Immigration reform in the United States during the economic crysis period. Issue of Importance essay

This is a UT Austin transfer essay.

Prompt: Personal Essay

Choose an issue of importance to you - the issue could be personal, school related, local, political, or international in scope - and write an essay in which you explain the significance of that issue to yourself, your family, your community, or your generation.

Essay:

The economic crisis has captured the attention of Washington and the American public but immigration reform should not be forgotten. The legislation effort of 2007 failed but we should not let it fade from the public eye. It is difficult to warm American workers to loosened legalization processes and larger guest worker programs, and infinitely more so in the current economic climate. However, we should not let political difficulty derail necessary changes.

As unemployment rises so does the political power of domestic labor. During economic downturns people want their government to support local markets by restricting imports. This is as true for labor as it is for goods and services. As American industries call for increased tariffs, American labor interests will fight immigration reform. American workers will fear foreign competition and politicians will shy from compromise.

With the failure of the 2007 bill Americans effectively turned away. Republican and Democratic legislators shot down compromises and instead chose not to act at all. And so we are to forget the 38 million immigrants who still live and work in our country as less than citizens.

As our government withholds citizenship from them it also pays more than it receives. The Center For Immigration Studies found that the net deficit of illegal immigrants using more in services then paying in taxes totaled $10 billion at the federal level in 2002. It's clear now that the federal government can not bock at $10 billion.

This hypocrisy hits local governments even harder. School districts, hospitals, cities, counties and state governments themselves are feeling the sharp pain of falling property values. At the same time they provide many services to illegal immigrants who do not have the right to return the favor by paying taxes. Will we allow schools to close while preventing immigrant parents from helping to fund them?

Immigration is a significant aspect of our economy. We should not ignore it, or forget attempts to reform. To do nothing is unacceptable.

Your essay requires a stronger argument, starting with clearer definitions of your key terms. For instance, what do you mean by immigration reform? That could be anything from granting total amnesty to all illegal immigrants in the country to rounding up said illegals and deporting them before sealing the border with a giant fence. Clearly, there is a lot of ground between those extremes, too. What is your stance? How would you solve the issue? Also, you spend perhaps too much time dwelling on the economy. It's fine to argue that illegal immigrants use more gov't services than they pay in taxes, as that answers the question of why the issue of immigration needs addressing. However, it would be foolish to believe that immigration reform is necessary as a solution to America's economic woes. Even if illegal immigrants cost the government 10 billion a year, without contributing anything to economic growth (which seems unlikely), you are talking about 1% of the country's yearly deficit. In other words, it would be a good idea to save money through immigration reform, but the amount of money involved is so small that you probably want to discuss other reasons why the reform is necessary.

You are young but already brain-washed by the "independent" (wink) media. The media want to blame the immigrants for the government failures. The government controls the media in one way or another. Same story has been going on for decades now. But they don't mention most of the immigrants take the menial or low-paid jobs that an average US-born citizen would not touch with a 10-foot pole AND they pay taxes. Not to mention HALF of the "US" army soldiers ARE IMMIGRANTS (did you know the US government give US citizenship to immigrants who go to war as US soldiers?).

$10 billion is nothing compared to what the US governments has WASTED for nothing in the past 60 years. Just check the facts: propublica.org/special/government-bailouts

If you remember your ancestors have also been immigrants at one point (unless you are a Native Indian) then you should realize your statements are ignorant to say at least. $10 billion spent on HUMANS (immigrants are humans if you didn't know) versus $1000billion spent 2008 YEAR ALONE on institutions that still have no idea about a recovery plan - what would you choose?

You should probably try to avoid the sort of illogic found in Rich Monte's post when revising your essay. That the government may have wasted trillions of dollars on non-immigration related projects that failed is absolutely no reason why they should spend ten billion dollars, or for that matter one cent, on illegal immigrants who, by the very nature of being illegal, are presumably ineligible by law for most, if not all, government services. The point is that the government is spending so much money overall that the amount lost through funds spent on services for illegal immigrants is negligible when it comes to helping the government out of its financial difficulties, so you need to give other reasons why the issue is important.

