Illegal Immigration 1

It appears to me that there are many arguments on this debate that are poor or at least misplaced. I will be discussing the merits of these arguments and why they just don't work for me. Here are some of the arguments I have heard that I think are poor or misplaced.

"Its illegal alien not illegal immigrant"
"Illegal immigration is bad for the economy"
"Immigrants ought to learn and speak English to assimilate with this country; illegal immigrants typically do not"
"They send their wages to be spent in Mexico rather than the US"
"They don't pay taxes"



"Its illegal alien not illegal immigrant"

Here is a definition of immigrant from dictionary.com
immigrant: im·mi·grant n.

1. A person who leaves one country to settle permanently in another.

You can say that some persons in our country illegally are not immigrants, but for the vast majority, they are immigrants, they just have not gone through the legal immigration process.

I think the people who generally make this arguement think "illegal immigrant" is meant to spin the issue and arouse sympathy from unsuspecting listeners. I don't see how this is so as it contains the very word "illegal". One may make that arguement for "undocumented worker," but "illegal immigrant" is specific and accurate.

"Illegal immigration is bad for the economy"

It may be that in its current state, illegal immigration is bad for the economy, but I don't think this is so. It is feared that illegal immigrants use the resources of our partially socialist economy (heathcare and public schools) without paying into it. Even if this were true, there are numerous economic benefits to having people who are willing to work for a cheaper wage. Capitalists should not complain about US workers losing their jobs due to cheap labor especially when our unemployment rate is lower then ever. This is supply and demand, and the cheaper workers means cheaper goods for everyone. Cheap labor is basically the competition of the worker market. When has competition been bad for the economy? Also, one could argue that the cheaper labor creates more jobs. Not only will there be more companies able to employ workers, but there will be more production.

Anyway, shutting down hundreds of businesses, whether directly or by shipping the workforce out of the country would be an economic disaster. There would be less businesses able to afford the market, and they would go out of business. Then there would be even less jobs. Not only that, but companies would raise prices. I don't know if this means $5 milk, but I wouldn't be surprised. Less businesses, less jobs, and less buying power: not what I call an economical solution.

I will be dealing with the other arguments in subsequent posts.