"The lesson of these 236 years is clear – immigration makes America stronger. Immigration makes us more prosperous. And immigration positions America to lead in the 21st century. And these young men and women are testaments to that. No other nation in the world welcomes so many new arrivals. No other nation constantly renews itself, refreshes itself with the hopes, and the drive, and the optimism, and the dynamism of each new generation of immigrants. You are all one of the reasons that America is exceptional. You’re one of the reasons why, even after two centuries, America is always young, always looking to the future, always confident that our greatest days are still to come." - President Obama
Being an immigrant myself, I cannot help but get defensive
when I hear my peers speak against the immigration reform. Truth is most people
are not too informed on this matter. By not being informed, people will make
stereotypes of immigrants based on what they hear and see in the media, state
they are directly affected by our presence in this country, and most
importantly forget who aided in the foundation of our home (USA).
In regards to the economy, according to the nonpartisan
Congressional Budget Office, under the 2010 House-passed version of the DREAM
Act, the federal deficit would be reduced by $2.2 billion over ten years because
of increased tax revenues (Furman, Gray).
The calculation compares immigrants’ tax and Social Security contributions to
the resources they use, including social and government services. This type of
analysis, however, excludes the migrants’ longer-term impact on the
economy.
Immigrants pay social security and taxes, including sales
tax for *everything* they purchase, that they will never be able to claim back
in April.
*As a nation of immigrants, we must remember that
generations of immigrants have helped lay the railroads and build our cities,
pioneer new industries and fuel our Information Age, from Google to the
iPhone*( Furman, Gray). How quickly do we forget that foundation of this
country was built by free and cheap labor (slaves and immigrants)? Today, as always, immigrants are in pursuit
of the most basic human rights: life, liberty, and the pursuit of
happiness. Immigrants are branded as
criminals, the same moniker used to described murders, rapists, and thieves,
because they disobey the laws that prevent them from obtaining their basic
human rights. There was another dark
time in this country’s history when a group of people were also labeled
criminals if they disobeyed certain laws.
Laws prohibiting an African American from drinking from the same water
fountain as a white man or using the same restroom. African American’s were denied basic human
rights simply because of certain “laws.”
Well an unjust law is no law at all.
Denying a human being his/her right to a better life is wrong and
unjust.
Works Cited
Furman, Jason. "The White House Blog." Ten Ways Immigrants Help Build and Strengthen Our Economy. N.p., 12 July 2012. Web. 07 Nov. 2013. <http://www.whitehouse.gov/blog/2012/07/12/ten-ways-immigrants-help-build-and-strengthen-our-economy>.
Gray, Danielle. "The White House Blog." Ten Ways Immigrants Help Build and Strengthen Our Economy. N.p., 12 July 2012. Web. 07 Nov. 2013. <http://www.whitehouse.gov/blog/2012/07/12/ten-ways-immigrants-help-build-and-strengthen-our-economy>.
"Impacto Latin News ™." Latinos Por Obama. N.p., 18 Apr. 2012. Web. 07 Nov. 2013. <http://www.impactony.com/tag/latinos-por-obama/>. Picture
"President Obama Announces the 2012 Launch of Latinos for Obama." YouTube. YouTube, 18 Apr. 2012. Web. 07 Nov. 2013. <http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_jJhXQpyrXw>.
I like this post mainly because you are talking about a topic that tells your story. You had drawn reference to the history of America. In particular you mentioned slavery of blacks and the social tribulations blacks faced. If we could go back in time and observe the way that government had handled that, I am sure it would be similar to today. Just like they say history is doomed to repeat its self one way or another. I can see this is a personal topic for you. However, in parts of your posts I could detect anger within your statements. While it is good to be passionate about your topic of discussion, you do not want your audience to focus on the anger. It will take away from your point.
I enjoyed this post, you made some great points like referring to the building of railroads. Those railroads helped the United States grow economically and allowed fast traveling across the United States. The best point I believe you made that immigrants pay taxes like everyone else; which is what I believe a lot of people don't know. I agree with aran30 that you can here the anger in the you post, but you do have obvious reasons for it. I'm looking forward for you next post, great job.
This subject is one of my favorite thus far because it really touches home for many including Adriana. IT is so difficult to wake up everyday in a place that you love so much because it is called your home. This home is the only home you know. But the hard part is knowing or experiencing yourself that you have no tomorrow to plan for when the money being made barely make ends meet. In desperation to find ways to provide for your family, migrants migrate to the U.S. looking for any work that will pay the bills and provide money to the family. As honest, tax paying citizens, I admire the devotion that comes from these people. Their not so concerned about finding work that is prestigious or something to brag about. They find labor work what will pay them enough, pay their taxes and bring home the little bit they make to ensure their families abroad are getting enough to get by and pay their bills.
