employment. The study utilizes a constructionist point of view; hence, it considers the concept of illegal immigration in the U.S. as a socio-economic problem. The constructionist approach involves bringing to light social issues that are deemed harmful to the economy or society in a bid to explain the causes and consequences of such problems. Understanding illegal immigration as a social problem in the U.S will involve investigating such crucial aspects of the social problem process, including policy-making, public reaction, and claims-making by the media, activists. 

In the context of this study, illegal immigration is defined as the entrance into a foreign country illegally, a factor that negatively affects a country’s safety and economy. As a social-economic problem, the study considers the effects of illegal immigration on the U.S. society and economy, including increased crime rates, increased unemployment, and the high cost of hosting illegal immigrants given that they do not pay taxes. The study also addresses the measures that have already been implemented to fix the illegal immigration problem as well as what needs to be done to resolve the issue adequately. From the social perspective, the concept of illegal immigration is analyzed on the basis of what the media covers with regard to the illegal immigrants, why illegal immigration is perceived as a problem, who considers unlawful immigration to be a problem, the effects of illegal immigration on the country, and the measures that have been taken to address the issue.

Literature Review

Illegal immigration is extensive in the U.S. with approximately more than 10,000 undocumented immigrants living in the country. The illegal immigration is primarily associated with the average annual growth of the U.S. population by 700,000 people ( Wharton PPI, 2018) . The high presence of illegal immigrants demonstrates the high occurrence of illegal immigrants reflects the attractiveness of America’s economy to the rest of the world, while at the same time illustrating the vast extent of the country's insecurity and openness of her borders. Typically, illegal immigrants move to America primarily to find jobs, and in turn, add value to the economy of America. However, the immigrants take away the country’s value by weakening the national security and legal environment. According to Valentino, Brader, and Jardina (2013), illegal immigrants pose a significant security threat to the American people. Majorly, the security threat that the illegal immigrants pose is not direct; however, their presence distracts resources, distorts the law, and create an ideal cover for criminals and terrorist. In this context, Valentino, Brader, and Jardina (2013) argue that the most significant problem with illegal immigrants is security rather than threatening the economy. From this perspective, efforts to minimize the economic influx of immigrants worsens America’s security dilemma to a great extent since it drives most migrant workers underground and encourages the illegality culture. 

Although the most significant challenge that illegal immigrants pose to the American society is insecurity, they also present substantial adverse effects on the economy. Illegal immigrants are undocumented citizens in the U.S., which indicates that they are not obligated to pay any taxes that Americans are expected to pay. Only the documented citizens pay the taxes that are used to manage the activities of the economy, including healthcare, education, as well as the construction of vital infrastructure. The heavy burdens that documented citizens are therefore used to cater to both their needs and those of the illegal immigrants. According to Ewing, Martinez, and Rumbaut (2015), the actual cost of illegal immigrants remains unknown; however, the immigrants are estimated to cost the U.S. taxpayers approximately $100 billion annually since they do not contribute income taxes.

In addition to living in the U.S. tax-free, the immigrants also benefit massively from free healthcare and education. While U.S. citizens spend vast amounts of money in paying for health insurance, illegal immigrants are free to access extensive treatment without incurring any cost. The cost of treating illegal immigrants costs the U.S. taxpayers millions each year ( Ewing, Martinez & Rumbaut, 2015) . This is attributed to the fact that the immigrants do not have family doctors, and whenever they access the emergency rooms, doctors cannot turn them away. Since the immigrants cannot afford to pay for the services, the taxpayer is left to cater for the treatment expenses. 

Apart from benefitting from free healthcare services, illegal immigrants ate benefit from the free education provided to their children. The illegal immigrants take advantage of the free education offered in the public schools in the U.S. According to Wharton PPI (2018) approximately 47% of the illegal immigrants’ households comprise of parents with children, where the proportion is more significant than double of the U.S. born households, which consists of 21% of parents who have children. The U.S. citizens are required to pay for the children who attend public schools through the payment of taxes. Although the illegal immigrant parents are expected to bear part of the education costs, the current system does not allow them to cater for the cost since their status does not let them pay for any taxes. Wharton PPI (2018) estimates the cost of education that is passed to the U.S. taxpayers courtesy of the illegal immigrants at $52 billion annually. The documented citizens also incur additional costs to construct special facilities for illegal immigrant kids who have special learning needs. Such facilities include classes for English as the Second Language (ESL) learners, in addition to the cost of hiring the individual teachers. Although it is appropriate to allow the immigrant children into the U.S. schools, Hipsman and Meissner (2013) argue that it is unfair to place the entire burden of financing their education on the U.S. citizens; hence, implementing systems and policies that ensure that the immigrants pay part of the education expenses is crucial. 

