Law

Illegal immigration in the United States has been a major political and policy issue. This is due to the high number of illegal immigrants moving into the United States every year. Today, there are over twelve million illegal immigrants in the United States. The federal government has the option of either assimilating into the society by grating them amnesty or treating them as criminals and deporting them back into their country.  This paper analysis this issue by looking t the political debate generated by the anti illegal immigrants laws in Arizona as well as the alleged benefits and problems related to illegal immigrants.

Immigration reforms have risen to be one of the controversial policy issues in the United States. The number of illegal immigrants has escalated in the past one decade from about five million in the late 1990s to over twelve million today. There are many economic concerns that have been raised due to the increased number of illegal immigrants into the country. This includes the effects on wages and salaries, public finance and security risks associated with illegal entry into the country (Jennifer et al, 2006). This has raised the question whether these illegal immigrants should be considered criminals and be deported back to their country or they should be granted amnesty by the United States government. It is important to note that although there are several flaws associated with high number of illegal immigrants, there are several benefits that are accrued from illegal immigrants.

The research question in this paper is how is whether illegal immigrants in United States should be deported or granted amnesty. The issue of illegal immigrants has been a big controversy among policy makers in the recent past. Some of the questions addressed in this paper include
What arguments has the controversial SB 1070 bill in Arizona generated
How does the United States benefit from illegal immigration compared to legal migration
How does illegal immigration respond to labor market forces
Does illegal immigrants exert burden on American resources
Do illegal immigrant workers increase competition for job opportunities in America


What arguments has the controversial SB 1070 bill in Arizona generated
 The controversial SB 1070 bill passed in Arizona in April has attracted a lot of debate on anti illegal immigrant laws in the United States. Some people have argued that the new laws are not any different from other federal immigration laws. The President Obama opposition to the bill has attracted a lot of attention in the United States in the recent past. The main difference between the federal immigration laws and the new law in Arizona is that the law states that the illegal immigrants should be arrested and deported to their countries of origin. Considering the fact that there are over eleven million illegal immigrants in the United States, implementation of such laws would have adverse effects on the law enforcement systems. Treating all these illegal immigrants as criminals would overwhelm the law enforcement systems in the country. moreover, the new laws in Arizona have been challenged in the court where it has been criticized of focusing on law abiding illegal immigrants while the society continue to suffer on the hands of legal immigrants who are a threat to the national security leave alone drug trafficking. This lawsuit has been aimed at advocating for amnesty for law abiding and economically useful illegal immigrants.  

The Homeland Security has issued a statement saying that it is not possible to arrests all illegal immigrants in the United States and deport them. This is because such attempts would alter the balance that has been created for many years taking into account the interests of the immigrants and international relations. However, proponent of the Arizona new approach has argued that there is no harm in trying the new approach. While the federal officials maintains that the Arizona move is unconstitutional since it usurps the role of the federal government, the states has argued that the federal government has failed to do its job which clearly indicates that the new law is not any different from the federal immigration laws. However, the main issue in this debate has been how the law will be enforced.

Granting amnesty will be a benefit to the over eleven million illegal immigrant currently living in the United States. Amnesty involved that government granting forgiveness to crimes committed by the illegal immigrants such as illegal immigration and using false document to work or live in the United States. These illegal immigrants will be given legal citizenship status and will be assimilated into the American society. On the other hand, the federal government has an option of treating the illegal aliens as criminal and arresting for deportation to their home countries. However, this is not going to happen under the leadership of President Obama. The president has stated that his administration has no intentions of shipping millions of people out of America due to the social and economic implications of such a practice as well as it impacts on the law enforcement agencies.

How does the United States benefit from illegal immigration compared to legal migration
There has been controversy on whether the federal government should promote legal immigration into United States for economic reasons to discourage illegal immigration. The benefits of illegal immigration can be clearly understood by comparing it to legal migration. There is no evidence to support the idea that legal immigration is more beneficial relative to illegal immigration. It is not yet determined through credible research that illegal immigration has more cost compared to benefits relative to legal immigration. The United States congress may go ahead and enact reforms in the immigration policies to reduce illegal immigration but the economic benefits of such policies may be insignificant. This points out that the proposed policies to reduce the number of illegal immigrants into the country due to their economic impacts in the society are inconsistent with the intended aim and objectives of the policies.

Very little, if any economic benefits that are accrued by the economy as a result of legal immigration but several economic benefits are accrued from illegal immigration. The basic reason why illegal immigration is advantageous when compared to legal immigration is the sensitivity of illegal migration to the market forces. It has been observed that the largest number of illegal immigrants arrived in the United States when the countrys economy is doing well. The booming economy attracts illegal immigrants from Mexico and Latin American countries who move to regions in America where there is a large job market. Conversely, legal immigration is insensitive to labor market forces and economic trends due to the lengthy procedures in legal migration. There is no doubt the American economy has benefited more from illegal immigrants compared to legal immigrants (Susan, 2006).

