Illegal Immigration Effect on the USA’s Economy, and Potential Future Changes

Illegal Immigration Effect on the USA’s Economy, and Potential Future Changes

By Tommy Manbeck.

In the united states, we have a high level of illegal immigration which is utilized as cheap labor, sometimes as low as under $2 an hour. After years of little to no change in policy, in the coming months, our new leader Donald Trump plans to change the way United States immigration functions all together. Although widely disputed how this issue should be dealt with, It would be far more efficient for the united states to require all immigrants to enter the country legally.

It is clear that immigrants create an economic surplus that benefits the native people by receiving a lower wage. (see Graph below), but should come into the country legally. By entering legally, the immigrants will have to pay a 12% income tax according to the Trump tax policy, as long as they earn under $75000 as a family. However, will then be able to successfully integrate into the american population seamlessly, both protecting current legal immigrant workers ability to succeed in America, as well as a better the quality of life when coming to the country.

The number of illegal immigrants In theory, will decrease in the near future with the coming construction of a wall along the border of the USA and Mexico. According to Trump, the wall will be fully funded by Mexico via utilizing the leverage we have. These leverage points include a sum of 24 billion crossing the border annually from alien wire transfers, and if mexico doesn't cooperate fronting 10 billion could be easily extinguished. If Mexico still will not pay, the USA can instead increase the cost of a US VISA, or border cards which over 1 million are issued each year.

According to Alan Gomez, “While they represent just 3.5% of the U.S. population, undocumented immigrants represented 7% of federal prison sentences following convictions on charges of sexual abuse, 9% of murders, 12% of assaults and 30% of kidnappings in 2013”.  These numbers not only represent a major issue with the safety of americans, but the cost to taxpayers is over 30 grand per year, per inmate. The fact each inmate is so expensive in a U.S. prison is the opportunity cost of having such things as cheap agriculture, hotels and other various manual labors.

Looking at the information of how the U.S.A.’s economy is affected by illegal aliens, it cannot be determined whether they are a positive or negative influence. However a clear line can be drawn illegal immigration is bad for legal immigrants, as well as national sovereignty. In the coming years there will likely be a large scale reform on the immigration process with the election of Mr. Trump, which will redefine the United States economy for years to come, lowering wage discrimination and decreasing illegal immigration.

Works Cited

Davidson, Adam. Do Illegal Immigrants Actually Hurt the U.S. Economy?. New York Times, 12 Feb. 2016, http://www.nytimes.com/2013/02/17/magazine/do-illegal-immigrants-actually-hurt-the-us-economy.html.

Trump, Donald. Pay For the Wall. donaldjtrump.com, https://assets.donaldjtrump.com/Pay_for_the_Wall.pdf.

Trump, Donald. Tax Plan. donaldjtrump.com, https://www.donaldjtrump.com/policies/tax-plan/.

Zaretsky, Adam. A Burden to America? Immigration and the Economy. 1997, Stlouisfed.org, https://www.stlouisfed.org/publications/regional-economist/october-1997/a-burden-to-america-immigration-and-the-economy.

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