LITERATURE REVIEW
Entry into the United States through illegal means is the best possible solution for some of the foreign low skilled workers. These workers make up almost 7 percent of the total US labor force. They are of great importance for such sectors which require low skilled but labor intensive operations like construction, farming, manufacturing, hospitality industry and maintenance and cleaning of buildings. Most of these immigrants come from different countries near the United States. Majority of 59 percent is from Mexico. Then, 15 percent are from the Caribbean and Central America. 7 percent are from the South America. The vast majority of unauthorized people from the nearby areas enter the United States by passing through the US-Mexico border. The remaining is percentage from different countries like 11 percent from Asia, 4 percent from Europe and Canada and the remaining 4 percent from other countries (Hanson, 2009).
These unauthorized and undocumented immigrant do not only provide them with an important source for low skilled labor, but they also react to the market conditions in such a way that legal immigrants cannot. This feature makes them quite appealing to the employers in United States. Such inflows of illegal immigrants help them in tracking their economic performances, stopping during downturns and rising during the expansion periods. Whereas in comparison to this, the legal flow of the low educated and low skilled workers are both quite unresponsive to the economic conditions and very small in size. Green cards are usually available for the low skilled workers but the two major low skilled temporary programs may depend solely upon the economic cycle of that particular person (Camarota, Steven, 2013).
Since the past 15 years, there is a constant increase in the population of illegal immigrants who are living in United States. As the population is huge so it cannot be counted officially, so we have to rely on the indirect methods for estimating the size. The most reliable source for obtaining an estimate of the undocumented workers in the United States is to use the residual methodology for it. This method tends to calculate the number of illegal immigrants by calculating the difference in total number of immigrants residing in United States and the amount of legal immigrants living in the country. In 1987, Warren and Passel found out that around 8 million immigrants were residing in the US. The number of legal immigrants was 5.9 million. This showed a residual of 2.1 million illegal undocumented immigrants (Warren, Passel, 1987).
Undocumented workers in the United States have developed an image perception in the minds of others. People perceive them to have a low level of education with jobs in low skilled sectors. This has caused them to become a stereotype for millions of other immigrants residing in the United States. Media and press reinforce this stereotypical image by showing images and news regarding these unskilled immigrants who successfully crossed the American border to reside there permanently every year (Camarota, Steven. 2013).
In 1988, an analysis was conducted on the illegal undocumented immigrants residing in Chicago. The researcher Chiswick concluded that most of these illegal residents had a low level of school education. Later on, in 1997 another report from the National Academy of Sciences observed that when a comparison was conducted, the illegal immigrants were more poorly educated than the legal immigrants. This proved that they lacked in educational levels so they seek refuge in residing illegally in the country (Chiswik, 1997).
Borjas (1999) explained the employment level of these illegal immigrants residing in the US. He mentioned that these persons are usually employed in huge agricultural enterprises, native households who hire them as their nannies or maids or in sweatshops. They are commonly perceived as low skilled people so they never get a well-paying job. Ray Borane mentioned in the New York Times editorial section that these employers have no idea that how harmful it can be for them to hire these illegal immigrants as their subordinates to make their beds, cook their meals and mow their lawns (Borjas, 1999).
It is a relatively easier and viable way for the low skilled, low educated immigrants to enter the United States through illegal and undocumented means. According to a study conducted in 2005, it was found out that 56 percent of the undocumented immigrants had come from Mexico. As the educational level in Mexico is below average so very few of their citizens are able to fulfill the eligibility requirements for American green cards based on employments. Besides this if they want to get a family based visa that is also quite difficult because the queues are quite long and it is almost impossible to adjust so many prospective employees immediately in the United States. Due to these restrictions, they prefer to enter the country illegally. Although some of them are successful in getting their green card immediately but many of them remain illegal immigrant as undocumented and unauthorized persons for a long time period. In 2005, The Pew Hispanic Center has estimated that almost 80 to 85 percent of the Mexican immigrants have been residing in the United States since past 10 years.