How does illegal immigration respond to labor market forces
The concerns that have been raised on the increased number of illegal immigration in the country make sense but it is important to be logical on the economic impacts of illegal immigrants in the country. Illegal immigration is instrumental in the economy of United States as it provides the businesses and industries with the worker force they want. The workers are available when they are needed and where they are wanted due to the sensitivity of illegal immigration to labor market forces. The immigration policies reforms that have been proposed to ensure that the flow of illegal immigrant is more or less the same as the flow of legal immigrant will negatively affect the labor markets. This is because of its effect on the timing of arrival, restriction on skills and labor mobility. This is likely to lower the welfare of the nation rather that raising it in the long run.   Although there are some economic costs incurred as a result of high number of illegal immigrants, the costs are much less compared to the putative benefits to the economy.

The rate at which the native born Americans are attaining higher education has increased over the years. This makes it increasingly had for industries and employers to find low-school level workers. It is becoming increasingly difficult to get construction worker, cleaners, farm workers, unfilled factory jobs or domestic workers. The number of skilled workers has increased steady reducing the number of unskilled and low-skilled workers who are equally important in the economy significantly. These low-skilled workers are abundant in countries such as Mexico. These workers are more than willing to migrate to the United States where better paying jobs are more available. Even considering the economic impacts on the illegal immigrant who could other wise be jobless in their country, it has enormous economic benefit to the immigrant.  These unskilled or low skilled workers can only get to the United States through illegal immigration. The greatest benefit of illegal immigration to the United States is therefore the provision of low skilled workers in the labor market (George, 2003).

Does illegal immigrants exert burden on American resources
 There are no doubts that illegal immigration has negative social and economic in the American society. The most common claim that has been raised against the ever increasing number of illegal immigrants in the country has been the amount of burden these immigrants have exerted on the government resources while not paying taxes It is estimated that the cost of educating illegal immigrant children in the United States is over eleven billion dollars per year.  The illegal immigrants are also capable of using the American health systems since the healthcare workers do not request for identification as a citizen before the individual is given medical attention. They are also entitled to emergency healthcare through the Medicaid program. This has been an extra burden to the federal services and consequently to the federal budget.

Do illegal immigrant workers increase competition for job opportunities in America
Most Americans support the deportation of illegal immigrants because they always believe that illegal immigrant competes for jobs with the American citizens which has a negative effect on the wages. It makes sense to say that illegal immigrants have little or no impact on the wages and Americans are not likely to notice any change in the pay if illegal immigrants suddenly vanish from the workforce but the situation is changing. Initially, illegal immigrants did not create competition in the job market because of its sensitive to labor market and mainly provided low skilled labor and therefore can only compete with high school dropout for jobs who are very few. However, with the increased economic challenges, the number of illegal immigrants moving to America with better skills has increased in the recent past introducing competition in the labor market.

Conclusion
From the reactions of the law makers and members of the public towards the anti illegal immigration laws in Arizona, there is no doubt that illegal immigration is an important social, economic and political issue in America. However, it is important to note that the new immigration law in Arizona is not new at all but the main concern is the aftermath of this legislation. The law is a direct reflection of the federal anti illegal migration laws. But federal agencies such as the department of homeland security as well as the president have been opposed to the law. As the problem of illegal immigration continues to thrive in the United States, there no doubt reforms the federal systems are long overdue. However, the immigration reforms are thorny issues that need a lot of careful consideration. The federal government may decide to grant amnesty to the illegal immigrants which are likely to increase the number of immigrants. On the other hand, it can treat all illegal immigrants as criminals and deport them back to their countries. Considering the number of illegal immigrant in the country, arresting and deporting the illegal immigrants in America may be overwhelming to the federal security agencies. Any move that has been suggested seems problematic resulting into a standoff. The Americans are deeply divided on the issue with some supporting deportation while others arguing in favor of granting amnesty to the illegal immigrants.

There is a general feeling among the Americans that time has come for the federal laws that prohibit illegal immigration to be implemented. However, the consequences of such actions are not clear yet. There is no doubt that the enactment of the law in Arizona was one of the hardest ever, but the implications may be even harder. The issue of illegal immigrants children in the states has attracted a lot of attention in the recent past.  Opponents of the bill have argued that that new law may require the school administrators in the state to maintain a legal status record of all children in the school. This is likely to discourage illegal immigrants from enrolling their children in public schools and undermine parental participation in the childs education. This may change the role of a teacher from an educator to federal agent and consequently undermine the quality of education. The big question is whether other states will follow sought and take the responsibility of implementing the laws that have been shirked for decades.