‘The grass is always greener on the other side of the fence’ and that happens to be one of the main motivating factors behind illegal immigration. While earlier on, illegal immigration was just about tolerated, the current US government has started to crack down on the same which forces us to take a closer look at some of the negative effects associated with it. Illegal immigration can also be good in the sense it provides companies with cheap labor. But other than that, illegal immigration is mostly bad and here’s why
- Low-income jobs: While it is true that illegal immigration provides companies with a ready source of cheap labor, the fact remains that it depresses the wage for the low-level entry jobs. Furthermore, as these immigrants are ready to work at an extremely low wage, they are often preferred over American citizens, resulting in a loss of jobs for the American worker, even If these jobs are menial or entry-level jobs.
- Loss in tax receipts: Illegal immigration causes a drop in tax receipts on two accounts; for starters, companies can get away from having to pay any taxes if they hire illegal migrants and for another, illegal migrants who land a job are not required to pay any taxes either. Illegal immigrants are not required to pay any taxes since they are in the country illegally.
- Educational costs: Children of illegal immigrants are still required to attend government-funded school; and while the fees are low and are generally covered by taxes paid by honest taxpayers, the fact remains that these children face an uneven future. Since their parents are illegal immigrants, they cannot become American citizens and can be sent back to their country of origin at any point in time. This results in high stress which can have a long-term health impact.
- Healthcare: Illegal immigrants do not have access to basic healthcare but very few doctors or physicians will turn away an illegal immigrant who happens to be sick. More often than not the taxpayer ends up footing these expensive medical bills as well. According to Pew research, the number of illegal immigrants in the US was around 11 million in 2015, and when you take into account the rising health care costs, it is apparent to all that illegal immigration is fast turning into a crisis of massive proportions.
- Crime: Since illegal immigrants can only apply for entry level and/ or menial jobs, most turn to a life of crime and violence. This has led to an endless cycle of violence with more migrants turning to a life of crime. Apart from this, the restrictions and the fact that they can only apply for low-end jobs has often pushed the person to become addicted to one substance or the other.
These are some of the negative aspects of illegal immigration which is why we need to consider this carefully and take the required measures necessary to limit and contain the problem called illegal immigration.
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