Running Header: EFFECTS OF ILLEGAL IMMIGRATION ON AMERICA 1

Effects of Illegal Immigration on America

Tyler See

American Public University System

Abstract

This paper attempts to review the correlation between illegal immigration and the effects that it

has on American through a variety of different areas. There was a variety of research and

analysis of many different sources. I have compiled all the number into one research essay. The

first paragraph explains how the economy is affected by illegal immigration especially through

the medical sector and the school systems. The second paragraph explains how the workforce

and the unemployment rate is affected by illegal immigration. The last paragraph explains how

everyday life is affected for the both the citizens of the United States and the illegal immigrants.

Final, the paper ends with recommendations on how the United States government can take steps

to rid the United States of illegal immigration.

Introduction

Illegal immigration is a hot topic in the United States. It has been that way for quite some

time. One side thinks it is bad and the other side thinks it is good. There are some many variables

and reasons as to why Americans might think that illegal immigration is a bad thing. This is

despite America was founded by “illegal immigrants “in the first place. Most of the people who

oppose illegal immigration in the United States are described as “old-stock Americans who have

all but forgotten their immigrant ancestors. They often live in small towns or in suburban areas,

and many have relatively little contact with immigrant families in their neighborhoods, churches,

and friendship networks” (Hirschman, 2007). The question at hand is, what are the negative

effects of illegal immigration and what can be done to fix it? To address the answer of this

question, one must go back and analyze what negative effects that illegal immigration has on the

United States. Illegal immigration effects the United States because it drains the economy, takes

jobs away from legal residents, and has an impact on society as a whole.
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Literature Review

Illegal immigration is an issue of law violation (Martin,2007). The population of illegal

immigrants has risen substantially since the 1970s. There is an estimated 11 million to 13 million

illegal immigrants currently in the United States (Martin,2007). With so many people currently

in the United States that go relatively unaccounted for, they cause a substantial effect on the

United States in a variety of areas. Perhaps the main points that are addressed by a variety of the

authors are the economy, the job market, and society in general. While there are other areas that

are impacted by illegal immigration, these are the areas the see the most impact on a daily basis.

The economy of the United States takes a severe impact on aliens within the country illegally. In

regions with large populations of less educated, low-income immigrants, native-born residents

bear significant net costs due to immigrants’ use of public services, especially education

(Penn.edu/2018). This number goes down in more rural regions of the country. The job market is

another area that is affected. While illegal immigration might not affect every job field, it still

poses a threat for the labor force. When the supply of workers goes up, the price that firms have

to pay to hire workers goes down (Borjas,2016). Illegal aliens also create a lack of jobs in fields

that do not require communication skills such as construction and landscaping. Finally, society

sees the impact that illegal aliens have on the United States. Hospitals are taking immigrants who

cannot afford the services and native born citizens. The debts are being sent to people who can

pay for their services or to their insurance providers. This in turn raises there premium

(Alexander,2017). The paper will study the data and numbers that is associated with the effects

of illegal immigration on the United States.

Methodology

While conducting my research on this paper, I wanted to address the bigger issues that

are affiliated with illegal immigration. When looking for articles, I wanted to be sure that articles

contributed something that were useful, and I also wanted to use some that are credible. I also

tried to keep all my articles in the 2000s. That way my numbers are not conflicting. I wanted to

make sure that I was getting articles that were full of information, so I was very specific when

searching on Google. Once the articles were collected, I analyzed each article to make sure that

the information that I wanted was present. I also would open multiple articles that were about the

same topic and cross refenced them so that there were not conflicting articles.
 EFFECTS OF ILLEGAL IMMIGRATION ON AMERICA 6

Illegal immigration is affecting the United States of America. It is draining local, state,

and federal economies, taking jobs away from native-born citizens, and affecting a everyday

society all together. This is the hot topic on Capitol Hill as politicians from both sides argue back

and forth as to whether or not illegal immigration is a good thing or a bad thing to this nation.

