Amnesty for illegal immigrants

Amnesty for Illegal Immigrants

The problem of illegal immigration has long been considered to be one of the most stringent issues of the U.S. government due to the increased desire of immigrant from around the world to come and work on American soil. However, the immigration laws that are currently part of the legislative body concerning immigration are limited in their scope and cannot consider all the actions that relate to illegal immigrants.

One of the most talked about issues however is amnestying illegal immigrants. It represents an important topic for discussion because it has come to affect the society at large and the individual in particular. The first effect is on the society because it means job differences between U.S. citizens and immigrants willing to work for less. At the same time, its effect can be pondered in terms of the individual from the point-of-view of the message illegal immigration and its amnesty sends for the U.S. citizen. Thus, it can be considered that the amnesty of illegal immigrants allows other criminals to be forgiven for unlawful deeds.

The general point-of-view is two folded. The society is split between considering that the amnesty of illegal immigrants is just, while others argue against such claim. Therefore, from one point-of-view, "for most Americans, an illegal alien amnesty has all the political appeal of a massive tax increase" (Coalition for the future American worker, n.d.). Therefore, it can be said that the ones opposing the amnesty have in mind the economic aspect of such a law. At the same time however, there is also the issue of morality involved. In this sense, it is considered unacceptable for a legal reward to be given to those who practically broke the law. Even more, "Besides rewarding millions of people who broke the law and placing immigrants who obeyed the law at a disadvantage, individually or collectively, these amnesty proposals would encourage more illegal immigration (...) encourage massive litigations." (Coalition for the future American worker, n.d.). Therefore, moral arguments, along with possible strains on the social and economic front determine most to disagree with the idea of amnestying illegal immigrants already in the country.

It cannot be argued the fact that to a certain extent the opponents of the amnesty have a relatively strong case. Indeed, there is the possibility that U.S. citizens, confronted with the idea of massive jobs to be obtained by immigrants, as well as the increased worry about the strains almost 11 million immigrants would pose on the American social system are relevant arguments to support their claim.

In opposition to these claims however, one must also take into account the positive effects such a solution would have. Therefore, on the one hand, it is relatively obvious that there is an acute need of economic growth; however, this cannot be achieved with the current number of workers in the country, especially skilled labor. From this point-of-view, it is considered that "the biggest problem with job growth right now isn't too few new jobs. it's too few skilled workers" (Isidore, 2007). Therefore, from this point-of-view, it is clear that the U.S. economy needs additional labor force.

Secondly, the issue of illegal immigration points out the fact that although these people are in the country and work, they fail to pay any taxes. Therefore, the state is daily loosing important revenue that could help improve the financial situation of different Departments such as health care, social services, and even immigration policies. However, without this source of money, the federal budget would be forced to allocate funds from other destinations.

Thirdly, there is also the issue of workers' rights. In this sense, it is a rather well-known fact the idea that illegal workers are often exploited by employers by giving them wages that are below the normal tariffs. However, the inclusion of illegal workers as legal immigrants would grant them the rights each worker in the United States has. More precisely, "in past decades, labor unions often saw immigrant workers as the enemy, accusing them of depressing wages and breaking strikes. But the executive council of the AFL-CIO adopted a more sympathetic approach, contending that too often U.S. immigration rules have enabled employers to exploit illegal immigrants" (Greenhouse, 2000). This perspective offers immigrants and particularly illegal ones the right to organize themselves in unions and benefit from the social protection they are entitled by the law. However, it is only through the amnesty proposed by the Bush Administration that this can be a viable solution.