Nipuna Indula

Essay 3B

Prof. Amy Takebe

4/12/17

Deporting the migrants – Sensible or Asinine

Immigration is a loaded word. Immigrants coming into US represent a vast array of people,

ranging from PhD holders and million dollar investors coming straight with a Greencard and a

professional career to those desperate souls sneaking across oursouthern border with Mexico.

There are immigrants who come here legally after a lengthy immigration process, most likely

starting with enrolling at a US college, getting a job in a US company after graduation, waiting

for many years (sometimes decades) until an employer or another US citizen (your spouse or an

eligible relative) sponsors you and ultimately getting the revered US citizenship and a shot at

American dream after spending thousands of dollars in between. Then there are illegals. People

who too wants to find happiness and prosperity in their lives but being cursed with the fact that

they are born in places that allows neither. They too take the journey to that ‘shining city on

the hill’ or the land of opportunity, where anyone can succeed with hard work and

perseverance. Most of them have neither money, nor education nor connections needed for

the smooth immigration process. Their path to the land of opportunity is often laid through a

dangerousand shady routes run by smuggling cartels, where dangers can sometime mean life or

death. And coming to America does not necessarily mean automatic admonition from those

sins of poverty. Often living in below poverty conditions illegal migrants are forced to live in
anonymity in America. Not having documents means they are unable to find good employment

or seek any help from the government that are available for Americans. It’s not rare to see

undocumented immigrants toiling away decades for a minimum or below minimum wage jobs.

But at the same time America, as any other country, is a nation of laws. We have our border

regulations and an obligation to defend those borders. Illegal immigrants are often

undocumented and thus its far easier for them to commit a crime and hide from law. Most of

the illegal drug trade happening between Mexico and the US is carried out by drug cartels that

rely on illegal immigrants ‘drug couriers, who, given their inability to get better paying jobs in

the US, has more incentives to resort to illegal activities than their American counterparts.

Again, its necessary not to fall into the sin of over generalization here. Not all illegal immigrants

are criminals. There are millions of undocumented migrants here in the US that have nothing

more in mind that t work hard and provide a honest living for their families. But no one can

deny the fact that the presence of a porous border and millions of undocumented people

coming across is an invitation to crime.

Another caveat of immigration is the economic cost associated with migration. In fact this falls

across the realms of both legal and illegal immigration.

No matter what you think, US is an extremely rich nation. Any job here pays far more than what

that job would pay in most places around the world. To get the things in perspective, the daily

minimum wage of Mexico is $4.50 per day while a minimum wage worker in US can earn that

much after working less than an hour. Even in white-collar sectors, it’s more of the same. An

Engineer in India or Sri Lanka would be considered lucky to earn over $2000 per month after

having several years of experience while in US an engineer gets hired right off the college for
twice of that amount. Therefore, when such economic allures exist for people to stay and

immigrate to the US they do the most logical thing, which is they migrate in droves and stay in

the US. In addition, when there is a huge influx of people looking for work, employees or

companies do they most economically sensible thing. They try to hire the person with the

lowest bid for salary, thus driving down the wages for the jobs. In other words when there are

South American immigrants willing to mow lawns or wash dishes for below minimum wage,

paid under the table (meaning the workers would have little rights on job), owners of a small

diner or a construction manager running a building site would be willing to give them the job

than to an American worker. When there are Asian migrant professionals willing to work for

$3000 a month for a job that would have required paying an American professional upwards of

$4000 a month a profit driven company in silicon valley would definitely hire the immigrant.

Given the prospect of higher wages here than in his home country this is a win-win situation for

both the immigrant and for the employer. But the only probable losers in those scenario would

be the poor American single mom trying to make a buck working as a dishwasher or the

American college graduate saddled with student loan debt trying to get his foot into the

cooperate world.

So, apart from the “They are taking all our jobs” rhetoric coming from the high school dropout

white nationalists who are living in their moms basements and cringing in envy about the plush

cars and apartments that their Asian classmates who are good at math and sciences would one

day earn , there is a real economic consequence of unchecked illegal AND legal migration to the

nation. Again such concerns can be mitigated only by implementing systems such as those in

place in countries like Australia or Canada where the regional governments control the
migration through employment by allowing companies only to hire migrants to a list of skilled

positions that are genuinely in shortage of native workers. One positive development is the

RAISE act the present government is proposing which prioritized the demand for skills the

migrant posses rather than family ties to someone who is already in the US. In the current

system of immigration, a high school graduate with a close relative in US can easily get the

Greencard than someone with a PhD but no US sponsors.

Overall, I would like to draw a parallel between illegal immigration and illegal drug use. Not all

illegal drug users are criminals, nor all of them should be thrown in jail. There a millions of drug

users who are or are willing to be productive members of the society if given a chance. But at

the same time no one can deny the fact that higher the number illegal drug users more the risk

of crime and severe the socio economic consequences a society would have to pay. So what a

sensible society would do to combat drug use is not to go after each individual users but to

prevent the influx of more and more illegal drugs in to the society and punish those who are

profiting off the illegal drug trade. Similarly, as I have demonstrated in above paragraphs, more

the illegal immigration, more negative consequences a society would have to face. However, a

sensible answer to that problem would not be going after each illegal immigrant and deporting

them but securing the borders (through a fence, more border patrol or even by a wall) so that

more illegal immigrants would not be able to come in and by punishing the organized criminals

who make a profit off the back of those desperate to come in to the US and lastly giving a fair

chance for those who are already here illegally and leading productive lives to become US

citizens .
Reference

1. Step by Step on a Desperate Trek by Migrants through Mexico

(The New York times – Aug. 02, 2016)

[https://www.nytimes.com/2016/02/08/world/americas/mexico-migrants-central-

america.html?_r=0]

2. The Economic Costs of Immigration (US News – Sept.26, 2016)

[https://www.usnews.com/news/articles/2016-09-23/study-examines-immigrations-

economic-costs]

3. 'Reforming American Immigration for a Strong Economy Act'' or the ''RAISE Act''

[https://www.cotton.senate.gov/files/documents/170802_New_RAISE_Act_Bill_Text.pdf]