Legal immigration is considered as the primary mode for entering the United States for highly skilled labor. In comparison to the other countries in the world, the US has an abundant labor whether it is highly educated or highly skilled. The demand for skilled labor has rapidly increased because of the technological advancements since the past two decades. Other such developments along with the spread of information technology have created various kinds of jobs (Robert, 2005).
Continuous increase in the levels of undocumented immigration is resulting in undermining of the rule of law and weakening the ability of the government of United States for enforcing rules and regulations in the country. It is quite understandable that the massive illegal immigrants from different parts of the world are giving rise to the international terrorism. Many terrorist activities have been linked up to individuals who sneak to US through the US-Mexico border. Besides this, the unstoppable leak out of illegal immigrants results in the relaxation of commitment with their employers in US.
Regardless of all these factors, the overall impact of illegal immigration on the economy of the United States is quite small. Low skilled national workers who are competing with these illegal unauthorized immigrants are losing clearly. US employers get the benefit by using their land, technology and capital more effectively. The stakes are maximum for these undocumented immigrants themselves who can notice the very substantial income gain after shifting to the United States (North, David, 2014).
ANNOTATED BIBLIOGRAPHY
- Hanson, G. (2009). The Economics and Policy of Illegal Immigration in the United States. Retrieved on December 23, 2014.
Gordon H. Hanson is a Professor of Economics at the University of California, San Diego. He is also the Director of the Center on Pacific Economies. This paper was written by him for the Migration Policy Institute for their Labor Markets Initiative to inform its work on the economics of immigration.
- Camarota, Steven, A. (2013). The Fiscal and Economic Impacts of Immigration on USA’s Economy. Center for Immigration Studies. Retrieved on December 23, 2014 from: http://cis.org/node/4573
Steven A Camarota explained the positive and negative aspects of the impact upon the economy of USA due to the unauthorized and illegal immigrants residing in their country. He also expressed his views on how it can be controlled and how to make it beneficial for the US economy.
- North, David, F. (2014). Income Tax Refunds from Illegal Immigrants should be taken to their Homeland Addresses. Center for Immigration Studies. Retrieved on December 12, 2014 from:
http://cis.org/north/income-tax-refunds-illegals-should-be-sent-their-homeland-addresses
In this article, the author has referred to the illegal immigrants issues which are caused to the US economy. The main idea behind this article is that the income taxes which are collected from these illegal immigrants should be sent back to their own home land as these tax refunds cause an over estimate of US economic conditions. It cannot be estimated clearly due to these undocumented people.
- Norris, John, (2014). How do Illegal Immigrants Impact US Economy? Montgomery Advertisers. Retrieved on December 24, 2014 from: http://www.montgomeryadvertiser.com/story/money/business/2014/07/27/illegal-immigrants-impact-us-economy/13234585/
In this article, John Norris has discussed how the illegal immigrants may affect the economy and other economic calculations in the United States. He has explained in detail about the positive and negative consequences of such immigrants. It is important to understand the cause of these so it can be overcome by the government.
- Jeff, A. (2014). Interviewing and Research Methods. Retrieved on December 24, 2014 from:
http://www.jeffandersonconsulting.com/marketing-research.php/survey-research/research-methods
Jeff Anderson Consulting is a market research firm that deals in interviewing and surveying people for identifying a root cause to a problem. In this article, the various research methods have been explained briefly like mail survey, telephonic questioning, and personal interviews along with a few others.
- Center for Immigration Studies, (2014). Illegal Immigration. Retrieved on December 24, 2014 from: http://cis.org/Illegal
This is a website for the Center for Immigration Studies. People from different fields of life discuss their issues pertaining to illegal immigrations. They have shared their personal or organizational experiences with others. It can be helpful for others to know about various opinions regarding one topic.