Also, in the service of debunking mindless ideological claptrap:

I imagine that many U.S.-born American citizens would take menial jobs if they found themselves facing starvation and homelessness as an alternative. Besides, if the labor market were so small that there were far more menial jobs than people willing to take them, then employers would be forced to pay higher wages for those jobs, making them more attractive. Basic market forces at work.

I don't see how illegal immigrants could possibly pay taxes without risking deportation.

Also, if the U.S. government gives an immigrant citizenship, then the immigrant is no longer illegal.

Then can you explain why MY TAX MONEY is spent on immigrants who may be eligible to become US citizens once they served in the army? Technically and logically when they serve the US army they are still immigrants and the US citizens pay their money for their training, gear, food, armor.


Would customers be happy to go tomorrow to a store and find out the prices of their foods or services went up overnight (because the employers were forced to hire 'legal' workers and pay them more)? I don't think so. But then there would be nobody to blame (the media won't blame employers for hiring legal workers) except for the government and that would be unacceptable situation for them. So the government plays the devil's advocate and everybody is 'happy' (ie. brain-washed).


The financial departament has nothing to do with the citizenship department. By default people who pay taxes are not being recorded or checked by the citizenship department.

Feel free to read this article:

washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/06/04/AR20060 60400965.html

Yes, they are still immigrants, but not necessarily illegal ones. Presumably, any immigrant can be declared legal by the government at any time if the government wishes to do so. So, logically, if the U.S. army wishes to treat those immigrants who enlist as legal, regardless of their original, pre-enlistment status, it can do so. I notice many of your arguments seem to involve treating legal and illegal immigrants as the same group, whereas, the problem arises because they are different.

Customers are never happy when prices increase. What exactly is your point? This has no bearing on what the government should do when dealing with illegal immigrants.

I could read the article, but the Washington Post is part of the mainstream media that you say is trying to brainwash me, so why would I?

Actually, I did read it (I just wanted to point out that it is illogical to claim that the MSM is trying to brainwash me while simultaneously pointing me to a MSM article to make your point). What it says is that legal immigrants pay their fair share of taxes, while illegal immigrants pay less because they are paid under the table or off the books. The employers may set this up so they can pay less than minimum wage, but the illegal immigrants agree to it to avoid the risk of deportation. If you are in a country illegally, you don't want to give the government information about you.

eharvey03: I apologize for feeding the troll and getting off topic, but this sort of self-contradictory nonsense really, really annoys me. At the very least, you might get some ideas for how you want to argue your essay by reading our exchanges.

RICH, PLEASE CHECK OUT THE ESSAY FORUM CONTRIBUTOR PAGE! We need smart people like you to stay involved with Essay Forum! :) (It looks good on a resume to be a contributor.)

Also, Rich, I have to delete the content from that article, sorry! No more pasting content that appears alsewhere. :)

How about "cannot" instead of "can not" here: The economic crisis has captured the attention of Washington and the American public but immigration reform can not be forgotten.

Even better would be "should not"

Oops, never use the word "foreigner" unless you want to sound intolerant.

...using more in services than paying in taxes totaled $10 billion at the federal level in 2002. Wow, only $10 billion? Well, to me, that sounds like $10 billion well-spent, because immigrants are trying to get better lives, and they are as human as I am. I am so lucky to have been born in Massachusetts; I don't even have to sneak across any border.

As I type this, I have not yet even looked at the long debate that I assume followed your post... I'll look at it now! :)

Wow, that was better than I thought it would be! Despite the disagreement, Sean and Rich both pointed out some important things, really important! There is no simple answer to the issue; Americans are the rich person, and illegal immigrants are the struggling relatives. All deficits aside, America is a person of SOME MEANS! For sure. So, what is the rich person to do about his or her struggling relatives? Help them all, and you will be broke, too!

We Americans represent the sort of rich person who is not self-made, but rather, born into wealth. So, that makes me think we should share the wealth as much as possible.

Some of the greatest people I know are illegal immigrants.

Anyway, your essay is just such a bad idea! As you can see, you have a very good chance of offending the person reading it. If I had to choose between you and an applicant who seemed more compassionate, I would probably choose in favor of the other guy! And even if I agreed with you, the fact would remain that the essay makes no clear suggestion about how to fix the problem. It's necessarily wishy-washy.

