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Immigration Is A Good Thing For America
Accepting more immigrants helps to improve the diversity of American culture, economic development and social security.
 hitomi  28 Nov 2007 15:27
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America happened because of immigration.
 
 Oswy  03 Jun 2008 19:04
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Well aren't we all Immigrants? No one in the world has truly American blood.

Also don't forget Inventions from the family of immigrants.
 
 Homestar  23 May 2008 00:48
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It is what this country was built on. But people have to come here legally.
 
 krissara  13 May 2008 22:36
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That's what America is, a nation of Immigrants.

If you can't agree with that then you need to retake your history classes.
 
 luhg  20 Apr 2008 00:07
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Immigration is what America is. And you need immigrants to do jobs Americans don't want to.
 
 ninjakid23  10 Apr 2008 18:57
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Yes and no. They do the jobs Americans are to stuck up to do.
 
 melisiwa  11 Mar 2008 01:15
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Immigration is what made this country what it is today, good or bad. America is a country of all immigrants unless you are a Native American. If it was not for immigration, we would not have much of our scientists, engineers and other technical people. Over the years, immigration has provided a willing workforce, if we didn't have the European Immigrants in the early and mid 20th century, many of the industrial growth would not have happened.
 
 LilHulk  02 Mar 2008 01:43
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 well even if you're a native American then your ancestors emigrated from Asia using the land bridge.
by  ninjakid23
 10 Apr 2008 18:52
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Obviously, there is no doubt that immigration is being proved a very good thing for America. Gone are those days when people from different countries come to America legally and become Americans. But the whole scenario has been changed these days. People are coming to America illegally, working and using all the social benefits & services and finally the profits are sending back to their home country. This is happening only because people are not interested to become a proper American. They are just using this country only to get the profit. Therefore the economic system of America is getting down day by day and also the public assistance agencies are getting burdened. These people do not desire to have a citizenship and thus they tend to be more criminal prone. Thus immigration should be made compulsory for these reasons and America would be saved by this.
 
 sudipa  22 Feb 2008 23:52
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America is historically and fundamentally a nation of immigrants. However, illegal immigration should not even have a place in this debate. Illegal immigration is inherently illegal and is therefore harmful to our nation.
 
 vexed  21 Feb 2008 17:50
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I do agree that immigration is good for America. America is a developed country. Per capita income of America in 2003 was approximately 37,500$ which is now increased enormously. So people dream about living and earning in America. People also know that one would find social security (like employment, health and education) benefits if they get the immigration. The most wanted immigrants by America are skilled workers and they are contributing a great deal in the economy of the country. This is the reason that America is progressing by leap and bounds.
 
 cancer11  08 Dec 2007 11:45
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 First the per capita income has not increased "enormously" unless you are a microscopic creature in comparison. By 2004, per capita income in the United States was $39,728 per year, below that of some other countries, including Japan ($42,146) and Norway ($42,832). Second, the inflationary rate from 2003 to 2004 must be considered in even using that as a statistic. And you have not shown that there is any correlation between per income capita and immigration, anyway--so how does that have relevance?

Second, you are in error that the majority of immigrants in the US are contributing substantially to the US economy. For highly-skilled labor, legal immigration is the primary means of entering the United States--yet, compared to the rest of the world, the United States has an abundant supply of highly educated/skilled labor.

Labor inflows from abroad redistribute income away from workers who compete with immigrants in the labor market. George Borjas estimates that over the period 1980 to 2000 immigration contributed to a decrease in average U.S. Wages of 3 percent. ("The Labor Demand Curve is Downward Sloping," Quarterly Journal of Economics, 2003). Also family-based immigration, which is the largest component of permanent admissions, is set without regard to U.S. labor market conditions. Also, legal immigration of skilled workers is hindered by queues for visas and lags in adjusting visa levels, which reduce the economic value of such immigration.

Immigration is NOT the reason America is progressing by leaps and bounds; that's an unsupported, errant statement..
by  amore01
 09 Dec 2007 09:53
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America is a nation of inmigrants. They should keep this in mind and give more opportunities to the rest of the people that want to join their nation.
 
 theseeker  03 Dec 2007 14:05
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Immigrants take jobs that legal citizens could have.
 
 bluestater  06 Sep 2008 23:39
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 We're not on about illegal immigrants here.
by  chaew
 06 Sep 2008 23:49
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Technically we were immigrated but not a hole lot

ILIGAL IS WRONG we moved here from England (my ancestors)
to find a better trade route to asia then we found America and stayed here for the chocolate and foods

WE WERE NOT ILLIAGL the Mexicans ARE that's y minimum moneys up to keep them out so everything goes up and its tear in apart America
 
 cjbulls1  06 Aug 2008 20:03
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LEGAL immigration is what this country was built on.......illegal Anything is WRONG
 
 lubster  03 Jul 2008 06:18
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I don't know about America but it certainly is not for England
 
 higack  26 May 2008 00:38
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Immigration is ruining the UK also, and so I know how you feel. It should be tightly controlled with specific numbers only from certain chosen countries...it is a nightmare!
 
