Free Essay

Effects of Immigration

In:

Submitted By pd2tp
Words 959
Pages 4
For many of us watching the evening news can be depressing with the number of shootings, killings, robberies, etc. that we are bombarded with every evening. A lot of minorities feel that the media only seem to fuel public opinion that crimes are mainly committed by minorities which mean that an increase in immigrants means an increase in crime. Do native born Americans have a viable concern with immigration and an increase in crime or is this just a way for the media, politicians, and anti-immigration groups to spread their opinions and fears on immigration? If there is a correlation between crime and immigration how will this play a role in today’s prison system?

An overwhelming amount of native born Americans believe that the influx of immigrants, especially illegal immigrants, will have a negative effect on the crime rate in the United States. Of course, in an absolute sense, it probably does. Immigration brings more people into the country, and unless this process is counterbalanced by emigration, the absolute volume of crime will very likely increase. In addition, immigrants are often disproportionately male and at early ages of labor market entry and advancement. Because young males are disproportionately likely to be involved in crime in all parts of the world that we know about (Hirschi and Gottfredson, 1983), this may also contribute to increases in crime. In this sense we will probably want to know whether immigrants who enter the country contribute to crime beyond what we could otherwise expect of citizens of similar numbers, ages, gender, and so on. Recent research suggests that the claims that immigration cuases crime are false, and that in reality immigrants may have dramatically lower crime rates thatn Unites States born citizens. A 2007 study by Dr. ruben rumbaut and Dr. Walter Ewing connected higher rates of immigration in the 1990s and 2000s with a nationwide drop in crime rates. Anti-immigrations groups, the media, and politicians continually spread information to the American public suggesting that immigration is linked with crime. These beliefs are often baseless in that they are more opinion that documented fact. Most Americans don’t do any research of their own. We believe the media and politicians especially if they are echoing our own feelings and beliefs. During the president race last year one of the main topics was immigration and CNN’s Lou Dobbs, repeatedly invoked the phrase "criminal illegal aliens," as he did his best to feed the stereotype that illegal immigrants drive up crime. Does immigration make our cities even more unsafe? In a 2008 study, The Public Policy Institute of California (PPIC) found that California cities with a high share of recent immigrants have lower rates of both property crimes and violent crimes than other cities in the state. The report found that “crime rates fell more in cities with a larger newly arrived foreign-born population” between 2000 and 2005. In addition, the Migration Information Source (2006) found that in 2000, “the incarceration rate of the US born (3.51 percent) was four times the rate of the foreign born (0.86 percent). The foreign-born rate was half the 1.71 percent rate for non-Hispanic white natives, and 13 times less than the 11.6 percent incarceration rate for native black men.” From a statistical standpoint on public safety there would be little reason to believe that an increase in crime would solely be based on an increase in immigration. Americans also have the misconception that immigrants that come to the U.S. are uneducated, and poverty stricken. This belief helps to fuel the belief that an influx of immigrants will increase crime. This is not true. Immigrants from India, for example, are far more likely to enter the U.S. with a college degree than, for example, immigrants from Mexico or Ecuador and hence they have a relative advantage in U.S. labor markets (Zhou 2001). Since not all immigrants face severe economic disadvantages in the U.S., it is possible that increased immigration to an area, especially an urban area, may actually lessen crime rates. Immigrants that make the decision to come to the United States are looking to make a better life for themselves and their families or their family to be. This dream of a better life is something that most of them won’t risk by committing a crime and possibly getting arrested. Even though there may be no direct correlation between the increase of crime with the increase of immigration it doesn’t mean that our prison system is not affected by the increase of illegal immigration. Immigrants may affect public safety in ways other than direct involvement in criminal activity. For example, immigrants may induce more criminal activity among the U.S. born by moving the work opportunities of the U.S. born; in other words, immigrants may “take away” legal jobs, possibly leading to more crime among natives. It still costs tax payers a lot of money not only to imprison native born or naturalized citizens of the U.S. but to imprison immigrants who are here illegal. The U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO) estimate the federal cost of incarcerating criminal aliens--Bureau of Prisons (BOP)'s cost to incarcerate criminals and reimbursements to state and local governments under the Department of Justice's State Criminal Alien Assistance Program SCAAP--totaled approximately $5.8 billion for calendar years 2001 through 2004 (GAO, 2005)." The Public Policy Institute of California found that both in California and the United States as a whole, men ages 18-40 “the age group most likely to commit crime,” the U.S. born are approximately ten times more like than the foreign-born to be in jail or in prison (PPIC, 2008).

