Undocumented Immigration Benefits

In 2015, 11.7 million unauthorized immigrants live in the U.S. This number has been gradually increasing over the past decades, but has been stable for the past few years(Pew). There has been a long debate about how these undocumented immigrants affect our economy, whether their impact is negative or positive. Some say they are a drain on the economy and others argue that they make America better. A few common arguments are that immigrants steal the jobs from Americans, they don’t pay taxes, and they are more costly to our states than they contribute. We have all heard these claims at least once before. On the other side of the spectrum, we have some experts who say the immigrants contribute to our GDP and make Americans richer. Those
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Every single worker in the United States has state tax, federal tax, social security, and medicare withheld on their paycheck. Undocumented immigrants pay $15 billion dollars to social security yearly, but only 6.7% receive social security benefits. Because many undocumented workers came to the United States on work visas, they were able to receive benefits during the time they were here legally, but stopped receiving benefits when their visas expired. Only a very small percentage will ever receive the benefits they paid
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They have created many jobs and taken very few from our citizens. They use our social services, but also pay into our tax system. I believe the benefits outweigh the costs. They are helping America become stronger. They are actually helping employers because the labor is more affordable. What needs to happen is reform. There are many people against allowing citizenship for these immigrants because they have broken the law. That is understandable. Why should we make an exception for these immigrants and give them sanctuary cities? They do contribute to our economy however, and we need them for that reason. They add more value than they cost the economy. Reform of the current laws will allow for those with the H-1B visas to gain citizenship and for those who are here illegally with “anchor babies” to gain citizenship as well. It will be less costly to the government if they become a true part of our economy. A more fluid system where immigrants can come to work and support our country would be ideal. The constraints on these ideas of reformation are in the hands of the lawmakers. They must create a law to fix the current issues we have and allow for law to become a bill. Whether or not the two parties agree or disagree will determine the fate of the