Great post filled with passion! However, when a passionate argument like that is being made it needs to have more meat to it! Two things for you to consider:
1) Give more “proof” of your argument. You are certainly passionate enough about it, but what do you have to back it up? Here is something I quickly found that will support your argument that immigrants pay taxes, but then it also shows that it still leaves a rather large deficit that lawful Americans still have to pick up…
“Children in unlawful immigrant households receive heavily subsidized public education. Many unlawful immigrants have U.S.-born children; these children are currently eligible for the full range of government welfare and medical benefits. And, of course, when unlawful immigrants live in a community, they use roads, parks, sewers, police, and fire protection; these services must expand to cover the added population or there will be 'congestion' effects that lead to a decline in service quality. In 2010, the average unlawful immigrant household received around $24,721 in government benefits and services while paying some $10,334 in taxes. This generated an average annual fiscal deficit (benefits received minus taxes paid) of around $14,387 per household. This cost had to be borne by U.S. taxpayers.” (Rector & Richwine, 2013)
2) I love your argument about how this country was built by immigrants. I strongly agree. There really aren’t too many of us living in this country that can’t trace their roots back to a foreign ancestor. I would argue that unless you are a direct descendant of one of the proud Indian nations that were here first, we all have roots that go back to a foreign ancestor. My concern is your us vs them argument. I would ask you to consider the definition of an American. When you feel as though you have a good handle on that definition then you might reconsider your statement “…we all **disobey** your "laws" and don't act in violence the way you have in history.” If you truly understand the definition of an American I think you would agree with me the only conversation to have is the “we” conversation.
Reference Rector, R. and Richwine, J. (2013) The fiscal cost of unlawful immigrants and amnesty to the U.S. taxpayer. Found at http://immigration.procon.org/view.answers.php?questionID=000789
I like this post mainly because you are talking about a topic that tells your story. You had drawn reference to the history of America. In particular you mentioned slavery of blacks and the social tribulations blacks faced. If we could go back in time and observe the way that government had handled that, I am sure it would be similar to today. Just like they say history is doomed to repeat its self one way or another. I can see this is a personal topic for you. However, in parts of your posts I could detect anger within your statements. While it is good to be passionate about your topic of discussion, you do not want your audience to focus on the anger. It will take away from your point.
ReplyDeleteI enjoyed this post, you made some great points like referring to the building of railroads. Those railroads helped the United States grow economically and allowed fast traveling across the United States. The best point I believe you made that immigrants pay taxes like everyone else; which is what I believe a lot of people don't know. I agree with aran30 that you can here the anger in the you post, but you do have obvious reasons for it. I'm looking forward for you next post, great job.
ReplyDeleteThis subject is one of my favorite thus far because it really touches home for many including Adriana. IT is so difficult to wake up everyday in a place that you love so much because it is called your home. This home is the only home you know. But the hard part is knowing or experiencing yourself that you have no tomorrow to plan for when the money being made barely make ends meet. In desperation to find ways to provide for your family, migrants migrate to the U.S. looking for any work that will pay the bills and provide money to the family. As honest, tax paying citizens, I admire the devotion that comes from these people. Their not so concerned about finding work that is prestigious or something to brag about. They find labor work what will pay them enough, pay their taxes and bring home the little bit they make to ensure their families abroad are getting enough to get by and pay their bills.
ReplyDeleteGreat post filled with passion! However, when a passionate argument like that is being made it needs to have more meat to it! Two things for you to consider:
ReplyDelete1) Give more “proof” of your argument. You are certainly passionate enough about it, but what do you have to back it up? Here is something I quickly found that will support your argument that immigrants pay taxes, but then it also shows that it still leaves a rather large deficit that lawful Americans still have to pick up…
“Children in unlawful immigrant households receive heavily subsidized public education. Many unlawful immigrants have U.S.-born children; these children are currently eligible for the full range of government welfare and medical benefits. And, of course, when unlawful immigrants live in a community, they use roads, parks, sewers, police, and fire protection; these services must expand to cover the added population or there will be 'congestion' effects that lead to a decline in service quality.
In 2010, the average unlawful immigrant household received around $24,721 in government benefits and services while paying some $10,334 in taxes. This generated an average annual fiscal deficit (benefits received minus taxes paid) of around $14,387 per household. This cost had to be borne by U.S. taxpayers.” (Rector & Richwine, 2013)
2) I love your argument about how this country was built by immigrants. I strongly agree. There really aren’t too many of us living in this country that can’t trace their roots back to a foreign ancestor. I would argue that unless you are a direct descendant of one of the proud Indian nations that were here first, we all have roots that go back to a foreign ancestor. My concern is your us vs them argument. I would ask you to consider the definition of an American. When you feel as though you have a good handle on that definition then you might reconsider your statement “…we all **disobey** your "laws" and don't act in violence the way you have in history.” If you truly understand the definition of an American I think you would agree with me the only conversation to have is the “we” conversation.
Reference
Rector, R. and Richwine, J. (2013) The fiscal cost of unlawful immigrants and amnesty to the U.S. taxpayer. Found at http://immigration.procon.org/view.answers.php?questionID=000789