Similar Documents

Premium Essay

Negative Effects Of Immigration

...Introduction Immigration has grown to be an important part of every business and it has become vital that immigration laws are carefully managed to ensure they yield the biggest benefits to the host nation. As more immigrants seek immigration in the USA, UK and other developed nations, many of the nations are restricting and limiting the legal registration of immigrants (Ezell, et al., 2013). But it’s important to consider the facts behind the tightening of immigration laws since they have caused more damage than benefit to many of the affected economies. Negative Effects on the Native Born Workforce While the lack of immigration declares that immigrants cannot work in a nation, many continue to seek unofficial employment at considerably reduced wages. Many businesses and employers in the developed nations are also more than willing to hire the illegal immigrants secretly as this helps them save money and be more competitive in the market. In the government’s eye, the illegal immigrants cannot secure legal employment officially but it has been observed many are working unofficially on casual, freelance and remote basis (OECD, 2012). This is greatly affecting...

Words: 787 - Pages: 4

Premium Essay

Immigration: Positive Net Effects

...Immigration: Positive Net Benefits Immigration has been a growing hot topic in the United States for decades. Obviously, immigration is not a new issue. Over the past couple of hundred years there have been several events that have spurred an increase of immigration in America and around the world. Today’s number of immigrants are in the millions, and according to critics those numbers have social and economic affects. Although host countries have to deal with the negative aspects of it, overall immigration has a positive net effect on a country. The difficulty comes in balancing the good with the bad. For example, a more specific issue of immigration in the U.S. has been illegal immigration. Critics say that undocumented immigrants threaten the American social fabric, native economy, national security, and everything American ("Usa immigration problems, n.d." ). Living in poor economic conditions, people from Mexico were illegally traveling to the U.S. with hopes of improving their quality of life. Undocumented aliens were such a concern that the U.S. built walls hundreds of miles along the border to strategically prevent people from illegally crossing over, a costly way to deter people considering the border is over a thousand miles long. Since the walls construction immigration from Mexico has decrease significantly, although it is mostly due to the weak U.S. economy. Some other costs are social. Such as, the effect of illegal immigration on America’s social insurance...

Words: 1987 - Pages: 8

Premium Essay

Effects of Illegal Immigration on Economy

...The Impact of Illegal Immigrations on the Economy Introduction Indeed, illegal immigration attributes to the movement of individuals across the national or state borders in a manner that violates the immigration principles of the destination region. Overwhelmingly, people tend to migrate from poor countries to rich ones with the intentions of getting better opportunities. As legislative authorities debate the aspects of immigration policies, many opinions have been established on economic grounds. Economically, illegal immigration has its fair share of advantages and demerits. Regardless of how many times such controversies come up in the ongoing immigration debate, most individuals do not observe the scrutiny. Hence, this paper seeks to identify and discuss some of the impacts of illegal immigration on the economy. Discussion Surely, illegal immigration results in fiscal burden on the destination country or state. For instance, illegal immigration negatively affects the United States taxpayers. The US citizens encounter an annual cost of $113 billion at the federal, local, and state level. Again, the children of illegal immigrants cost the Americans close to $52 billion. The state and local authorities absorb these costs. Due to legal constraints, most of the illegal immigrants rarely comply with taxation laws. Some of the claim for tax credits which results in handful payments from the United States Treasury. Interestingly, many illegal immigrants substantially...

Words: 608 - Pages: 3

Premium Essay

Causes and Effects of Illegal Immigration and Ways to Stop It

...Illegal Immigration and ways to stop Illegal Immigrant in the United States.          An illegal immigrant can be defined as someone who enters a country without government permission or stayed beyond the termination date of a visa or permitted stay. Although the United States of America has become a melting point for all people seeking free choice of worship, cruel governments, relief from war, famine, or poverty, to seek for a better life for themselves and their families, the importance and terms and conditions of becoming a legal immigrant in the United States, as being misused  by illegal immigrants, who violates the immigration laws country, either by to avoid detection and hence, inspection, individuals who are inspected upon entry into another state, but gain admission by using fraudulent documents, or violators who enter another state properly but 'willfully' overstay their period of legal stay, thus  violating their stay. Illegal immigration in the United States has being one of the most discuss issues and concerns in the United States for decades, and has recently has become one of the main political controversies due to the upcoming election this coming month. The Department of Homeland security from the book current controversies on illegal immigration on ( p 20), it stays that 10.8 million unauthorized immigrants were living in the United States, as of January 2009 on illegal immigration, to the overview of unauthorized  immigration in the United States . ...

