Impact of Illegal Immigrant Workers on the US Economy Essay

Illegal immigration is tightly woven into the fabric of the US economy. Its prevalence impacts all corners of the financial world, but affects the greatest impact on educational funding, healthcare expenditures and taxes. Illegal immigration tends to be viewed from extreme viewpoints in our country often influenced more by personal biases and political opinions than statistical facts. In reality, the positive and negative effects nearly neutralize each other and it has become a delicate balancing act for politicians to create and maintain a system that works to please both sides and retain economic stability. Illegal immigrants are defined as anyone who is not a US citizen and who is in the country in violation of our immigration laws; this could mean anyone who has entered the country undocumented or falsely documented, those with expired visas or any permanent resident who commits a crime after entry and remains after deportation orders. It is virtually impossible to report exactly how many illegal immigrants reside in the country since they deal with fears of deportation they don’t readily identify themselves, but the INS, Census Bureau, and US General Accounting office estimates put the number somewhere between 2 and 12 million. There is also likely fluctuation based on time of year depending on availability of agricultural work. Most of the illegal immigration debate over the last two decades has focused on Mexican immigrants and California has been used as a model for influencing regulations across the country. This is due to the fact that in the US those of Mexican origin account for over 54% of all illegal immigrants and that California houses over 40% of the illegal immigrant population. This is important to recognize because many of the arguments and proposed or passed laws with regards to this issue stem from the Mexican immigration dilemma in California. (Here is what I could recover- I can get it done by Sunday on the school computers if it will make your due date- I am so sorry again. . . I have been freaking out ‘cause of my computer and then I was stuck at work and couldn’t get to any computer all day yesterday.)