Why are peole so in the dark about the true contribution of immigration to the U.S. economy?

Question

Why do people look down on immigrants? Do they not know that the core of the United State's economy is the work that immigrants do? Many small minded people say that it is because of illegal immigrants that our minimum wage had not changed, and they also blame them for the job's which they take away from legalized American's.
Well my response to these people is that the reason the majority of American's have a job is because of immigrant's...yes, it is true that immigration keep's the minimum wage from going up, but think about it people if there were no immigrants and the minimum wage did go up...how much would it cost companies? Wouldn't this mean less upper level positions to be able to fill the lower positions? So how much would companies lose? They would lose the college educated and experienced professionals which are eccential to the development of any company.
Not to mention, companies would also have to hike up prices on goods & services.-Would u be able 2 afford gas?

For the peeps out there okay w/legal & not illegal immigrants - FYI-illegals are the one's supporting our economy b/c they contribute the our counties GDP, if all illegal's were deported our GDP would dramatically fall causing our economy to be in disarray, and I am talking about "The Depression" kind of bad, so peeps please, don't try to use a 25 cent increase in oranges as analogy for the consequences of having no illegal immigrants in our work force. Please have an educated response after all I thought I was the one who was suppose to be ignorant one (immigrant). Right?

This is especially for you-gokart121.
You have summed it all up for me...I hope you know that you are so selfish and self-centered and that you're naive perspective is the reason why the rest of the world think's American's are unsympathetic to the world's problems. Please go to http://users.gazinter.net/melan/Warn/Warnenu.htm
read and learn about how the rest of the world lives!!!
and if you want to start threatening to punish people for breaking the law, why don't you start w/your president? Ask him how legal is it to invade EVERYBODY'S privacy!

mrtoughquestion-
It's called screening your tenants!!! and if ur racist a** really believes that all of us are dirty, you musn't be that rich or tell me, what ethnicity is your housekeeper?

sprcpt
welfare is not provided for illegal immigrants, yes it is true that if their natural born child is born in the U.S., as citizens they are privileged to this social support, but if you look at the statistics, ethnically speaking hispanics are not the largest ethnic group living in poverty(as defined by the U.S. gov't). Also, statistics also prove that welfare, is for the majority used as it is suppose to be used. The majority of the people on welfare (about 92%) use it for a short time, while they better themselves by going to school or look for a higher paying job. It is that 8%, which you speak of, you know the one's you say immigrants take jobs from, that are the one's who chronically use welfare as their permanent income, and I assure you that these people are irrelvant to who is working the low-paying jobs which they should be out doing. So please, do not blame immigrants for taking the jobs from the people who don't want a job, bc these people won't have a job regardless,

Answer 1

I agree with you all the way, no one wants to see that though. How many of these people use them for landscaping their yards, or do they stop to think how that apple their eating got into their hands. How about the ones living in these new homes, who built them. Who is that working on the side of the road in the scorching sun. No, no one thinks about this. Alot of companies would be hurting and the cost of living would go up, I know for one that it is hard enough as it is. Just imagine for a moment that there were no illegals, think of how much time it would cost to get the things done that the illegals do. How much they would have to pay these employees that would be taking over these positions. Then that would make the cost of product, labor, and cost to the public to dramatically rise. Working in a company and knowing how hard it is to make flow through, there would be major challenges that companies, and everyday people would have to adjust to. It would put this country in such a financial burden. Taxes would rise the cost of groceries, and other goods. I for one do not want that do you? No one wants to think about that though, they just assume all illegals steal, and are out to get the government for all they can get. I do not know of one illegal that uses food stamps, and complains about not having a good job unlike some of our fellow americans. Just go down to the local unemployment line, you mean to tell me those people are too good to do the jobs the illegals are doing, the jobs are there, but no one wants to do them, and get paid what the illegals get paid. That is what is boils down to, do not blame them for your greed and laziness.

Answer 2

A HUGE BRAVO FOR YOU !!!! And for the orange loving people out there? Well, enjoy your peewee crop of fruit this year that will cost you an arm and a leg because so many illegals have returned to Mexico in fear of deportation. ( Did you watch the news this morning?) Or, Maybe you'd like to travel to California and pick some oranges yourself? I cannot afford gasoline now. You could forget about the Dollar menus at your favorite fast food joint as well. C'mon people, grow a brain, our government has created a NEW scape goat... Guess what? It's YOU !!! You actually believe the CR*P that your read. Yep and our government had NO IDEA that (9-11 ) was going to happen, they were absolutely certain the Saddam had weapons of mass destruction, etc.... Oh yeah, and our government told us a decade after they knew about AIDS !! Need I say more? Take a close look around you, study economics, then make an educated decision.

