Are tougher immigration laws hurting America?
On YouDecide, I was reading about whether or not tough immigration laws are detrimental to the United States. Mass immigration to the United States has been a common occurrence over the last 150 years and the since the late 19th century, the country has issued laws regulating the admission of foreign-borned persons. Those who argue that immigration laws are too restrictive make the claim that we are preventing highly skilled workers and students from other countries from coming to the U.S., and therefore damaging our position as the leader in the world economy. For example, an article from workpermit.com states, "Panelists at a discussion of U.S. immigration policies this week in Washington said there are too many examples of talented students being denied visas to the United States because of overly-restrictive laws and polices." On the other hand, many argue that there are "hidden costs" involved with immigration and that these overwhelming costs are damaging to the economy.
Clearly, the cost of educating more children and more children with limited English skills is higher. The campaign group Common Sense on Mass Immigration criticizes the lack of reliable national figures, but estimates that “bilingual education probably adds $4 billion to education expenditures in California alone.”
The “ripple effect” of immigration winds up costing Americans billions every year.
The impact of increased regulation is also being felt among white-collar industries, particularly in Silicon Valley. Annual caps on the numbers of specific types of work visas that are issued are leaving hi-tech businesses unable to recruit the skilled workers they need from abroad.
"The United States is at risk of isolating itself as an economy," Sun Microsystems CEO Jonathan Schwartz recently warned, blaming more conservative immigration laws.
You DecideDebra Stewart heads the Council of Graduate Schools. She says applications from foreign students for masters and doctoral level studies at U.S. universities have dropped off by nearly half since the September 11, 2001, attacks on the United States. She says the U.S.'s competitive advantage which it has had since World War II is in jeopardy of slipping away.Between 1990 and 2004 over one-third of Nobel prizes awarded to Americans were to foreign-born Americans.
Comments
Robert, There are indeed
Robert,
There are indeed many damaging "hidden costs" to the economy when it coes to immigration in the United States. Have you ever thought about the positive effects it could have on the economy as well? Lots of immigrants come in and take jobs working on farms. The foods produced from their work will be exported and sold to other countries and we will make a profit from the immigrants hard work in the fields. This is another side you could look at considering immigration.
-mat kestle