The Pros and Cons of Immigration

Introduction 

The issue of immigration has been a nagging issue of public interest as far as America's national security matters are concerned for decades now. And it is not just about the country's security that is at stake here. There is also the issue of poverty and employment in which it is alleged that the increasing number of immigrants reported in the country yearly contributes significantly to the country's poor and unemployed population. And for a state that sits proudly at the peak of global prosperity and development, having a slight difference in the population makeup that reflects poverty and unemployment can be acquitted to a blemish on an otherwise flawless lamb. What this explains the relentless efforts by the Trump administration to get rid of the issue of immigration in the United States of America. These efforts did not start yesterday, or the day before, but rather is a result of decades of progress by former heads of states and governments to contain the national epidemic beyond a certain limit. No wonder there have previously been such programs as the ones rolled out by the former president Barrack Obama to issue American citizenship to a particular criterion of immigrants in the country. The Current President Donald Trump is widely known for his bold moves and programs, audacious even, that include the erection of the infamous Mexican wall to ensure no Mexican immigrants enter the American territory illegally. However, immigrants may not be as bad or draining to the American economy as many Americans would be made to believe. This group contributes significantly to the development of the country's economy, as will be discussed in details later on. This includes the fact that they willingly take the jobs typical Americans would consider low paying and exploitive in nature, not to forget the taxes they pay. Immigrants contribute both positively and negatively on equal measures to America's economy. 

The Pros of Immigration 

Diversification 

The society for whatever reason is not always open to accept the fact that immigrants in America play a significant role in diversifying businesses in the country and how financial operations are run. Contrary to popular notion, not all immigrants are uneducated or have no knowledge of production. Some of these immigrants are seasoned when it comes to such matters as entrepreneurship or overall economic output. When they come into America with this diverse expertise that initially the local producers or manufactures did not know, it leads to diversified production. For instance, they bring an outsider's perspective on matters such as ethical responsibility or the insights from an outside market by pointing out some of the market gaps a company should take advantage of. The company that taps into this source of knowledge has a competitive advantage over other producers. Similarly, these immigrants are capable of starting their own businesses in the country, leading to market diversification. It is correct to point out that mostly when outsiders open companies in America; they do so with their home outlook and approach, thereby breaking the monotony of local production (Papademetriou, Meissner, Rosenblum & Sumption, 2009) . This means to a great extent the output of goods and services that typically would be found in the market quickly. An example of this production diversification on entrepreneurship would include weaving or arts that reflect the tradition and the way of life of their indigenous societies in the ordinary circumstances. Americans would not be exposed to this kind of art unless they traveled out of the country for vacation or something like that and brought back these pieces of arts as souvenirs from whatever country they went to. But with immigrants promoting such art in the country, it leads to the diversification of America's art industry. 

Increasing the Population Base 

Statistics has it that in America currently, about 80,000 individuals become naturalized American citizens. Of course, there is a due process of achieving this, which mainly lies in these individuals becoming legalized immigrants. It is a common knowledge that the prosperity of a country to a great extent is measured by its Gross Domestic Product (GDP). Economists point out that one of the factors that reflects a country's GDP to the positive side is population. The higher the population compared to the country's expenditure, the more vibrant the economy of the country. In other words, or America to be considered an economically vibrant state, it has to show its sustainability of the high population. It needs the numbers to prove a point. By naturalizing about 80,000 immigrants into the country annually, the state can boo its population up by the same number yearly to reflect on its ability to sustain its citizens. In other words, immigrants in America serve to reflect the country's economic vibrancy. Additionally, the presence of immigrants in the country is essential for cultural exchange. A vibrant society is one that can incorporate different cultural standings into its way of life. A monotonous kind of a community is considered way back and unable to interact freely with the rest of the world on the global font since it has no basic knowledge of handling different cultures and cultural perspectives. To a great extent, it even hinders the society's economic interactions with other players from other parts of the world since they have no faith in the society's ability to handle the cultural differences to reflect on harmony and understanding. However, immigrants play a significant role in building on America's ability to integrate cultural differences into its way of life, thereby creating confidence on the part of outside investors. 

Creation of a Global Market 

Immigrants not only play a significant role in creating stronger local economies. They additionally contribute to the creation of a stronger global economy. This is phatically the case with remittances which are quite common in countries that invite immigrants. For instance, more than 40% of Guatemala's GDP comes through payments provided by the immigrants who have made their way to the United States (Peri, & Sparber, 2007) . One might question how the host country, the United States, in this case, stands to benefit from such an arrangement. America would stand to benefit from this through increased levels of economic partnerships and interactions with the country the immigrants are from, mainly as a show of good faith and appreciation for the role the host country plays in promoting the mother country's economy. Simply put, such a state as Guatemala would feel indebted to America, not only for hosting some of its population but for also playing a part in promoting its GDP. In return, Guatemala would seek to form stronger diplomatic ties with America, increase their partnerships in businesses and other matters of diplomacy. In the end, it becomes easier for America to boost its production of goods and services targeting Guatemala has one of its most robust and reliable markets. Increased economic interactions with Guatemala, in this case, would play a significant role in promoting America's economy through the production sector since it can bank on Guatemala has a global market. Not only is Guatemala able to benefit from remittances by its citizens in America, but America is also able to profit on the other hand from increased business interactions which would go a long way in reflecting on its GDP as well. 