Words: 1209 - Pages: 5

Free Essay

Migration, Immigration and Their Effects on Religion, Women, and Minorities in Saudi Arabia

...Migration, Immigration and Their Effects on Religion, Women, and Minorities in Saudi Arabia Written By: Bill Cook HUMN305-Q3FF Professor: Barry Adams An Overview of Migration / Immigration in Saudi Arabia 1970’s - Today Although foreign workers have been a presence in the Saudi labor force since the beginnings of the oil boom in the 1930’s, large inflows of migrant workers began to flow into Saudi Arabia in the late 1970’s during the “oil crunch”. Saudi development of its infrastructure demanded both skilled and unskilled labor. Employers, finding it difficult to meet the labor demands with the local populace began to bring in workers from Southern Asia. “Migration of Asian workers was especially encouraged as it was thought that, compared to Arab foreign workers, they would be less likely to settle, less likely to organize, and hence more easy to control.” (Pakkiasamy, Divya; Migration Policy Institute, 2004) Saudi Arabia has nearly seven million migrant workers helping to build and maintain it’s infrastructure. Involuntary Servitude of Foreign Workers The treatment of migrant workers is widely overlooked by the international community. According to reports from many workers inside Saudi companies, foreign employees are “overworked, dehumanized and denied many basic rights” (Mekay, 2007) Many migrant workers enter Saudi Arabia on a service visa sponsored by a Saudi-based company or individual. These work visa’s are being held over the heads of the migrant...

Words: 1290 - Pages: 6

Premium Essay

The Effects of Emmigration on the United States Economy

...The Effects of Immigration on the United States Economy Immigration has long been a hotly debated political issue in the United States, especially when it comes to illegal immigration. Because it is a nation of immigrants, immigration has always been very important in shaping the United States. Today, widespread immigration to the United States both legal and illegal continues to have a variety of effects. Most economic historians believe the effects of immigration have been much less harmful than commonly supposed and, in many ways, have been beneficial. Positive Economic Effects Immigration provides several economic benefits to the United States. The argument for the free movement of labor among nations is exactly the same as the argument for the free movement of labor among the sectors of the domestic economy. Suppose an economy produces only two goods, X and Y. If demand for good X picks up, the demand for labor used to produce X rises as the marginal revenue product of labor employed in the production of X increases. Labor will move out of the production of good Y if and only if its productivity is higher in X in terms of the value of output. This movement ensures efficiency. Recall the simple definition that an efficient economy produces what people want at least cost. Those who favor a looser policy believe immigrants do not displace U.S. workers but rather take jobs that Americans do not want. Immigrants serve as domestics and low-wage farm workers producing things...

Words: 1303 - Pages: 6

Premium Essay

The Economic Impacts of Immigration Within Canada

...The Economic Impact of Immigration Within Canada There has been an appeal in immigrating to Canada ever since the early 1800’s, but only in the past seventy years have we seen drastic changes in domestic immigration law and policy. Most notably Canada has received recognition for its Immigration Act of 1976 as well as our current Immigration and Refugee Protection Act from 2002. Canadian immigration is still evolving today and currently Canada is known as a country with a broad immigration policy that is reflected in the countries ethnic diversity. Policy goals, selectivity and trade are three prominent aspects of Canadian immigration that I have found compelling journal articles written on. Although every aspect of immigration has its differences, they all similarly share a united end common goal of further benefiting Canada. Economics is a similarity that plays a large role in each aspect and article, from strategically selecting immigrants that will quickly economically assimilate to using immigration to increase trade flow from foreign countries. Although in contrast – the article that I have found to obtain the most compelling argument on Canadian immigration policy is the one that disagrees with using immigration solely for economic means, it implicitly states that immigration policy should not solely be seen in economic benefits but that it should be seen as primarily a cultural, social and humanitarian policy opposed to an economic one. In the first article I examined...

