Transcript PPT

PRO
Amnesty for Illegal Immigrants
Age Dawson, Kileen Ellis, Ben Bruns
What exactly is amnesty for illegal immigrants?
Explanation: amnesty refers to a person who is guilty of
crime to the status of an innocent person. It is a general
pardon for offenses, an act of forgiveness for past
offenses.
History: immigration amnesty took its definition in the
1980s during the administration of Ronald Regan. The
decade of 1901 – 1910 was surpassed in the 1980s by the
9.5 million newcomers.
Function: to bring illegal immigrants that are now settled
in the United States into compliance with the laws of our
country and allowing them to become citizens of the
United States.
History of Illegal Immigration into United States
In the United States before 1986, amnesty was only granted to
individual cases. Then, in 1986, Congress passed the
Immigration Reform and Control Act (IRCA). This granted
amnesty to all illegal aliens who had not broken the law for four
years or were working in agriculture.
7 amnesty laws were passed afterwards through 2000.
1990 Act: Established a limit for certain categories of
immigrants. Helping United States businesses attract skilled
foreign workers. This expanded the business class categories. It
favored persons who can make educational, professional, or
financial contributions.
USA Patriot Act 2001: “Uniting and Strengthening America by
providing appropriate tools required to intercept and obstruct
terrorism”.
History of Illegal Immigration into United States
USCIS (U.S. Citizenship and US Immigration Services)
2003: the US immigration and INS becomes part of the
Department of Homeland Security. USCIS handles all forms
and processing materials related to immigration and
naturalization including:
•
•
•
•
•
citizenship
applications for permanent residence
non-immigrant applications
asylum
refugee services
Illegal Immigrants in the 21st Century
In the first years of the 21st century, more than 1
million immigrants (legal and illegal) have come to the
United States yearly. The United States continues to
accept more immigrants than any other country.
Brown University states that the United States
continues to lure immigrants in with the promise of a
better future causing more people to immigrate.
Although many people think we can’t afford to have
newcomers, they bring skills and energy which are
beneficial.
Job Employment for Illegal Immigrants
Once Illegal Immigrants settle in the United States, they tend to become
employed in what is known as “low skilled jobs” to support themselves
and their family. Some of these types of jobs are labor intensive like, for
example:
• landscaping
• construction sectors
There is generally no requirement to speak fluent English which is also
and advantage for immigrants. Other jobs that attract illegal immigrants
include:
• restaurants
• hospitality (house keeping)
• agriculture (lawn, harvesting)
• domestic service
An Illegal Immigrant’s Life in the U.S.
Here are also side affects of "only doing the jobs that Americans
won't do," at artificially depressed wages anyway:
•
increases the load on the welfare systems as there are
fewer working poor and more welfare recipients.
•
employers pay illegal aliens in cash, off-the-books,
avoiding all taxes which also makes the illegal alien
worker have little or no income "qualifying" them for
welfare benefits as well.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SnRacBZ43Oc
Why is amnesty for Illegal Immigrants
positive economically, politically, & socially?
Economically: During the past twenty years, Mexico
has experienced several severe economic contractions. In terms of
the economic benefits, this is exactly when one would want workers
to move—when their labor productivity in the United States is
highest to their labor productivity at home. Immigrants’ hard work
at bargain prices is good for America’s economy. When goods can
be produced for cheaper prices, the economy grows. Without high
levels of immigration, the United States will lack the talent and
energy to strengthen our country and address future problems
Politically: Both democrat and republican parties seek Spanish
votes, so they always mention amnesty in their speeches.
Socially: Illegal immigrants leave behind broken homes. This is
barbaric. Hundreds of people die trying to cross the desert from
Mexico. “We have to make the choice: should we protect our jobs
and taxes or to feel moved by the desperation to find the American
dream?”
Benefits of Immigration to the United States
• Resources that are now focused on capturing illegal immigrants could
be redirected to other homeland security needs such as U.S. ports.
Illegal immigrants bring high economic costs by lowering domestic
wages and raising expenditures on public services such as health care
and education.
Economically: most illegal immigrants fill low paying agricultural and
service jobs. An amnesty program would allow workers to contribute to
the overall economy. Immigration also affects U.S. incomes through tax
revenue and public expenditure. Immigrants with lower incomes and
larger families tend to be a bigger drain on public spending.
