I have to write a persuasive paper on illegal hiring, and I'm supposed to persuade the audience why it is wrong. I have to look at both sides of the argument. And if anyone knows the ORIGINAIL author of the story Joe LEgal vs Jose Illegal, Please tell me.
Joe legal V Jose illegal
When someone says illegal immigration to you, you think illegal immigrants from a third world country that come into America seeking a better life from the one they had before. But are these illegal immigrants actually hurting or helping? Here is part of a statement found on freerepublic.com:
You have 2 families..."Joe Legal" and "Jose Illegal". Both families have 2 parents, 2 children and live in California . "Joe Legal" works in construction, has a Social Security Number, and makes $25.00 per hour with payroll taxes deducted..."Jose Illegal" also works in construction, has "NO" Social Security Number, and gets paid $15.00 cash "under the table".
So what's so wrong with that? Both families have an income to be able to put food on the table. Some people would think it is helping the economy, because companies can hire workers for less pay so prices lower. But what about the legal American people who work and pay their taxes, like Joe legal. Perhaps it's really hurting the economy because not everyone is paying the required taxes. Companies need to follow the guidelines of the Immigration Reform and Control Act (IRCA) of 1986 which makes it illegal to knowingly hire or recruit illegal immigrants. There are pros and cons relating to both arguments about if it's really helping or hurting the American economy, it is helping by putting more money into companies so they can hire more workers and lower their prices. It is also hurting America. By hiring these illegal immigrants, companies can pay them a much lower wage and the worker doesn't even have to pay taxes. Also, if illegal immigrants are being hired, legal citizens are not getting jobs and then unemployment rises. America should stop looking the other way and stop illegal hiring because it is hurting the economy.
So we have two different people, one who is a legal hardworking taxpaying American, Joe Legal, and the other who is illegal and equally hardworking, Jose Illegal. And let's say that two different construction companies of equal popularity hired one of each. According to Fredric H. Fischer of the employee relations law journal, "Employers should implement procedures for verifying and monitoring the employability of all employees and new hires." Now, not every company will follow this, they need to save money by hiring the cheapest labor, who is Jose Illegal. So the company who hired Jose Illegal doesn't have to record any time that he had worked and the company can pay him what they want to pay him. The other company who hired Joe legal has to record every hour he works and make sure that he pays the correct amount of taxes. According to IRCA, "employers must inspect and verify documentation which establishes both the identity and employment authorization of every new employee, regardless of circumstance." Companies who do not provide record of their employees can be fined up to ten thousand dollars. So the company who hired Jose Illegal would have to pay a hefty fine and it would be costing the company more money to keep the worker than to just hire a legal worker.
One of the biggest issues of the American economy today is that people are not spending enough money so that companies and corporations cannot make more money to hire more workers. It's really just a big circle. One way companies are beating this is to fill low paying jobs which only illegal workers can fill and even though they are being paid illegally and not paying income taxes they are still paying other taxes. Illegal immigrants are providing seven billion dollars annually to social security, according to a New York article in 2005, ". . . the estimated seven million or so illegal immigrant workers in the United States are now providing the system with a subsidy of as much as $7 billion a year. . . Moreover, the money paid by illegal immigrants and their employers is factored into all Social Security Administration's projections." Most illegal immigrants pay their fair share of sales taxes which contributes to social security, and almost none of them even use social security because they use false social security cards only as a way to work. So Jose Illegal pays for Joe Legal's social security, how is that fair at all? Jose Illegal will never even receive any social security benefits, but he still must help pay for social security if he wants the things he needs.
Another big issue of the American economy is that unemployment keeps rising. According to Bureau of Labor Statistics, "The largest statistically significant job losses occurred in California (-579,400), Texas (-276,000)." This is over the past year. Why is that? It's because California and Texas have the largest amount of illegal immigrants out of all the states, according to the US citizenship and immigration services. But how does illegal immigration affect the United State unemployment rate? If no one is spending money due to the economy then companies are not making as much money so they need to hire the cheapest labor they can, so they hire illegal immigrants and if illegal immigrants are the only ones being hired, then legal Americans aren't being hired. If Americans aren't working then the government isn't receiving as much income taxes.
Hiring Joe Legal rather than Jose Illegal is much better for the American economy because America needs to not depend on breaking the law to fund social security. If we hire legal American workers than we can get much more money flowing in the economy by the unemployment dropping and Americans spending more money. It would be great if the immigrants coming to this country illegally would get the proper and legal documentation to work here. Even though hiring illegal immigrants is beneficial to the economy, it is not the way we should be solving the economic meltdown, plus it isn't helping the illegal immigrants either. They are paying for our social security and they get none of the benefits when they retire. Open your eyes America, help the legal Americans and the illegal immigrants by supporting legal hiring, not illegal hiring.
So Jose Illegal pays for Joe Legal's social security, how is that fair at all?
This is a kind of run on sentence called a comma splice. Use a semi-colon to fix it.
So Jose Illegal pays for Joe Legal's social security; how is that fair at all?
This part about Jose paying for Joe's Social Security is not a very strong argument against hiring illegal aliens, because the illegal aliens obviously don't mind, as they are trying to get jobs.
One thing that concerns me about this essay is that it immediately seems like racism when you talk about Joe Legal and Jose Illegal. I know you are just quoting someone else's play on words, but this approach is immature and quite racist.
Your whole essay seems to be making an argument based on what is good for American taxpayers, the American employment rate, and so forth. However, you could also argue based on ethical philosophy, or even based on what is most advantageous for the employer.
I know you are required to argue against illegal hiring, but what is your real opinion. The essay seems to reveal some compassion, even though you are supposed to be arguing against it! :-)
If Americans aren't working then the government isn't receiving as much income tax
revenue .