Fairer Level of Population Distribution 

In understanding the benefits of immigration extensively, it equally important to approach the subject from the point of view of the immigrants themselves, and what they seek or stand to benefit. It is quite correct to point out that individuals mostly come from overpopulated and impoverished backgrounds to secure better opportunities for themselves. In as much as immigration is associated chiefly with political instability and insecurities, in most cases, immigrants come into The United States to pursue the American Dream. This is mainly because the idea of the American dream is not currently present in all countries of the world. In fact, it is important to point out that out of the more than 200 nations of the world; only 33 of them are considered to be developed. This, therefore, leads to the issue of underdevelopment and imbalance in these countries. While some nations may be more than able to support its population, some nations greatly struggle to sustain even half of its people; this reflects an uneven distribution of people across the globe. But by allowing people from underdeveloped nations to move and create opportunities for themselves in other countries that would typically not have been available to them, immigration promotes the fairer distribution of population across the world. States struggling to sustain their population are saved the extra burden by the fact that a portion of their community can get support from more established and able countries. It is also essential to observe that these citizens who move out in search of greener pastures become better placed to not only fend for themselves, but they are also able to support their families and friend back in their homes, thereby playing a significant role in helping their nations sustain the domestic population. 

Encouraging Entrepreneurism 

As was earlier mentioned, contrary to the popular notion of immigrants become delinquents and uneducated, most immigrants are actually educated, extensively trained, and are very inventive when establishing new business ideas, branding themselves as natural entrepreneurs. In a country where the growing numbers of citizens attaining the working-age seem to be rushing and scrambling for the scarce employment opportunities, these immigrants play a role in creating jobs for the said population. An immigrant can also be supposed to be highly productive in their endeavors, making it possible to create new employment opportunities, drive innovations, or even make existing businesses more flexible by bringing in an outsider's perspective. A public notion would hold that immigrants in America are a threat to Americans since they scramble for the scarce employment opportunities, making it even more difficult for Americans to access decent jobs for themselves. But the reality in this matter is that not only do these immigrants seek to become self-employed, leaving the scarce employment opportunities for the America people but by creating their own jobs, they play a big part in providing solutions to the ever-pressing issue of lack of employment (Odmalm, 2012). This is because they generate more employment slots that absorb a more significant percentage of the educated, or uneducated and unemployed Americans who have attained the working age. Not to forget, the presence of the immigrants makes it easier to establish worker specialization, which in the long run makes it easier for all businesses to invest more into their employers. As can be expected, the growing number of Americans citizens, coupled by the increasing number of immigrants in the country seeking employment opportunities would force businesses to become more creative in finding ways to increase of slots to cater for the growing numbers of job seekers. Immigrants play a role in pushing companies to become innovative in expanding their operations. 

Encouraging Economic Recovery. 

It is correct to point out that immigrants are more likely to move to remote locations to pursue job opportunities that initially the native citizens would consider tiresome, demanding and low paying. Indeed, immigrants have been associated with working in mines and other odd jobs that are low paying but highly demanding. This means that places or sectors of economic development that have been struggling, economically, are now able to experience a recovery with higher speed as the immigrants take to work. In other words, not only do immigrants contribute to the economic vibrancy of America, but they more particularly do so by encouraging the economic recovery and vitality of sectors that had been neglected. They take odd jobs as cleaners, miners, low calls restaurant attendees, and such like jobs that are stereotypically designated for the uneducated and poor people in the country. What the society does not realize is that these areas too play a significant role in contributing to the GDP and economic vibrancy of America. In as much as these jobs may be "degrading" or "dehumanizing" the immigrants can make them more productive towards the country's sustainability. It is sad however to observe how the immigrants are treated in an ill manner, discriminated against at the workplace, taken advantage of, exploited, but they still obediently persevere these harsh working conditions to contribute like any other responsible citizen to America's wellbeing. In fact, these immigrants can be said to be working twice as hard for twice as little of wages as the typical American to contribute to the country's GDP, yet they are still discriminated against and exploited. 

