The United-States of America is a country that has always favored immigration. Since its founding to the early twentieth century, it has had practically open borders. With this policy of favoring immigration, the United-States has greatly increased its population, its standard of living, and its per capita income. The historical success of American immigration policies supports the view that it should continue to support the idea of integrating new waves of immigrants. It is plausible that doing so will lead the United-States to even greater prosperity. While there are many who believe that immigration should be curtailed, in this paper I will argue for a pro-immigration position. Immigration is an important issue. The U.S. immigration population is 42.4 million (Zong and Batalova, 2016). Immigration policy affects every American as well as people all around the world who wish to one day live in the United-States. I will first support my pro-immigration position by arguing that immigration leads to increased wages for native-born Americans. Second, I will argue that immigration leads to better employment prospects for native-born Americans. And finally, I will claim that immigration contributes to the development of American culture.
Some people believe that immigration drives down wages for low-skilled Americans born in the country. This claim, however, does not benefit from empirical support. Hunt (2012) found that immigration to the U.S. drove wages up for native-born Americans that did not possess a high school diploma. Wages for this segment of the population increased approximately 1.5 percent (Ibid.). This is, to be sure, not a large increase, but it nonetheless supports a pro-immigration stance. Immigrants are consumers as well as employees, The money that immigrants make is spent in American, which in turn leads to increased profits and increased wages. There is no evidence that immigration leads to decreased wages.
Some people believe that immigration leads to job-less for native-born Americans. Again, this claim is not supported by the evidence. Fairlie (2012) has shown that immigrants open businesses and hire employees at higher rates than their American counterparts (measured by education, family income, employment status) (Fairlie 2012). This means that immigration to the United-Sates actually improves job prospects for native-born Americans because immigrants on average actually create more jobs than native-born Americans. When combined my claim above that immigration leads to increased wages and increased spending, the increase that results from immigration job creation further supports my prop-immigration position.
Lastly, I shall argue in favor of immigration because immigration contributes to the development of American culture. Whether for good or for bad, American culture is always evolving. There does not seem to be any principled way by which we can determine whether the present moment is a point at which this evolution should be stopped or worked against. Immigration is just one of the factors that makes American culture rich, diverse, and evolving. The fact is, the United-States does not have an official culture, nor does it even have an official language (U.S. Government, 2016). Immigration, then by definition, cannot erode U.S. culture but can only serve its ongoing development. Our assessment of whether this development is positive or negative is open to interpretation, but it is certainly not part of official policy.
U.S. immigration policy affects all of us. In this paper, I have argued for a pro-immigration position. I have shown that, contrary the beliefs of some, immigration leads to increased wages, increased employment opportunities, and to the ongoing development of U.S. culture.
Zong and Batalova. Frequently Requested Statistics on Immigrants and Immigration in the United States. Immigration Policy Institute. Web. 14 April. 2016. ‹http://www.migrationpolicy.org/article/frequently-requested-statistics-immigrants-and-immigration-united-states›
Hunt. The Impact of Immigration on the Educational Attainment of Natives. National Bureau of Economic Research. Web. May. 2012. ‹http://www.nber.org/papers/w18047›
Fairlie. Immigrant Entrepreneurs and Small Business Owners, and their Access to Financial Capital. SBA Office of Advocacy. Web. May. 2012. ‹https://www.sba.gov/sites/default/files/rs396tot.pdf›
Fairlie. Immigrant Entrepreneurs and Small Business Owners, and their Access to Financial Capital. SBA Office of Advocacy. Web. May. 2012. ‹https://www.sba.gov/sites/default/files/rs396tot.pdf›
USA Government. Learn about Life in the United Sates. USA.gove. Web. May. 2012. ‹ https://www.usa.gov/life-in-the-us›
