This whole argument about illegal immigrants taking jobs that Americans don’t want versus illegal immigrants taking jobs away from “hardworking Americans” is a little tiresome for me to have to listen to. I don’t necessarily believe that either side is true all the time. Lots of times I think the former is true, that immigrants take jobs that most Americans don’t want, (or, as Sam talked about Tuesday in class, that they aren’t legally allowed to take) but also there are those extremely destitute Americans who can only take jobs where they scramble to make ends meet. In most cases, these people, just like the immigrants in the video we saw, can’t make ends meet.

The belief that we as Americans are brought up with is that we can do anything we set our minds to, and with hard work, we can achieve anything. Unfortunately I think that is much more true for us as naturalized citizens than it is for immigrants, illegal or legal. This basically says that despite how a immigrant enters the country, the “right way” or the “wrong way”, it won’t matter because Americans have the upper-hand. While I would prefer immigrants to enter the country in a legal way, as long they are prepared to work honestly and hard, they should be given all the chances of naturalized citizens here. The way our immigration issues are progressing, I think incentives will be increased to legal immigrants who enter the country the proper way, and this will also increase the number of hardworking immigrants in this country. While I disagree with the use of incentives or “hooks” to get people to do things (rather than having motivation to do things because they are right), I understand why incentives are used

Americans filled to realize that illegal immigrant actually help boost up the American society. The reason for this is illegal immigrants fill the jobs that Americans refuse to take, are willing to labor for low wages and generally boost the United States economy. For example, illegal immigrants in the United States jobs include farming, constructions, repairs and installation, insulation, housekeeping and transportation services. These are all jobs that most poor and uneducated American refused to do for low wages. They also work twice as hard to be equal to average U.S. workers, and they are less likely to own properties (land, houses, stocks and business) due to the policies and restrictions placed on illegal immigrants. Therefore, Illegal immigrants are more beneficial than costly to the United State Economy.

Going back to the question, many illegal immigrants will rather become legal immigrants but they cannot afford it due to lack of funding because of low wages. I am not saying that it is okay to encourage illegal immigrants because it not fair to other immigrants who suffers to come to this country legally. However, I do not think they should be look down upon because they are great help to the United State economy, most specifically the labor market. I think the government should create some form of policy that will be much easier and cheaper for illegal immigrant to become legal. This will help more illegal immigrants become legal because money is more important in becoming legal than hard work is. “If you work hard, you can achieve anything” this is what many people in the United States and in other countries believe the American dream is. This is a myth to me, because money rules everything, if you have money, you can achieve anything. Hard work may help, but it is not enough!

Just like we talked about “King of the Mountain” in past classes, life is not only about hard work but it is about luck of the draw as well. Someone could work their butt off and still fail, when someone else could just be at the right place at the right time and manage to be successful in life. This shows that it is not fair and maybe some things should be done to equal the playing field, however, life is not fair so why should we try and make it? However, there are plenty of other ways the United States tries to make this country fair, like affirmative action, so why shouldn’t they come up with a fair way for immigrants to have a fighting chance at a good life in the United States? Immigrants tend to be the ones who are willing to the “dirty” work and manual labor jobs, apparently legal Americans are too good to work those jobs, however these immigrants are paid at very low wages. One could say that they deserve to be paid minimum wage, but if the ones doing the work are illegal immigrants, who they usually are, they don’t have to pay taxes so making less than minimum wage would be ok. There should be a program in which immigrants can do these jobs and work towards citizenship in the United States.

I still stand by my original point, where I believe all immigrants should get their citizenship legally, like so many have done in the past. However, I also understand that times have changed and if the United States can offer programs to help equal the playing field for its own citizens, perhaps it is time to create one for those who wish to become citizens. These immigrants tend to do the dirty and manual labor jobs that most citizens would never take on, however there is a current rise in unemployment so allowing more and more immigrants to come into the United States may not be feasible. It would take time and research but I think a solution is out there to this problem, we just need to find it.