The Cons of Immigration 

Over-Population 

Nothing comes without its fair share of challenges and dark sides, and immigration is no different. Being the wealthiest nation on earth, America tends to be the most popular destination for migration. This is because of the stereotypical belief that it holds greener opportunities for any individual as far as their financial securities are concerned. This means that there are over-population issues in the country. It does not defeat logic to argue that while America may be financially or economically able to support any number of individuals within its borders, the geographical and physical ability to hold together these numbers within the country does not stretch in any way whatsoever to accommodate the growing numbers. This means that sooner or later America may be faced with the issue of being unable to accommodate the masses geographically. At the same time, in the developing world immigration could have the opposite impact by creating a situation of under-population. This is because more and more citizens from the developing nation would opt to migrate to America, leaving their countries deserted. When population levels become imbalanced in this manner, it leads to the creation of resource access issues at the regions where a high level of immigration take place. This could lead to an economic shift in which case resources start becoming scarce in the host country while they become abundant in the mother countries since there would be fewer people to utilize the resources (Chang, 2008). This means that unless a balance is struck for the two countries in which case a middle ground s attained for using funds from both countries in such a manner that allows both countries to retain and regulate the number of individuals that can comfortably be accommodated by both countries, imbalance is bound to be observed at any given point. 

Disease Transmission 

It is not a rare occurrence that diseases are transferred to new regions because of the process of immigration. There are certain diseases, such as the devastation of smallpox on the local tribal population of North America that could quickly be spread across borders with immigrants. This could even be made worse by the fact that the local community may not be regularly exposed to these types of diseases and conditions, therefore forcing the local authority to spend too many resources to provide a cure and to contain the situation. Not only does the local community have to deal with the growing numbers of immigrants to be accommodated, prompting such issues as overpopulation and job employment scarcity, but it also has to additionally address the issue of disease transmission by spending resources they had not budgeted to contain the situation. To limit such possibilities, there are measures such as screening at the border checkpoints before one is allowed into America. However, the screening processes also serve as an added expense to the country that is forced to purchase the equipment, as well as train and hire personnel for these programs at the border checkpoints. And even after all these efforts are put in place, there is never the sure guarantee that the situation would entirely under control. This is because there is always the possibility of having some diseases slip through the system, especially when patients with these diseases are in their early stages of ailment. By the time they get to the full-blown stage, it would be too late as they would have already been in the country, and in worst case scenarios, they would have already spread whatever virus they have o the healthy population, forcing the local authorities back to square one of finding quick remedies. The screening in this case, therefore, would have all have been for nothing. 

Wage Disparities 

At an earlier point in the paper, it mentioned that immigrants from the developing world are always more than ready to take up jobs that are despised by the natives as being demanding and low paying. When immigrants willingly work under these harsh conditions, taking up low paying jobs than the locals would work for; it creates a wage disparity in the local population which then affects growth rate. It is only natural that any business person or producer would like to limit their expenditure as much as they can by hiring cheap labor to maximize on profitability. When immigrants who are more than willing to work for lower than average wages are readily available, business persons would automatically shun from generating such jobs that would demand the services of the local natives that in this case would be considered too high. In other words, by capitalizing on the cheap labor, most businesses would only create and engage in such activities that would maximize on the cheap labor (Martinez & Valenzuela, 2006) . This being said, the growth rate is affected in the sense that very few high-quality productions would be put in place in such a locality. This explains why in most locations where there is the availability of cheap labor, the kinds of business activities put up tend to be of low quality, such as mining and operating low-class hotels, bars, and resorts to hiring the services of the immigrants. In such a location there are rarely exotic resorts or establishments. Such an area becomes underdeveloped compared to regions that maximize high-quality production and labor. 

Stressors on Educational and Health Resources 

America prides itself in being a caring and helpful nation that is always ready to assist in times of need and crisis. This explains why there are policies put in place at the local state levels to ensure the communities make the initial investment to help immigrant families establish themselves within the community before they are able to secure some jobs and create a new life for themselves besides contributing to the local economies. At the initial stages, these contributions include education needs for the immigrant children and healthcare services. It goes without question that these programs are continuous, in which case, just like taxes, the locals are made to contribute towards the funding of the program periodically. In other words, the costs of helping immigrant family ease into the new society are as high as other taxes that the members of the community are expected to pay to the local, state, or federal governments for whatever needs are in place. This, therefore, reflects an additional expense on the part of the community members. On the other hand, there is never the guarantee that once an immigrant family is helped to ease into this new way of life, they would stay around for a long time to get on their feet and be in a position to refund the help they were given. This, therefore, means that there are possibilities and chances that the investments being made on their behalf may never earn the community dividends. This is particularly the case with immigrants who keep on moving from one state or community to the other searching for better opportunities. The society is not in any way whatsoever able to retain such an immigrant family that want to leave against their will, seeing as it is that there are no forms of agreements or contracts signed by the immigrant families stipulating their responsibility to paying back the investments that were made on their behalf. Additionally, there is no stipulated minimum amount of duration they are supposed to stay in the community before they can be allowed to leave. These unyielded dividends would then be written off as bad debts. 