Moreover, while Americans complain about the inequality in the payment of taxes between the documented citizens and the illegal immigrants, they are still concerned about the threat that the immigrants pose to their job security. American workers are always worried about losing their jobs, yet the level of unemployment in the country is nearing double digits. Despite the growing unemployment levels, approximately 8million illegal immigrants presently have jobs in the U.S ( National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine, & Committee on Population, 2016) . These factors illustrate that the elimination of illegal immigrants from the country could create 8million additional job opportunities for the American people, and significantly lower the unemployment levels. Often, some parties argue that illegal immigrants take up jobs that Americans are not interested in, such as domestic work among other informal jobs. However, Stewart et al. (2018) maintain that the argument is false since out of the 465 available civilian occupations, only four of them are taken up by majority immigrants. However, the four occupations consist of less than 1% of America’s total workforce, where the native-born Americans are approximately 47% in the occupations ( Muste, 2013) .

Stewart et al. (2018) postulate although that it is true that illegal immigrants equally compete for jobs with Americans, and that they are more readily hired compare to the U.S. citizens. Hipsman and Meissner (2013) note that although Americans can comfortably do the jobs that the illegal immigrants are commonly hired to do, the illegal immigrants agree to work for less, which explains why they are easily hired. Most organizations are in pursuit of lowering their operating costs to maximize profits; hence, they are in high demand for cheaper labor, which the illegal immigrants readily provide. The illegal immigrants are also willing to work under poor conditions and without health benefits, a factor that makes hiring them more attractive to employers. These factors make it nearly impossible for Americans to compete with illegal immigrants for employment opportunities, especially the jobs that do not require high academic qualifications. In this context, Muste (2013) argues that in order to address the unfair advantage that illegal immigrants possess in employment, it is essential to get rid of the immigrants and ensure that they enter the country legally so as to level the playing field, since they would be required to satisfy all the obligations of the U.S. citizens, including the payment of taxes.

Although the majority of Americans perceive illegal immigrants as a threat to American society and economy, Stewart et al. (2018) argue that immigrants are beneficial to the economy. The illegal immigrants benefit the American economy by not merely filling jobs, but also creating jobs by purchasing homes, groceries, cars, as well as services. However, having the immigrants in America presents more harm than good. For instance, if the illegal immigrants did not exist, Americans could be having their jobs, indicating that the number of unemployed people would be low and Americans would be responsible for contributing directly to the economy. On the other hand, supporters of the illegal immigrants maintain that eliminating the immigrants would reduce competition for employment, which would create an environment where nobody would be interested in improving themselves by advancing their knowledge, skills, and experience ( National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine, &Committee on Population, 2016) . However, the competition between the illegal immigrants and the Americans is not an accurate or fair competition since the immigrants are ready to work for less, without benefits, and under harsh conditions, unlike the Americans.

Muste (2013) disagrees with the view that illegal immigrants positively impact the American society, and maintains that although they may help in creating jobs by providing the market for such commodities like cars and groceries, they do not pay taxes yet they access free education and healthcare services. Moreover, Ewing, Martinez, and Rumbaut (2015) argue that the illegal immigrants cannot be said to benefit the American economy with their skills and expertise since the majority acquired their skills and knowledge from America’s education system, which they did not pay to acquire. These factors, therefore, illustrate that illegal immigrants do not have any positive effect on the U.S. economy; hence, the growing need to eliminate them from society.In addition to the economic costs that illegal immigrants present to the U.S. economy, Ewing, Martinez, and Rumbaut (2015) postulate that the rate at which immigrants commit crimes is higher than that of the legal U.S. citizens. Illegal immigrants are associated with such crimes as human trafficking, drug trafficking, as well as robbery with violence. The high incidences of crime among illegal immigrants particularly demonstrate the need to secure the American borders and employ more efficient and effective measures to address the problem of illegal immigrants.

Research Design

A research design is a detailed plan or structure of research outlining how the study will be conducted. The research design includes such elements as how data is to be collected, the instruments that are employed, how the instruments are to be used, and the intended approach for data analysis. 