How awful it is that humans create borders! That's where this weird, UNNATURAL problem (of who belongs where) started.

Monte you are so clearly ignorant you almost warrant no response. Almost. I am not young. You know what they say about assumptions. I do know that non legalized citizens serve in the military. They are no where near half the population of the Army but you knew that. You just felt liked squeaking in a lie to bolster your argument. You know what they say about 66% of most statistics. I have served in the Army for 6 years now. The Army does not award citizenship to soldiers that deploy, but I'm beating a dead horse. You know you're argument was 99% BS.

My paper states the need for reform. It uses economic data to highlight the importance of the issue. That data does not come from any media. It comes from economic analysts.

I'm not making a statement that illegals need to be run from the country or that they are an unwanted part of our society, far from it. My personal opinion is that we need to work to legalize more immigrants. That is how they become tax payers. To let the 07 legislation fail and not address the 38 million illegal immigrants in our country is absurd. We should not hide our head because it's too difficult. That data is in there to strengthen my central argument on the importance of immigration as an issue, not to make an argument either way about immigration policy.


You're right about should not.

I use the word foreigner there on purpose. In that sentence I am making the point that during economic slides, immigration reform is difficult because local workers see immigration reform as something that adds more competition to their shrinking job market. Our workers see any newly legalized citizens as foreigners. I don't understand how that is unclear? I dedicate the entire 2nd paragraph to flushing out the point.


It's really funny that someone can even say "only 10 billion" but judging by these responses maybe I need to clarify my point in the paper. I did go on to say that a county education system reported 9 billion (!) in net loss to undocumented immigrants.

Sean:
The prompt is to "explain the significance of the issue". My aim was to make the argument that immigration is still significant not to make an argument about specific types of legislation. I don't believe a transfer application warrants a full persuasive essay about the issue. I tried to use some figures to tie immigration, a fading issue, to the current hot issue of our economy. Did I fail to meet the prompt in that way? Do you have recommendations for me to better explain the significance of the issue.

Wow, eharvey, I am impressed by your post! As you can see, the essay does not represent you. It does not convey what you really mean... This issue, ha ha, I understand what you mean about wanting to explain the significance like the prompt said... but, this issue demands for you to express an opinion! Same as abortion; would you write an essay on abortion law without taking a side? No! You have to take a side.

So, Sean is definitely right, but you are not wrong about your reasoning -- just your choice of topic. But the topic is fine as long as you say something meaningful about it. This is not an essay for a class; if it was, it would be alright to simply convey information, I guess.

But as I was saying, the essay makes you seem intolerant. And now that I see your last post, I see that you are compassionate. I also see that you are quite intelligent! I think your writing style is a lot more natural in the last post than in the essay. The essay is unpleasant to read, because the whole time I am reading it I am waiting for you to express an original or somehow unique opinion, and it never happens. Yet, I understand what you mean about the prompt... it does not ask for an opinion, just an explanation of significance.

The essay is just a lot of stating the obvious, and it seems intolerant! I'm sorry, I think you need to scrap it! Write about something that you would like to do something about, like improving education or saving the whales... anything but this! Ha ha, that doesn't seem to make sense... sorry!

Please check out the EF contributor page!

Also, everyone please make sure this is kept very courteous in the words you use. So far, you are all being very respectful in your arguments, but let's not call one another derogatory things like "brainwashed" or "ignorant" ... I am not above resorting to censorship to maintain quality, ha ha. :)

Oh, I see that you edited your post while I was responding, and my response does not cover the 2nd half of your post, now.

About the use of the word foreigner, it's cool that you know that it sounds intolerant; some people do not realize that it is not politically correct. In your essay, you don't successfully convey that you are using the word in order to represent the standpoints of disgruntled American workers. My advice stands, ha ha. :) You used that word in the 2nd or 3rd sentence, so it represents you when it is being read.


Yes, $10 billion did not seem like much to me, because I have been reading so much about how many billion are spent on the war, etc. Like Sean said, the economic damage is comparitively nominal, and not only that, illegal immigrants also play an important role in our economy.