 Isabelle  24 May 2008 20:13
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Immigration is ruining this country.The US is overpopulated as it is.We also have enough home grown criminals running around without allowing more to move in.
 
 JohnF  01 May 2008 12:40
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Amore01 said it perfectly, immigration is good to an extent, but the biggest problem is that the gov doesn't even care when they are here illegally
 
 pappabear  11 Feb 2008 00:12
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Since the debate topic does not differentiate between legal and illegal immigration, and for other reasons, I must disagree that it is good for the US overall to accept more of immigrants (adjust level /quota upward ). And since no background context of the debate topic is given which supports an arbitrary statement of economic benefit and social security (did you just pull that out of the air?), let me do some of your homework for you.

From an economic standpoint, one can say that immigration does have limited advantages, but nothing that sways the pendulum to overall economic growth or advantage. From a purely economic perspective, a solid and ideal immigration policy would admit individuals whose skills are in shortest supply and whose tax contributions, net of the cost of public services they receive, are maximized. Also, admitting immigrants in scarce occupations would yield the greatest increase in U.S. Incomes, regardless of the skill level of those immigrants. In the US, scarce workers would include not only highly educated individuals, such as programmers and engineers employed by ever-expanding technology industries, but some lower-skilled workers in construction, food preparation, hospitality, and cleaning services. In both cases, the national labor market for these workers is solid, since U.S. Wages for these occupations are still high as compared to relative wages abroad for these jobs. But two-thirds of legal permanent immigrants are admitted on the basis of having relatives in the United States. Only by chance will the skills of these individuals match those most in demand by U.S. Industries. Also, labor inflows from abroad redistribute income away from workers who compete with immigrants in the labor market. George Borjas estimates that over the period 1980 to 2000 immigration contributed to a decrease in average U.S. Wages of 3 percent. This estimate accounts for the total change in the U.S. Labor force due to immigration, including both legal and illegal sources. (George J. Borjas, “The Labor Demand Curve is Downward Sloping: Reexamining the Impact of Immigration on the Labor Market,” Quarterly Journal of Economics, Vol. 118, No. 4 (June 2003), pp.
1335–74.)

But here's the other rub-- the aggregate economic consequences of such a US immigration policy do not account for other important considerations that impact the well being of the country. -- including the impact of immigration on national security, civil rights, and political environment/life. First, illegal immigration has its problems as continuing high levels of illegal immigration are expected to continue to undermine the rule of law and weaken the ability of the U.S. Government to enforce labor-market regulations. Also, massive illegal entry from Mexico heightens U.S. Exposure to international terrorism. Also, the large influx of illegal aliens relax the commitment of employers to U.S. Labor-market institutions and create a population of workers with limited upward mobility and an uncertain place in U.S. Society. We struggle with this everyday in the US-- with an already thinly spread INS agency trying to enforce immigration policy and exercise controls..

In 2005, the illegal immigrant population was estimated to be 11.1 million individuals, up from five million in 1996 and 8.4 million in 2000. Most illegal immigrants come to the United States by crossing the U.S.-Mexico border or overstaying temporary entry visas. One-third of immigrants have less than a high school education, compared to just 12 percent of U.S. Natives, and one-fifth have less than a ninth grade education, compared to just 4 percent of U.S. Natives.(Jeffrey S. Passel, “Estimates of the Size and Characteristics of the Undocumented Population,” Pew Hispanic Center, 2006.) Is this desirable diversity that will reap social security, economic growth that you speak of in the debate explanation? This 11.1 million far exceeds the number of low-skilled available jobs in the industries aforementioned. In addition, the contribution to the tax paying base by illegal immigrants is null, while these immigrants use public services by sending their kids to public schools (and demand bi-lingual special services while there rather than learning English so they can participate in becoming educated), demanding fire and police protection, receiving free medicaid /health care services, driving on roads and highways, and receiving other forms of public assistance. Families that have larger numbers of children absorb more expenditure, and exceed the average family size of natives overall. They also commit crime, (as do some citizens of the US). However, the big difference there is that the cost of citizen-perpetrated crimes is somewhat mitigated by the tax base that a citizen has been paying into through property, income, social security taxes--none of which the illegal immigrant pays.

If you think immigration is a good thing for the US and the kind of diversity is "good"--let's make a deal. We will send you our poorly educated, irresponsible, law-breaking illegal immigrants, and replace them with those US citizens or legal immigrants intending to become citizens (through a sensible policy of legal immigration )who offer the kind of diversity that is of benefit socially, economically, and for national security.
 
 amore01  09 Dec 2007 09:26
 2 Comments
 
 I couldn't have said it better myself. Very well thought out and articulated.
by  Longhorn
 21 May 2008 21:30
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