Answer 3

Currently, millions illegal aliens commandeer jobs away from American citizens. If they don't steal those jobs, they depress the wages to the point of legalized slavery. there is a estimated one million illegal alien Chinese besides the millions of mexicans and other illegals in this country (Source: March 2005 Forbes Magazine). At the same time, we outsource jobs to China where a billion people can't wait to make 50 cents an hour. Human smugglers bringing illegals into America make $7 billion annually.

You can't drown the labor market with millions of people and expect to keep your wages high when immigrants will undercut you.
That's why the pay in China or India is less than $10.00 per day. They have 2.4 billion people in those two countries. That's why they live subsistence lives. In time, that reality will manifest itself in America as the middle class vanishes. It's already happening. You need look no further than California as an example of the first Third World State of America.

Call your representatives

Answer 4

I have no problem with immigrants per se. Its the "illegal" part that really bugs me. That illegal designation says that they have broken our laws. Isn't that significant?

With all the talk about amnesty or simply making all or some large part of them "legal" or talking about their useful contribution to society, I NEVER -- and I mean, NEVER! -- hear anyone talk about changing the laws that they have to break to come into this country. If they are so desirable why don't we just change the law? Let anyone who wants -- with some restrictions, of course; no terrorists or criminals, thank you -- come into the country and live, no visa required, no you-have-to-leave-by date, no restrictions. You want to come into this country, just get in line at the border crossing and walk on over, or hop on a plane and fly in, no questions asked.

Now why do you suppose that no one ever mentions changing those laws? Is it because no one wants them to change? Would any congressman or -woman in his or her right mind would even suggest such a thing because it'd be politically deadly?

Instead what we have is a situation where someone who wants in sneaks across the border, dodges the Border Patrol -- which costs a fair dollar to maintain, by the way -- risks their own lives, and once they get past all those hurdles, well, every few years we decide to just say hey, no problem, thanks for playing the game, now that you've gotten past all the bumps in the road all is forgiven, stay as long as you like. Its almost like we figure anyone agile or smart or fit enough to get past the hurdles is good enough for us. Does this make any sense?

Immigrants are great but people that break the law aren't. Either get the law changed so they can just come in freely -- something that will almost certainly NEVER happen -- or quit supporting law breakers.

(BTW, illegal immigration is NOT an economic issue except in some very limited sense. Anyone who tries to make it into one is on shaky ground and risks raising a case against illegal immigration that can not be supported.)

Answer 5

I think your confusion comes from not understanding the difference between ILLEGAL and LEGAL immigrants. This whole country is founded on immigrants. Even the Native Americans were immigrants at one time, (most likely from Asia via Alaska). I think the biggest problem is that illegal immigrants come through the borders unchecked bringing disease, higher crime rates, and an unfortunate miss-understanding of what life can be like in the United States. And with the major influx of illegal aliens, we as a country, forget to take care of ourselves. We are the only first world country with no socialized medicine and that's just the start. Sounds like you should rethink your attitudes towards illegals.

Answer 6

THe VACANCY sighn on America was turned over to NO VACANCY a long long time ago. SUpporting the idea of 6.5 Billon people on the planet. Immigrants are fine as long as they ae legal but even that should be controled. Every ne wants to pull the famous RACE CARD when people are against immigrants legal or Ilegal. But generally speaking, when there is a problem in the USA it is Americans and not immigrants that stand up and fix it, sure the immigrants help as long as they get paid or get an article written about them or If they are helping other immigrants. I know everyone here will call me a racist....but

What are the largest %s of immigrants, is it CHineese, Vietnemaeese, Filipino, Latin? What did we adopt from those cultures that made America Better? It was not technoloy, Governemnt, or Anything else exept chap labor. Immigrants you are all welcome here if you come legally but please if you do not bring anything into this country to make it better then please stay home, we do not need you, or your cousins, mothers, sisters, uncls aunts and so on taking our jobs, not paying taxs and trying to start your own little Manila, or Ho-Chi-Min city. Please stop beniffiting from all of the work we have done and help us continue to make this the best nation in the world UNDIVIDED, With LIBERTY AND JUSTICE FOR ALL