Immigrants pay income, payroll, sales, property, and other taxes, with
lower-skilled immigrants making smaller contributions. Immigrants
-Family Unity: many illegal citizens have children who are legal citizens
because they were born in the U.S. Amnesty programs would help keep
these family in tact.
How many Illegal Aliens are there in the U.S.?
Since they’re not here legally, there’s no way to do a precise
count. Most estimates are in the 10-12 million range, but some
people believe as few as 8 million illegal immigrants are here.
Others think the count may go as high as 20 million plus.
• The Census Bureau became a permanent by an act of
Congress in 1902. It will count all people physically present
in the country—including large numbers who are here
illegally. The result will unconstitutionally increase the
number of representatives in some states and deprive some
other states of their rightful political representation.
• Throws off the census, Throwing off population
of states so states should be getting more reps.
Made them all citizens, you can get more
representative in the house and gets more
electoral votes based off population.
Illegal Immigrants and fake Social Security Cards
Vast amounts of illegal immigrants buy fake social security cards.
Since illegal immigrant workers are here illegally, and presented
fake ID to the US employer, they will never collect Social
Security benefit. Immigrants buy American TV’s, clothes, food,
entertainment, etc., and all include sales tax.
• The Social Security Administration dependent
on taking in $7 billion annually of contributions
from illegal immigrant workers who will never
receive benefits from the system.
• They get the same deductions from their
paychecks as Americans do. Yet when they retire,
they will not receive Medicare etc.
"For illegal immigrants, Social Security numbers are simply a tool
needed to work on this side of the border. Retirement does not enter
the picture,” – New York Times
Who Supports Amnesty for Illegal Immigrants?
For most of the past century, business leaders and big
farmers have generally favored open immigration to
insure an adequate supply of workers. American
employers are not at all offended by the violation of
America's borders. In the early 1900s, the steady flow
of unskilled immigrants into the labor force helped
fuel the boom in manufacturing.
The Fence Isn’t the Answer
In November 2005, DHS announced the launch of the Secure Border
Initiative (SBI), a multiyear, multibillion-dollar program aimed at
securing U.S. borders and reducing illegal immigration. The SBI
program received about $3.6 billion in funds.
• Extends for many miles,
requiring millions of tons of
brick or concrete, plus
thousands of hours of manual
labor and money.
• Create tension between
American and Mexico.
• Fencing off our neighbors to
the south and restricting
immigration from abroad will
fuel anti American sediment
throughout the world and harm
relations with many of our
leading trading partners
What does President Barack Obama have to say?
President Barack Obama pledged "to do everything in
my power" to get immigration legislation moving:
Immigration
Reform Plan:
"We are not going to ship back 12 million people,
we're not going to do it as a practical matter. We
would have to take all our law enforcement that we
have available and we would have to use it and put
people on buses, and rip families apart, and that's
not who we are, that's not what America is about. So
what I've proposed... is you say we're going to bring
these folks out of the shadows. We're going to make
them pay a fine, they are going to have to learn
English, they are going to have to go to the back of
the line...but they will have a pathway to citizenship
over the course of 10 years."
Over the past year, members of the Obama administration
have repeatedly made clear their support for and intention
to push amnesty legislation through Congress.
Reform Plan proposed by President Barack Obama
Improving our Immigration System: Obama and Biden believe we
need to do more to promote economic development in Mexico to
decrease illegal immigration.
They also believe we must fix the dysfunctional immigration
bureaucracy and increase the number of legal immigrants to keep
families together and meet the demand for jobs that employers cannot
fill.
Secure borders: Obama and Biden want to preserve the integrity of
our borders. They support additional personnel, infrastructure, and
technology on the border and at our ports of entry.
Work with Mexico: believe we need to do more to promote economic
development in Mexico to decrease illegal immigration.
Immigration and the Economy
Although opportunities for unskilled factory workers have gone down
since WWII, other businesses such as hotels, restaurants, and
agriculture continue to depend on low wage labor to hold down costs.
In the biggest U.S. cities, immigrants have helped revive downtown
business districts in the past two decades. Many have opened up
small businesses, created new jobs, and strengthened the local tax
base. Without the influx of immigrants, the nations largest cities
would have experienced a drop in population since 1980. Supporters
of open immigration policies note that many high tech industries have
come to rely on newcomers.