Illegal Immigration In The Us

Throughout the history of the United States, immigrants have played an important role in the country. Immigrants in fact, helped to build the nation of America, since the colonial times. However, times and circumstances have changed, and things are different now. Today, the United States has a vast population of immigrants, most of which are illegal immigrants. Immigrants, specially those illegal, do not benefit the U.S. in any aspect, either economically or socially. In the contrary, it can degrade it in some cases. It is my judgment that illegal immigrants should not be allowed in this country.

Firstable, most of the illegal immigrants are low-skilled workers, and are not beneficiary for the growth of the economy. If the previous statement is not true, then countries such as Mexico would be a prosperous country and economic power. Jobs that require little or no skills pay low wages. So immigrants that occupy these jobs do not make a significant amount of income to benefit the economy. Also, with today society making technological advancements at such rapid pace, there are a lot of jobs that require skills beyond the basics, and immigrants lack most of these skills, thus, losing

productivity.

Immigrants with a poor educational background, whether legal or illegal, create a lot of expenses in governmental services. A current report from the National Research Council shows that an immigrant to the US without a high school diploma consumes $89,000 more in governmental services than what he pays in taxes during his lifetime. Those immigrants with only a high school diploma cost $31,000. 80% of illegal immigrants do not have education beyond high school, and 60% do not even have a high school diploma. These big costs are due to the fact that because of their education background, they have low-wage jobs, so they cannot afford to pay many living expenses, and they resort to the government for governmental services.

Many illegal immigrants do not pay taxes. Although some immigrants do pay taxes, the amount paid is insignificant and very little compared to the expenses they create. Because of this, the government loses an estimated of $10 billion a year in services and benefits for immigrants. These expenses include, but are not limited to: public school education, hospitals, welfare, Medicaid, etc. The situation gets worse if illegal immigrants are legalized, the expenses would increase to even higher numbers, because they would be able to take advantage of more services as citizens, such as welfare, financial aid, and earned income tax credit.

Those who are in favor of immigrants often argue that we do need the