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Jasmine Mira
ENG 111
Chiquita Boyd
02 December 2014
Together We Can Make It Nation Wide

According to the Census Bureau's 2009 American Community Survey, the U.S.
immigrant population was 38,517,234, or 12.5 percent of the total U.S. population
(Batalova and Terrazas 5). In a matter of 5 years, have these statistics continued to
increase? Certainly. There were [slowly increasing] 11.3 million unauthorized
immigrants living in the U.S. in March 2013, according to a preliminary Pew Research
Center estimate (Passel, Cohn, Krogstad, and Gonzales-Barrera 2). A question that
many American citizens may ask themselves is, Is this an advantage or disadvantage
to our country? The advantages of immigration definitely outweigh the advantages
and should be recognized nation-wide. Not only should it be recognized nationwide, but the persevering, dedicated and responsible immigrants should receive
citizenship to the United States of America.
Most immigrants in the United States leave their homeland to make a better life
for their families and themselves. Because immigrants have left their country, it has
helped the United States in many different ways. According to the New York Times, the
chief actuary of the Social Security Administration claims that undocumented workers
have contributed close to 10% ($300 billion) of the Social Security Trust Fund

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(Goodman 7). Immigrants not only come to American to work for big companies, but
they also start their own businesses. According to the Small Business Administration,
immigrants are 30 percent more likely to start a business in the United States than nonimmigrants, and 18 percent of all small business owners in the United States are
immigrants(Furman and Gray 3).
For an immigrant, it takes a lot of dedication to make it to the United States and
live in a stable environment. Creating a small business is a huge step that not only
allows jobs for other immigrants, but also, for Americans. Small businesses owned by
immigrants employed an estimated 4.7 million people in 2007, and according to the
latest estimates, these small businesses generated more than $776 billion annually
(Furman and Gray 4). Immigration positively affects U.S. workers wages and
employment.
Immigration also helps the United States economically by increasing income for
American workers. With immigration increasing, the United States has increased the
earnings for American workers that have gone further than a high school degree.
Between 1990 and 2004, increased immigration was correlated with increasing
earnings of Americans by 0.7 percent and is expected to contribute to an increase of 1.8
percent over the long-term, according to a study by the University of California at Davis
(Furman and Gray 8). Economists find that immigrants coming to America, tends to
increase U.S. born workers. In fact, studies have shown that immigration has caused
small but positive gains in wages of American-born workers of between 0.1 percent and
0.6 percent between 1990 and 2006 (Greenstone and Looney 6). Immigrants enhance
the U.S. not only economically, but in many other ways.

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Immigrants offer skills that are scarce in the U.S. and this bring various
advantages. While some immigrants are creating their own small businesses, other
immigrants are becoming engineers, scientists, and innovators. Besides 18 percent of
immigrants owning small businesses, they represent 33 percent of engineers, 27
percent of mathematicians, statisticians, and computer scientist, and 24 percent of
physical scientists. According to the Partnership for a New American Economy, in
2011, foreign-born inventors were credited with contributing to more than 75 percent of
patents issued to the top 10 patent-producing universities (Furman and gray 7).
Immigrants leave their country to live a better life. This means that they set goals and
standards for themselves that they must reach in order to become successful.
What does cultural diversity mean? According to the dictionary, MerriamWebster, cultural diversity is the existence of a variety of cultural or ethnic groups within
a society, that is introduced the U.S. by immigration. Most people enjoy change and
variety. Immigrants moving in means more ethnic restaurants to dine in, more cultural
centers to enjoy, and easier access to products only available in other countries
(Benefits of Immigration 3). Because immigration has always been controversial in
America, the diversity in culture has been enhanced, but not recognized. In the mid1800s, Irish immigrants were stereotyped as lazy drunks. Poles, Italians, Russian Jews
were believed to be too different ever to assimilate into American life (Griswold 1).
America is a nation of immigrants. Immigrants have kept the U.S. demographically
young, enriched our culture and added to our productive capacity as a nation,
enhancing our influence in the world. Because immigration has always been so
controversial, there are always opposing opinions to such matter.

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Many Americans may believe that immigration, instead of benefitting the United
States, it is deteriorating the nation. Many people believe that immigrants to do not pay
taxes only because all immigrants are in America illegally. According to Leo Anchondo
of Justice for Immigrants, Immigrants pay taxes, in the form of income, property, sales,
and taxes at the federal and state level. Now of course, not all immigrants pay their
taxes but research shows that documented immigrants pay between $90 and $140
billion a year in federal, state, and local taxes. Undocumented immigrants also pay
income taxes as proven by the Socials Security Administrations Suspense File. In this
file, there are taxes found that cannot be matched to workers name and social security
numbers.
A major myth about immigration is that immigrants are a drain on the American
economy. People like Andrew Sum, Mykhaylo Trubskyy, and Ishwar Khatiwada know
that this statement is false so they clarify,
During the 1990s, half of all new workers were foreign-born, filling gaps
left by native-born workers in both the high- and low-skill ends of the
spectrum. Immigrants fill jobs in key sectors, start their own businesses,
and contribute to a thriving economy. The net benefit of immigration to the
U.S. is nearly $10 billion annually. As Alan Greenspan points out, 70% of
immigrants arrive in prime working age. That means we haven't spent a
penny on their education, yet they are transplanted into our workforce and
will contribute $500 billion toward our social security system over the next
20 years.

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Regardless of what most people believe, the truth, is that immigrants are an advantage
and not a burden. Immigrants offer many different aspects about themselves that can
only enhance America as a nation.
As previously stated, based on how controversial the topic of immigration is, it
should be clarified to every American in the nation. What should be clarified? That
immigration is an asset to America and not a hindrance. Immigrants deserve to be a
part of this country because of all the inspiring attributes they provide. The positive
benefits of immigration far outweigh the disadvantages in many ways. Change should
be welcomed as immigration strengthens this country.

Works Cited
Anchondo, Leo. Top 10 Myths About Immigration. American Immigration Council,
2010. n.d. Web. 18 Nov 2014.
Batalova, J., & Terrazas, A. Frequently Requested Statistics on Immigrants and
Immigration in the United States. Migration Policy Institute, 9 Dec. 2010. Web.
18 Nov 2014.
"Benefits of Immigration." 6 Sept 2011. Web. 18 Nov. 2014.
Furman, J., & Gray, D. Ten Ways Immigrants Help Build and Strengthen Our
Economy. The White House Blog, 12 Jul 2012. Web. 18 Nov 2014.
Goodman, H.J. Illegal immigrants benefit the U.S. economy. The Hill, 23 Apr. 2014.
Web. 18 Nov 2014.

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Greenstone, M., & Looney, A. What New Immigrants Could Mean for American
Wages. The Hamilton Project, 2 Aug. 2013. Web. 8 Nov 2014
Griswold, Daniel. Immigrants have enriched American culture and enhanced our
influence in the world. Cato Institute, 18 Feb. 2002. Web. 18 Nov 2014.
Passel, J.S., Dvera, C., Jens, M.K., & Gonzales-Barrera, A. As Growth Stalls,
Unauthorized Immigrant Population Becomes More Settled. Pew Research
Hispanic Trends Projects, 3 Sept. 2014. Web. 18 Nov 2014.