President Trump made it one of his promises during his campaign run to build a giant wall that

expands the entire span of the border between the United States and Mexico. He has continued to

follow that up with travel bans and by sending immigrants back to their home country regardless

of if they were legal or not. The Border Protection Agency works endlessly to omit these

“runners” from getting into the country without proper documentation, however, they are not

able to catch everyone. As of 2014, there were 11.1 million illegal immigrants in the United

States (Amedeo,2017). That is roughly 3.5 percent of our total population (Amedeo,2017). Each

and every year, there are about 700,000 to 850,000 people who enter the country illegally

(Amedeo, 2017). These numbers corelate with the used-up funds, the lack of jobs, and the

overall ramifications that the subject places on society. In order to get a better gauge at just how

illegal immigration is affecting the United States, I have analyzed a variety of sources on the

economy, job force, and overall society to truly understand what the United States and it’s

leaders are dealing with.

Illegal immigration affects the United States economy in a variety of ways. The net fiscal

cost of immigration ranges from $11 billion to $22 billion per year (CIS,2004).While it mostly

deals with money being spent to support illegal aliens and their families in a variety of ways, it

goes way more past that. The first way that they effect the economy is through the education

system. Illegal immigrants tend to pay less in taxes , but are still sending their children to public

schools that run on taxpayers dollars. On average, immigrants have much bigger families than
 EFFECTS OF ILLEGAL IMMIGRATION ON AMERICA 7

U.S. citizens. This puts a strain on the public school to supply the needs to the children. They are

paying nothing as far as registration fees and book fees to the schools. This poses a tax burden on

the native born citizens to pick up the slack that is left behind. Another way that they are taking a

hit on the economy is through the medical field. Illegal immigrants are applying for treatment or

for medicine even though they can not pay for it, and doctors are not turning them away. These

debts that are made by these immigrants who cannot pay for the treatment and are not eligible for

government aid are then sent to the insurance providers of paying patients. This is where it

affects the economy because the premiums could potentially rise to accommodate these debts.

Another way that illegal immigration affects the economy is by reducing the wages of certain job

fields. Illegal immigrants are not regulated by the government, so they are often underpaid. This,

in turn, sets a baseline for what an employer is willing to pay to a worker. This forces a citizen of

the country to take about the same amount that the illegal immigrant did or not have a job all

together. Finally, the cost of law enforcement needed affects the economy. The local, state, and

federal governments are forced to utilize money to combat illegal immigration and human

smuggling into the country at both the border and within a community (McDonald,2015). There

is also a cost for incarcerating illegal immigrants when they commit a crime. According to the

National Review, in 2014, taxpayers paid about 1.9 billion dollars towards the imprisonment of

illegal aliens in American prisons (McDonald,2015). These numbers will continue to rise as long

as immigrants continue to come into the United States illegally.

The second way that illegal immigration affects the United States is through the

workforce. This hot topic amongst communities across the United States. This is, perhaps, the

biggest reason why illegal immigration is unwelcome by people within the United States. Out of

11.2 million illegal immigrants within the United States, about 8 million of these people are in
 EFFECTS OF ILLEGAL IMMIGRATION ON AMERICA 8

the workforce (Fairus.org,2013). There are a variety of reasons that go into just exactly how the

workforce is affected by illegal immigration. First, illegal immigrants drive native born citizens

out of skilled trades. Most illegal immigrants come to this country and cannot speak any English.

This forces them to take jobs in the construction and agriculture fields where communication is

not required. This drives the native-born citizens who have a low skill set to be driven out of

these career paths and forced into areas such as sales and customer service where English is

required. The issue with that it that there are only so many of those jobs, and those type of jobs

are not meant for everyone. Some immigrants with degrees often gravitate to jobs with the

scientific and technical fields which impact the citizens who work within these fields. Another

way that illegal immigration hurts the workforce is through the unemployment rate. Many jobs

are being taken up by illegal immigrants. Citizens are finding it very hard to find jobs and are

filing for unemployment benefits. These numbers are being calculated by state and federal

agencies and the funds that are being used to support the unemployed workers. Illegal

immigrants are competing for low skilled labor jobs. The African American and Hispanic

communities are, on average, in the same low skilled labor market. The illegal aliens are taking

these jobs because the employers can pay less for these workers than they would for legal

citizens. The “supply” of able bodied workers, both legal and illegal, is elevated to a point that

the need to pay people the wages that they should receive goes down. As more and more illegal

immigrants enter the United States, there is a major risk of the unemployment rate to increase at

any given moment.

