Competition Among Citizens and Illegal Immigrants

Last week I discussed the issue with illegal immigrants and healthcare, and the week before that I discussed the competition between illegal immigrants and American citizens in the workforce. This week I am going to talk about the bush administration trying to give illegal immigrants access to social security through the Social Security Act.

Social security is a government program funded through payroll taxes by American citizens. When I hear social security, I think about the elderly and disability benefits. According to FAIR.com, under current law, an alien who worked illegally in the U.S. can only become eligible for Social Security benefits by becoming a legal U.S. resident. But officials at the State Department and Social Security Administration (SSA) are preparing a plan that would pay benefits to illegal aliens who have returned to Mexico. The bush administration wants to give benefits to illegal immigrants if they return to Mexico. This proposal is an agreement with Mexico and some Americans are furious. “Adding millions of lawbreakers to the Social Security system would be a slap in the face to our retirees”, says Dana Rohrabacher in a letter in FAIR.com. Dan Burton, Indiana’s 5th district, says, “By giving social services to illegal immigrants, we are implicitly condoning their illegal activity and undermining the efforts and commitment of immigrants who choose to respect and abide by our laws, and enter America the legal way .”

The question I want to know is: Why are we trying to give illegal immigrants so many benefits? I have discussed three topics: workforce, healthcare, and social security. All of the topics benefit illegal immigrant, but seem to be a disadvantage to American citizens in some form. Is the government on our side or theirs? Like I said in my previous blogs I do not oppose immigration because it is the reason the United States is so diverse today, but I think is time the government step up and make heavier consequences on illegal immigrants.

Competition Among Citizens and Illegal Immigrants

Illegal Immigration is an issue where people have opposite opinions. Some people are lenient to the issue and some strongly opposes. People that are lenient wound say illegal immigrants have not done anything to bother them, so why worry about them? Well there are issues in politics that has to be answered. Last week I talked about issues with illegal immigrants in the workforce. In an article from newsweek.com I found something interesting. There is a demographic reason for anti-immigration, according to newsweek.com. Illegal immigrants have started chasing jobs in other states than California, New York, and Texas. The population of illegal immigrants in those states has decreased, but this is not a good change in my opinion. The in-immigrants that left have populated other areas of the U.S., and this has caused competition with citizens in other areas.

Not only is illegal immigration a problem with jobs, there is a rising issues with healthcare. Illegal immigrants have brought diseases into the United States. Tuberculosis, leprosy, and typhoid are just to name a few. Tuberculosis was a disease that was under control in the U.S., but has become readily evident around the border, according to fairus.com. This is a problem that could be prevented if illegal immigrants came through examination upon becoming illegal.

Bringing diseases into the U.S. is not the only issue with health care. Should benefits be handed to illegal immigrants? The health care bill recently passed by the house of representatives has propsed providing health care for illegal immigrants. According to heritage.com, all illegal immigrant women who do not have private health insurance and who give birth inside the United States will have the full cost of childbirth paid by the U.S. taxpayers. Should U.S. citizens have to pay taxes in order to provide health care for illegal aliens? There has been steps to turn this around. Usatoday.com states, “The University of Texas Medical Branch in Galveston is considering denying cancer care to such immigrants.” When it comes to children that are illegal immigrants, there is no slack also. According to usatoday.com, the effort to add illegal immigration children to the State Children’s Health Insurance was blocked in the senate. Is this too far? This could be prevented if illegal immigrants become illegal, so they can purchase health insurance for adults and their children.

Competition Among Citizens and Illegal Immigrants

Immigration is the foundation of the United States of America. In 1607, individual English settlers came to America to seek religious freedom and personal fortunes. The English immigrants journeyed to the land of the states and made thirteen colonies. The new settlers created jobs that strengthened what we know today as the U.S.A. As decades passed, people from all over the world with different ethical backgrounds immigrated to the United States. Mexicans, Africans, and Asians are some immigrants that journeyed to the United States.
Today illegal immigration has become an economic issue with American prosperity. Americans with low-skills, often high school drop outs, have to compete with illegal immigrants over low-skills jobs. There has been massive debt in the United States over the past years. The Total Public Debt Outstanding was approximately 93 percent of the annual GDI (gross domestic income). This massive debt has caused plenty of job loss and has also caused citizens to settle for low-skilled jobs. Illegal Immigrants are taking low-skilled jobs such as: carpet layers, plumbers, and construction workers. According to The American Resistance, between 40 to 50 percent of wage losses of low-skilled Americans is due to the in-immigration of low-skilled workers. FAIR, the Federation for American Immigration Reform, states today, more than 15.4 million Americans are without a job and are actively looking for work. At the same time, estimates conclude that 8.3 million illegal aliens are part of America’s workforce despite their employment being a violation of U.S. law. Is this fair? Should illegal immigrants be able to come to America and take the jobs of rightful U.S. citizens?
I don’t oppose immigration because immigration is the reason the United States is so diverse today, but I do believe illegal immigration is not fair. An immigrant coming to the U.S. should take the proper steps to becoming a citizen. Proper citizenship will make fair competition with low-skilled American workers. This could promote Americans to accept immigrants in society today.

photo from flickercc.bluemoutains.net