And you seemed intolerant again when you called money spent on those kids a "loss."

Good luck!! :)

You're right. Looking at at the essay I definitely need to better communicate my point. I think the writing style is very stale and putoffish. I'll work on that, I'm glad I posted it here :)


It's a loss to the education department that is struggling to make ends meet, especially during this current budget climate. It's not that they do not want to teach these children it's just that they are struggling to do so without the tax money. But I'll revise and make my concern for the economic state of the education system more clear.

Then that's even worse, your young age might have excused you... Anyway, I didn't want to focus on your age.


Well, so do you believe in the free market and capitalism or do you prefer socialism? Or maybe to combine both (and make everything as relevant as possible - then life becomes as simple as eating in McDonald's).

It appears you suggest the US to become a socialism in the times of the economic crisis (so that the government PROTECTS its workers from free market and competition) and when everything is well, let there be capitalism to spend borrowed money and hire the illegal immigrants to cut your grass or do your construction job? How lawyer-slick style is that? You were in the army and you have probably believed or was told that the US is capitalism and it's the greatest system in the world - but now you try to suggest the Russia was right in the previous century and their system should have prevailed?

You need to understand that without competition and free market there is no progress. Look what has happened to the US auto industry and compare the American cars with the Japanese or European ones. The US auto lobbysts and auto unions made sure people working in the US auto industry are 'protected' and the bad news is they were also protected from introducting advanced technology and improving their skills. These companies existed like in socialism, they were just producing junk in the hopes someone will buy it anyway. You want more job protection to build more junk cars? I thought the point was to build a BETTER product and to promote MORE COMPETITIVE working skills. Not to protect jobs at all costs like in socialism.

So my point is that immigrants (both legal and illegal) actually make the country more competitive and efficient in the long run. And it is a blessing - not a problem - that immigrants actually still want to live in the US (even though the more skillful ones now prefer to go to European Union countries).

Yes, well-said! That's cool. All except for the part about whether or not eharvey needs his age as an excuse... The essay conveyed some ideas that misrepresented his opinion, but he cleared that up in subsequent posts... I think there may be less disagreement here than there seems to be...

:)

But it is very interesting that illegal immigrants play such an important role in our society!

Clearly the issue can spark some lively debate. Now, you just need to write an essay that clearly expresses your opinion on it. I know the prompt says that you need to explain the significance of the issue, and it would be fine if your opinion was simply "While the issue of illegal immigration is thorny, we must deal with it because . . . " However, that doesn't seem to be your thesis statement at the moment, mostly because you start talking about the current economic difficulties, then talk about how it makes some people anti-immigrant, then sound anti-immigrant yourself when you mention how much illegal immigration costs, etc. Also, even taking this approach, you would end up focusing more on why the issue is so difficult to solve. The problem with picking a controversial and widely debated issue is that everyone already knows that it is significant, so writing a whole essay dedicated solely to proving that idea begins to seem a bit pointless. A better approach would be to state your opinion about how the issue should be solved, then talk about why you believe that particular approach is significant. The essay will seem much more coherent and interesting.

Hope that helps.

Monte you might as well stop posting here. You are arguing against points that are not in my paper. I am not interested in watching you fight windmills anymore.

Sean and Kevin, thanks for your comments. I'll have a second draft up shortly.

This seems much better! It still cries out for a suggestion, a solution you would promote. You are right when you say that it fulfills the requirements by describing an important issue (i.e. without necessarily taking a side), but this essay still feels a bit incomplete. And yet, if you make a direct suggestion, the reader might not agree...

The essay is pretty solid now, for sure. I just think that everyone who reads it is used to reading stuff like this and then hearing a specific suggestion.

One other thing is that part of the purpose of this is to show the reader something about you by explaining why this is important to you. I think that is part of why it seemed so ofensive the first time, because so many people are intolerant and, well, for this to be the issue you choose -- makes me automatically suspect, "Oh, I bet this is one of those haters who thinks immigrants are subhuman..." but in this version, you do not seem that way. Still, can you say something heartfelt about why this issue is particularly important to you?