Finally, the last thing area within America that is impacted by illegal immigrants is

everyday life in America. Perhaps the biggest dilemma to society is the language barrier. As

mentioned previously, most illegal immigrants who enter this country do not speak English. At
 EFFECTS OF ILLEGAL IMMIGRATION ON AMERICA 9

the same time, most Americans do not speak any other language by English. This makes it hard

for everyday life for both sides to do everything from ordering at McDonald’s to giving

instructions at a job. Another way that it affects the community is when they come to America,

they tend to live in a part of the community that is by other illegal immigrants. This is so that

they lower their risk of being caught and deported. This can cause tension within a community

because these illegal immigrants could be living on a piece of land that is very valuable or the

community may feel that the land or housing could be used for native-born citizens who need it (

McDonald,2015). Finally, illegal immigration affects society because it could raise criminal

activity. These people who are coming into America illegally could potentially bring gang

activity, counterfeit goods and services, terroristic activity, and even drug trade. This could cause

law enforcement agencies to either take away from another area or leave them understaffed to

handle the amount of potential criminal activity that is happening within a community. Illegal

immigration puts a strain on society, the economy, and the workforce.

Conclusion

After analyzing and going through the findings on the effects of illegal immigration on the

United States, it is apparent that the country has a problem. This is nothing that is new to the

country, but it continues to persist even after so many years of it going on. The Border Protection

Agency is having a tough time trying to stop human smuggling and immigrants jumping the

border into America. When these aliens get into the United States, law enforcement agencies are

not finding and deporting them back to the country they came from. While these immigrants are

in the United States, they are taking jobs from Americans which is forcing the government to

spend extra funds to support Americans through the unemployment benefits. Illegal

immigrations needs to be taken control of. The United States cannot advance as a country if we

are not making it even harder for illegal immigrants to enter the United States and using or

acquiring the hard earned benefits and wages that Americans deserve. There are a few

recommendations that can be put into in place to ensure that the immigration issue is taken

control of.

First, The United States can ease the burden of illegal immigration impacting the

economy in a number of reasons. The government can pose regulations that require hospitals to

request either social security validation or immigration visa validation before any services can be

done. This helps to eliminate the unpaid balances that occur when illegal immigrants are seen by

a doctor and they cannot afford the bill or do not have insurance. The school systems can make

families provide proof of citizenship and financial need if they cannot afford for their children to

attend school. If they are illegal immigrants, their children will not be denied schooling, but hey

must pay for everything up front before the children is allowed to attend the school. This helps to

ensure that the schools are getting the necessary funds needs to support these extra children. This
EFFECTS OF ILLEGAL IMMIGRATION ON AMERICA 11

also forces the hand of the illegal immigrant to go and become legal so that they can make the

future of their children brighter.

The second recommendation that I would suggest is for the government to require

employers to provide proper documentation of all employees. If they are hiring illegal

immigrants, then they will be fined substantially. I think that this will promote employers to

hired more native-born skilled workers. It will also lower the unemployment rate. It also might,

although highly unlikely, lower the amount of immigrants in the United States because they are

not getting the jobs that they thought they could obtain when the came across the border.

My final recommendation would be to go with Donald Trump’s plan and build the wall.

It sounds like a ridiculous idea and most people think just that. However, it could be a fantastic

thing for the United States in a variety of reasons. For one, it will ensure that America is

maintaining safety at our border. The Second reason is that it will lower the amount of people

who cross the border illegally. The final reason is that it will create a lot of jobs in regions where

there my be high unemployment rate due to illegal immigration. The wall would not build itself,

and I believe that it would pay for itself in the amount of money and resources that it would save

on in the long run.

Illegal immigration continues to affect the economy, the job market, and everyday life for

American citizens. In order to make this issue swing into the favor of America, the governments

at the local, state, and federal level need to act to change regulations. If nothing is done about it,

then this issue will continue to get worse and worse until it is uncontrollable.
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Borjas, G. J., Grunwald, M., Frank, T., Woodard, C., Dovere, E., & Blau, M. (n.d.). Yes,

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