Reduced Chances of a Developing Nation 

It is common knowledge that when an individual or a community decides to get a shortcut out of its problem by running away, it does not really help in finding solutions. This is the same case with immigrants from developing nation who opt to go elsewhere looking for greener pastures from developed countries. This is because in most cases such challenges as unemployment are supposed to push society to think critically into the avenues of perhaps becoming self-employed and in so doing creating jobs for other citizens of the country, thereby creating room for economic advancements. However, when the citizens opt to go looking for employment in other countries, they do not help in formulating solutions to the issue of unemployment in their countries. After all is said and done, the question still lies in the state unresolved, and the future generations would again be faced by the same problem, and would most probably follow in the footstep of the ages that were there before them by going away as immigrants (Alba & Nee, 2009). This, therefore, means that in years to come, the developing nations would not have advanced in any way in providing solutions to unemployment, and their GDP would still be in the same spot it had been decades earlier they would still be regarded as developing nations. It is essential to use the skills, talents, and insights the citizen of a developing country has to help it become stronger and to revive its economy. 

Integration Difficulties 

This article had argued earlier on that cultural integration is critical in creating diversity. However, not all cultures or peoples are open to diversity or readily embrace it. This is mainly because cultural diversity reflects differences in cultural outlook and perspectives, and one culture may feel its values being questioned by the other culture that seeks to integrate its ideologies into the former civilization. This means that bringing in these new perspectives into an already established community in most cases causes friction. The human nature is such that it is so fearful to what they do not know, and do not readily embrace it. This is the same situation with accepting immigrants into a community. There is the fundamental cultural fear associated with immigrants when they first move to a community. This leads to higher levels of security monitoring, and negative personal interaction between community members and immigrants. In sporadic cases, there are more false police reports against immigrants being filed in an effort to prevent trouble from happening. This could reflect severed diplomatic ties on the global font between the host countries, America in this case, with the country whose immigrant find it hard settling into American communities. On the other dimension, this strained relationship between local and immigrant’s places stress on local social services related to employment. The workforce may find it hard to hire individuals whose culture may seem to conflict with the organizational culture and goals of the company. For instance, a company may find it hard to retain personnel whose lifestyle would place requests for special treatments that are not initially provided for by the organization. This could include the hiring of Muslims whose religious culture would require them to attend religious functions on a Friday while the organizational culture may be one that only recognizes one or either day of the weekend (Saturday or Sunday) as the regular off day for worship. In this case, the company may opt not to hire such an individual to avert future chances of conflicts, while the candidate may view this as a discriminatory act against them based on their culture. 

Conclusion 

In conclusion, it is essential to point out that not all immigrants are a product of political instabilities, or in any way present a security threat to America, some of these are educated elite looking for better employment opportunities to be able to support themselves and their families back home. Not to forget, some of them may also be students in pursuit of better education program and facilities to increase their chances of better academic qualifications in preparation for employment. As such, it is essential that as a country, America learns to be more tolerant and accommodative of these people, since at the end of the day the pay taxes just like any other American citizen, thereby contributing to the country's development. However, it is also essential that the cases of immigration are regulated. There should be measures to monitor the numbers of immigrants entering the country at any particular point in time. This is because not all of them come into America with good intention. Some may be terrorists out to devastate the American population, and should not be allowed into the country. On the other hand, there is the issue of sustainability. America should not be forced into taking a more significant number that it may not be able to support as far as geographical space and other resources are concerned. It is essential therefore that America in partnership with the countries whose immigrants seek refuge in America find alternatives of supporting this population in such a manner that does not inconvenience the American social and economic setup. 

References 

Alba, R., & Nee, V. (2009). Remaking the American mainstream: Assimilation and contemporary immigration . Harvard University Press. 

Chang, H. F. (2008). The Disadvantages of Immigration Restriction as a Policy to Improve Income Distribution. SMUL Rev. , 61 , 23. 

Martinez Jr, R., & Valenzuela Jr, A. (Eds.). (2006). Immigration and crime: Ethnicity, race, and violence . NYU Press. 

Odmalm, P. (2012). Party competition and positions on immigration: Strategic advantages and spatial locations. Comparative European Politics , 10 (1), 1-22. 

Papademetriou, D. G., Meissner, D., Rosenblum, M. R., & Sumption, M. (2009). Harnessing the Advantages of Immigration for a 21st-Century Economy: A Standing Commission on Labor Markets, Economic Competitiveness, and Immigration . Migration Policy Institute. 

Peri, G., & Sparber, C. (2007). Task specialization, comparative advantages, and the effects of immigration on wages (No. w13389). National Bureau of Economic Research.