Words: 2055 - Pages: 9

Premium Essay

Immigration in the Uk

...Immigration in the UK Abstract: This paper illustrates a survey that was carried out in Leeds regarding people’s thought about immigration in the UK. Moreover, a discussion about the different answers of candidates is shown in this project. Finally rather interesting views were also observed. Introduction: Immigration has had a huge impact in the UK since 1998 on Britain, according to The Office of National Statics net immigration in Britain has been at an unmatched level over the last decade and is expected to the same. In this report it is going to be explained how immigration has affected the lifestyle in the country. The main aspect that is being affected in the country is the relation between economy and the rapid population growth that directly relates to the increase of the housing rates. The most important questions that rose from this research are the following ones: What is the impact of immigration in the UK? (Food, house rates, employment and culture) What is the effect in economy? How does it affect British people? How does the government tend to deal with immigration? How are the government parties going to deal with immigration in the upcoming elections? Is immigration affecting the country in a positive or negative way? Did immigration improve Britain? Data Collection Methods: 10 people were asked the questions above and their answers were voice recorded in a mobile phone. (The source is the author) One sample from England claimed that...

Words: 1051 - Pages: 5

Free Essay

Us Migration Law

...U.S Immigration Law Name Institutional Affiliation   INTRODUCTION The U.S immigration law has a major effect on the business community. Many business people are concerned about the increasing government raids targeting managers and employers who have employed illegal aliens in their workplaces. For this reason, it is evident that immigration laws lead to unintended consequences for employers who have taken measures to cope with down economy by employing cheap labor and also downsizing their workforces. Recently, president Obama passed an executive order allowing immigrants to become official citizens of the U.S. Although the immigration laws that were passed by the President have been criticized by the legal community, it is evident that have a significant impact on the business community. This paper provides a discussion of the major business issues that have been affected as a result of the immigration law. THE DOWNTURN OF IMMIGRATION LAW The immigration law has a major effect to the business community. The business that operates in the U.S should always be aware that the consequences of employing illegal aliens could affect their business performance to a greater scale. This is because any employer who has been caught having illegal aliens as their employees could lead to a jail term. In addition, employment law has also significant impact as it can lead to hiring freezes, layoffs, and forced leaves of absence, terminations and benefit reductions. Employers are expected...

Words: 1590 - Pages: 7

Premium Essay

Jd Wetherspoon

...countries, as well as bringing to negative effects. In this essay, I will discuss that how influence the economic of developed countries. For example, population of America will be twice in this century. Especially, the number of children increased sharply. So that need as twice as houses, cars, roads, prison, hospitals, schools water treatment facilities and so on. Therefore American needs more nature resource than before. Firstly, immigration helps late Twentieth Century Massachusetts economy in America. More specifically, during in 1970s, as population of Massachusetts move to other place and Massachusetts of birth rate decreased sharply. Massachusetts suffered from urban flight, closing industrial, and so on. However, in 1980s considerable immigrations that come from different countries settled in Massachusetts, which bring a host of labors. Under depressing economy, most of labors can find a job on manufacturing, thereby promoting the development of economy. For instance, much immigration is employed in manufacturing, which in every 100 workers, there are 78 workers in this department. Secondly, immigration that has high-skilled makes a great contribution on the economy of Massachusetts. Comparing with native people who have professionals such as engineers’ physical scientists and computer scientists, over about 2% of foreign worker held these professionals, while less than 1% native people work at these fronts. Moreover, immigration who be university and college teacher is...

Words: 970 - Pages: 4

Premium Essay

How Does Illegal Immigration Affect The Economy

...Illegal immigration has both a positive and negative impact on the U.S. economy as a whole, but specifically it impacts white and black U.S. citizens concerning their jobs and salaries. In order to understand how illegal immigration truly affects the United States, one must understand what an illegal immigrant is, how illegal immigration began, and the difference between legal and illegal immigration. By definition, an illegal or undocumented immigrant is “a foreigner who enters the U.S. without an entry or immigrant visa, especially a person who crosses the border by avoiding inspection or who overstays the period of time allowed as a visitor, tourist, or business person” (“Illegal Alien”). While illegal immigration dates back to the seventeenth...

