Illegal Immigration Case Study

Immigrants have always been a part of America’s history. From the first wave of the colonials and in the late 1800s, immigrants have came to America searching for freedom. From 1892 to 1954, all immigrants came through Ellis Island, which is a federal immigration station. However, immigrants have always been traveling to America illegally. The majority of the illegals coming from Latin America are now living among lawful citizens (“U.S. Immigration Before…” 1).
Illegal immigration in the United States has always been a prevalent issue. Illegal immigrants make up about 11.1 million of the United States’ population in the year 2014. Only recently has the amount of illegal immigrants coming in slowed after years and years of growth (Krogstad et …show more content…
They state that, “Unlawful immigration also probably drives many of our most vulnerable U.S.-born workers out of the labor force entirely” (41). Differing from Garcia entirely, Rector and Richwine note that illegals will take jobs from the most disadvantaged Americans. In addition, they note, “[...] unlawful immigration appears to depress the wages of low-skilled, U.S.-born, and lawful immigrants by 10 percent” (41). Rector and Richwine express that not only will illegal immigrants take lawful citizens’ jobs but also lower their wages that already may not be enough to provide for a …show more content…
She declares, “Households headed by unauthorized immigrants paid $11.2 billion in state and local taxes in 2010” (29). “Immigrants-even legal immigrants- are barred from most social services, meaning that they pay to support benefits they cannot even receive” (29). Garcia’s argument here mentions that illegal immigrants pay taxes for benefits such as Obamacare and Medicare and receive none of these benefits. She also adds that, “[...] they would pay an additional $144 billion in federal, state, and local taxes over a 10-year period” (26).
Conversely, Rector and Richwine notes that illegal immigrants do receive benefits and take in more benefits than they pay in taxes. They note, “In contrast to lawful immigrants, unlawful immigrants at present do not have access to means-tested welfare, Social Security, or Medicare. This does not mean, however, that they do not receive government benefits and services” (13). Rector and Richwine do agree that illegal immigrants do not receive some benefits but they note that they do receive some which is more than they pay in taxes. They explain

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