Answer 7

Who's looking down on immigrants? We're talking ILLEGAL immigration, here, a deliberate circumvention of US laws with malice aforethought and so forth. We'll take all the LEGAL immigrants that are willing to come, but the common stipulation is the recognition and acceptance of US law, and that's not what's happening, right now, and it really needs to be changed.
Specifically, Mexico needs to get with the program, there, and many other nations around the world, including those in Asia, need to likewise 'get smart' about the immigration thing.

It's not america's role to perpetually accept the world's excess population. I know that's what it said on that little sign, but let's have a Quick History Lesson here.

The early 1900's saw the billionth inhabitant of earth arrive.
Today, there are 6.5 billion people walking the earth. SOME people don't HAVE any other HOBBIES. Why? Mainly ignorance, god only knows, but at the end of the day the reason the US pulled its' *** out of the mud and became what it is today is partly due to the common recognition that having 10 kids you can't support is Not The Correct Answer, from a social perspective. That's why polygamy's illegal in the US, so guys don't just run around impregnating women at will, calling them 'wives' and having families they have no means nor intention of supporting. This Is The World We Live In Today.
And, groups like the catholic church are VERY pro-creation,
they actively encourage people to have Large Families, mainly due to the fact that they like to live in the past, where Abraham begat so and so, and Isaiah begat such-and-such, and their favorite smut mag has all KINDS of guys who be-gettin a LOT, if you know what I mean. Well, back in reality-land, where child support laws have been invoked to stop a lot of this begetting,
breeder mania's been slowed by common sense. Juuust not in Mexico yet, apparently. Now that Mexico's been enabled, by certain unscrupulous politicians, to move in largely at will with NO regard whatsoever for standing US laws, customs, or practices, we're facing tomorrow's Major Social Upheaval.

I don't know where we're going with all of this, I just know that right now, the number of citizens to square arable acres is still more or less favorable, in the US. Give us 20 years of off-the-hook 'immigration' as you call it, and that might not be the case anymore. Do YOU want to live in Somalia? Do you think it's impossible for america to fill up, rapidly, beyond the point of being capable of self-support? What do YOU think wise immigration policy amounts to?

Hungry people only know that they're hungry. Past that, they really don't give a damn. Vote how you want, I'm voting to support protecting our borders...

Answer 8

You cannot compare this nation's long history of hard-working immigrants to people who are sneaking across our borders and openly breaking U.S. law.

Immigrants who follow the process and law are welcome, always have been, and always will be. My grandparents came over here from Italy. They did it legally, they got jobs, they made their own way, and they learned how to speak English.

As to illegals, how much can they care about this country if its laws mean so little to them? You can try to justify illegal activity all day long, but the fact remains that its illegal. Many Americans' families started as immigrants at some point. So, if anything, we should be MORE offended by the scoundrels who refuse to follow the system that we (or our families) all followed.

If you break the law, I have absolutely no sympathy for you. And that's not rascist because I would feel exactly the same way about a white guy, or anyone else, who robbed a bank to feed his hungry family. Illegal is illegal.

Answer 9

This horse is long dead, but people keep trying to revive it for some reason. They have nothing to do with minimum wage as a whole. What they do is drive wages down in the fields that they work in.

If all the illegal immigrants disappeared today. An equilibrium would be reached in under a year, and prices would not be very different, if at all. How can you claim everyone else is in the dark, yet not grasp simple economic facts like supply and demand for instance.

Answer 10

I'm not going to buy into all the hype being spouted by politicians, and neither should you. I highly doubt that if all illegals were deported, this country would fall apart. You see, if there was a massive round up and deportation, that would break open a huge demand for workers. We have people sitting at home unable to get work because the illegals do it for cash under the table.

Sure, prices will increase and sure there may be temporary shortages, but in the end, we're already paying more by watching our taxes rise in order to support illegals anyway. At least if an orange goes up from .25 to .50, we have the choice on whether or not to buy it. With taxes, it's just pay up or else.

I promise you, America would not fall or implode or who economic sections crumble. That is simply BS being spouted in order to gain public backing.