This study will use a descriptive research design. According to Erickson (2017), the descriptive research approach focuses on determining the frequency with which an item occurs or the relationship between variables. The descriptive studies investigate variables by answering the when, how, who, where, and what questions. Moreover, the descriptive approach describes the features of phenomena, therefore providing a clear account of how different variables relate with regard to attitudes, facts, and opinions. The design is appropriate since secondary data will be utilized in testing the relationship between CSR and profitability. A survey will be conducted through standardized questionnaires. Surveys are closely associated with deductive logic and are common approaches of collecting data from samples, which is then analyzed statistically.

Data Collection

The study will utilize both primary and secondary data. Primary data will be gathered through questionnaires while secondary data will be obtained from reports and publications by the government on illegal immigration as well as reports by other reliable organizations. Questionnaires will be the key instruments used in collecting the primary data for the study. Questionnaires are ideal for the study since they present practical ways for data gathering. Further, since the study is quantitative in nature, questionnaires are appropriate since they allow for the easy analysis of the data. Additionally, questionnaires help in organizing the data to be collected in a highly structured manner; hence, since the variables will have been identified, the manner in which data is to be coded will be predefined. Specifically structured questionnaires will be used to collect primary data. Structured questionnaires ask close and direct questions, and when properly structured, they help in accumulating large amounts of essential data that give insight into the minds of the study respondents.

The target population for the study includes documented U.S. citizens aged between 20 years and 35 years. The study targets 500 respondents. The study will apply the stratified random sampling method to select the sample population that will take part in the study. Stratified random sampling involves dividing the study population into groups also known as strata. The strata are formed on the basis of the shared characteristics or attributes of the members. The random samples are taken in proportion to the study population from each of the stratum. Questionnaires will be distributed to the respondents, and they will mainly aim at acquiring information on the threat of insecurity that illegal immigrants pose to the U.S. residents. 

Questionnaire

To what extent do you believe that the United States has implemented sufficient measures to prevent the entry of illegal immigrants into this country? Do not at all believe 1-2-3-4-5-6-7 Strongly believe 

Do you support the erection of a fence along the U.S. borders? Strongly Oppose 1-2-3-4-5-6-7 Strongly Favor 

Do you support or oppose the stationing of 6,000 National Guard troops along the U.S. - borders in a bid to stop illegal immigration? Strongly Oppose 1-2-3-4-5-6-7 Strongly Support

To what extent do you believe that illegal immigrants today are beneficial to the U.S. economy because of their hard work and job skills? Do not at all believe 1-2-3-4-5-6-7 Strongly believe 

To what extent do you believe immigrants today are a burden to the U.S. taxpayers because they use public services? Do not at all believe 1-2-3-4-5-6-7 Strongly believe

To what extent are you concerned about the fact that providing services like education and healthcare to immigrants costs taxpayers too much? Not at all concerned 1-2-3-4-5-6-7 Very concerned 

To what extent do you support or oppose allowing immigrants to attend public schools? Strongly Oppose 1-2-3-4-5-6-7 Strongly support

To what extent do you support or oppose the creation of a new government database of all individuals eligible to work, including American citizens and immigrants, and making it mandatory for all employers to check the database before they can hire an individual for any work?Strongly Oppose 1-2-3-4-5-6-7 Strongly support

To what extent do you support or oppose the move to establish mandatory prison sentences for persons who reenter the U.S. after their deportationStrongly Oppose 1-2-3-4-5-6-7 Strongly support 

To what degree do you think the U.S. government should make it a crime for U.S. citizens to assist persons that they are aware are illegal immigrantsStrongly Oppose 1-2-3-4-5-6-7 Strongly support.

Data Analysis Procedures

The quantitative data gathered from the study will be coded on SPSS version 21.0 software and analyzed using descriptive and inferential statistics. Descriptive statistics involves using standard deviations and measures of central tendencies, while inferential statistics uses regression analysis and multiple correlations. The gathered data will be presented in the form of tables and the correlation between illegal immigration and the effects on the American society and economy estimated. The study will interpret values between zero and I, where 0 will indicate no relationship between the variables, while one will indicate a perfect connection between the variables.