Words: 1088 - Pages: 5

Premium Essay

Pattern in Uk Immigration

...1007/s00148-005-0015-1 ORIGIN AL PAPER Timothy J. Hatton Explaining trends in UK immigration Received: 11 February 2004 / Accepted: 6 December 2004 / Published online: 22 November 2005 © Springer-Verlag 2005 Abstract Since the 1970s Britain has gone from being a country of net emigration to one of net immigration, with a trend increase in immigration of more than 100,000 per year. This paper represents the first attempt to model the variations in net migration for British and for foreign citizens, across countries and over time. A simple economic model, which includes the selection effects of differing income distributions at home and abroad, largely accounts for the variations in the data. The results suggest that although improved economic performance in the UK relative to overseas has tended to increase immigration, rising UK inequality has had an even larger effect. Immigration policies at home and abroad have also increased net immigration, particularly in the 1990s. Keywords Immigration . Emigration . Immigration policy JEL Classification F22 . J61 . J78 1 Introduction In the last 20 years the UK has become a country of net immigration. During the 1960s and 1970s, emigration exceeded immigration so that net immigration was persistently negative. Since then net immigration has progressively increased. The best available measure of long-term trends indicates an increase in the annual net immigration from −24 thousand in the early 1970s to 89 thousand in the late 1990s —a total...

Words: 4707 - Pages: 19

Premium Essay

Hiring Illegal Workers

...Unlawful Burden: Cost of Illegal Immigration on Local Government Abstract What is the cost of illegal immigration today on state and local governments? This has become a hot topic at the federal, state and local levels with a wide variety of opinions. This paper will explore both sides of the issue with a closer look at the state and local impact on taxpayers. Cost of Illegal Immigration Today it is estimated that the annual costs of illegal immigration at the federal, state and local level to be nearly $113 billion dollars, with approximately $84 billion dollars being spent on the state and local levels alone. Recent studies have also estimates that taxes collected from illegal alien workers, both in the above-ground economy and in the underground economy do not come close to the amount of current expenditures. The impact of illegal immigrants on the federal budget differs from their effect on state and local budgets primarily because of the types of services provided by each level of government. The federal government while providing some services requires state and local governments to provide certain services to individuals regardless of their immigration status or ability to pay in order for them to participate in federal programs. This has made most states and local governments bear much of the burden to providing education, health care and law enforcement to individuals living in their jurisdiction. Budgetary Effect of Illegal Immigration The Congressional Budget...

Words: 3217 - Pages: 13

Premium Essay

Rgqg

...Dan Isaacs 8/19/14 Mr. Mchugh summer assignment Immigration Immigration is the chosen movement of people from one country to another, usually with the aim of permanent settlement in the adopted country. If the people who are fleeing from their country because of an immediate threat to there health and family then they are considered refugees because they seek refuge in another country. Immigration is a human form of migration. Migration is as old as the first human group. One example is indian tribes would hunt in groups or pacts. When the hunt would move they would move. The tribe would move wherever they have to so that they can survive. Even now people immigrate. It might be because of war or as a result of a bad government, but whatever the reason immigration will never stop as long as one country has a better place. Throughout history immigration have occurred in different societies because of politics, religion and many other reasons. Immigration has effects on the society, it could be a negative or a positive effect or a combination of both. Today's most common immigration is the immigration we can observed from undeveloped countries to more industrialized countries such people from all over the world to the United States. In the past immigrations was much different then today. In the past people immigrated from many countries like italy, germany, asia, france, united kingdom and many other countries....

Words: 898 - Pages: 4

Premium Essay

Guarding The Golden Door Analysis

...“Guarding the Golden Door: American Immigration Policy and Immigrants Since 1882,” by Roger Daniels analyzes the United States’ immigration policy as one that has forever been flawed, putting forward a clear yet detailed criticism of how racism, blind politics, and ignorance have overtaken the agenda of immigration legislation for the past 140 years. Specifically, he claims that immigration laws have had an evocative effect on the immigrants of all eras and these laws have become stricter due to the nativists’ fear of an increased foreign threat. The prevailing belief during periods of restricted immigration was that alien groups, due to their innate inferiority, were not capable of absorbing the country’s values and ideologies and therefore...

Words: 619 - Pages: 3