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Does illegal immigration help or harm the country of destination?
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| Help | 45% | 349 votes | Total: 770 votes | |
| Harm | 55% | 421 votes |
Help
by Joost Steffensen
Created on: February 03, 2008
I was an illegal immigrant. I had a small company that paid it's taxes regularly. I rented an overpriced apartment. I spent my money in the local grocery store. I kept my head down, avoided the police, avoided doing even the slightest bit of wrong like playing the music to loud or littering for fear of being deported. Did I help my country of destination? Hell yeah. Did it help me...
Well actually it did. It awarded me opportunity. it stimulated my imagination. It was where I met my wife.
But at the same time it screwed me too. It made me choose between not being an immigrant and not pursuing opportunity or staying at home.
Legal immigration is fine, but only if it is as unfettered as legal immigration. At the moment it is only illegal immigration that offers the freedom of choice that fuels the global economy. If I had wanted to be legal I couldn't have gone to look for a job. Would you trust a job offer by email? Or I would have had to work for a global corporation stifling my own initiative. Instead I just went to the country, checked it out, saw an opportunity, took it, expanded, eventually became legal and now not only give to the state, but also receive in the form of health care, free education for my children and eventually a pension. There should be no such thing as illegal immigration, just immigration. Immigrants follow the money. If they come to you you're sitting pretty.
The company I founded helped immigrants to become legal. There are a lot of these companies here. Most make money by charging a large amount for a full service deal. Charging far more then the actual costs of the process. A lot of their employees formerly worked for immigration or the foreign police and have the right contacts. I tried a different tack. For a nominal fee I simply told immigrants how the system worked, where to go, what to say, I made diagrams and I took pictures inside the offices. I prepared translations and arranged interpretors. All in all using my service reduced the cost for my clients, most of whom didn't have much money, but lots of time, by more than two thirds.
immigration laws here changed and I got sick of the business which is largely discriminatory. So I found a new opportunity. Which is what freedom is really all about.
Oh and if you're wondering which country I immigrated to, well an observant reader can narrow it down. And beyond that it really doesn't matter.
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Harm
by Marella
Created on: August 18, 2009 Last Updated: August 20, 2009
Illegal immigration is one of the serious problems any country could experience. The complications and negative effects it bring does not only hurt the the country of destination but also its residents.
The first and most obvious reason why it aches any country is the issue of economic dilemma. Since illegal immigrants don't have legal papers to stay, they do not and cannot pay taxes. This is a big loss or reduction in the income of the government. The country supports and maintains a nation with more than people than it is supposed to but with lesser money to go around. When this happens, many major problems will branch out from that single situation. First, there will be a breakdown in law enforcement due to more people to protect and serve but cannot hire more qualified officers. Peace and order in the country will suffer. Second, more people means more wastes that will affect the sanitation of the country. More expenses will also result in garbage collection, clean-up, and other sanitation requirements but still with lesser budget since less people are paying taxes. Also, directly related to this problem are health issues. More trash might produce sickness and possibly epidemic due to poor sanitation. Third, when a government doesn't function the way the people expect it to function, the worst scenario could be a coup d' etat or drastic change of government. People will be frustrated and clamour for normalcy of government system.
Another negative effect of having illegal immigrants is that they compete directly with legal residents in the jobs available in the market especially the blue collar job sector. Such collar jobs include maintenance, construction, care giving services, and restaurant jobs. Employers are usually tempted to hire these people because they accept lower pay for the same services that legal residents are willing to do, thus increasing their profit. They also save on benefits and insurance since undocumented people cannot demand for this. For those illegal immigrants that cannot find any decent jobs, they unwillingly resort to unlawful activities such as drug dealings, prostitution, and smuggling. This in effect will again cause problem to the harmony and stability of the country.
Medical budget of the country is also affected by illegal aliens. When they need medical assistance due to sickness, pregnancy, accidents, and other health maintenance, medical service and medicines will be divided. The benefits from the government to be given to its legal inhabitants will be lessen and they are the ones who get deprived.
Though all these negativity happens to any country with such an issue, the best way to solve this is to find a way to legalize their status so that they can gradually join the stream of the society. And in conjunction with this is stopping the inflow of more illegal immigrants
Learn more about this author, Marella.
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