Hypothetical Outcome of the Analysis 

The data analysis is expected to demonstrate that illegal immigrants present more significant adverse effects on the American economy and society compared to the positive impact. The study demonstrates that illegal immigrants contribute to higher rates of crime in the U.S., which is an undesirable factor for the society. The majority of the illegal immigrants move into the U.S. in search for employment; however, in the event that they are unable to find job opportunities, they resort to such crimes as robberies and sale of illicit drugs among others to ensure their survival. Following the high number of illegal immigrants who are unable to find employment immediately they move into the U.S., they pose a significant threat to the country's society, which in turn increases the cost of security as well as threatening the country's progress since insecurity mainly affects businesses.

Moreover, illegal immigrants threaten America’s security, particularly in relation to the war against drugs. Drug dealers operate in form of cartels, whereby individuals in such regions as Mexico, which are popularly known as the critical sources of illegal drugs that are smuggled into the U.S., smuggle drugs into the U.S. and use the help of the illegal immigrants to distribute the drugs throughout the country. The illegal immigrants make it particularly challenging for America to win the war on drugs since they are undocumented, and the most appropriate way that the U.S. deals with them is through deportation. However, deportation has proven to be an ineffective approach since the illegal immigrants tend to reenter the country shortly after deportation. 

Further, the study indicates that illegal immigrants are extensively costly to the American taxpayers, since the government spends enormous resources by providing them with such services as education and healthcare, yet they do not pay taxes. According to the American policies, an undocumented person is not liable to pay taxes; therefore, illegal immigrants are not responsible of paying taxes despite working and earning an income from U.S. employers. However, the illegal immigrants’ failure to pay taxes exerts extreme pressure on the American economy since the immigrants heavily rely on such vital services as education and healthcare. According to Wharton PPI (2018), more illegal immigrants’ children access education from the public schools in the U.S., which offer free education, compared to the number of legal U.S. citizens’ children who pursue education in the same schools. In addition, the illegal immigrants have access to free healthcare services. The problem associated with the illegal immigrants accessing the free services is that since they do not contribute to the taxes that help in facilitating the provision of the services, U.S. citizens are forced to contribute more taxes to support services that do not benefit them. In this context, the study illustrates the need to implement policies that focus on ensuring that all individuals within the U.S. pay taxes. These policies should focus on ensuring that all workers within the country are documented so that they become eligible to pay taxes. This would include maintaining an efficient database where employers would confirm the status of all potential employees before hiring them, and ensuring that they contribute to the country’s budget through the payment of taxes.

Moreover, the analysis illustrates that contrary to the common belief that illegal immigrants are costly to the economy, they are beneficial to the U.S. economy since they contribute to the economy by offering their expertise and skills, as well as creating employment since they form viable markets for services, houses, as well as cars. However, the immigrants are undesirable to the American society since they present unfair competition in the employment market since they are willing to work for less and under unfavorable conditions, unlike the U.S. citizens. In the absence of the illegal immigrants, the level of unemployment in the country would be significantly low. Therefore, these findings demonstrate the need for the implementation of stricter immigration policies as well as the management of illegal immigration to promote fairness in American society as well as increase opportunities for the American people. 

References

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Erickson, G. (2017).  New methods of market research and analysis . Cheltenham, UK Northampton, MA: Edward Elgar Publishing.

Ewing, W. A., Martinez, D., & Rumbaut, R. G. (2015). The criminalization of immigration in the United States.

Hipsman, F., & Meissner, D. (2013). Immigration in the United States: New economic, social, political landscapes with legislative reform on the horizon.  Migration Policy Institute .

Muste, C. P. (2013). The dynamics of immigration opinion in the United States, 1992–2012.  Public Opinion Quarterly ,  77 (1), 398-416.

National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine, & Committee on Population. (2016).  The integration of immigrants into American society . National Academies Press.

Stewart, E. A., Johnson, B. D., Warren, P. Y., Rosario, J. L., & Hughes, C. (2018). The Social Context of Criminal Threat, Victim Race, and Punitive Black and Latino Sentiment.  Social Problems .

Valentino, N. A., Brader, T., & Jardina, A. E. (2013). Immigration opposition among US Whites: General ethnocentrism or media priming of attitudes about Latinos?.  Political Psychology ,  34 (2), 149-166.

Wharton PPI. (2018). The Effects of Immigration on the United States’ Economy. Retrieved from http://budgetmodel.wharton.upenn.edu/issues/2016/1/27/the-effects-of-immigration-on-the-united-states-economy