Immigrants and the Economy

A recent study published by the Center for American Progress and the American Immigration Council claims that legalizing the unauthorized immigrants in the United States, and easing strict immigration laws, will help the economy. This claim is unacceptable to the audience initially because it contradicts what the common belief is. That belief centers around the notion that unauthorized immigrants steal jobs away from legal citizens, create a burden on the health system as well as the federal government.

This claim is made acceptable to the audience through a few different ways. The study examines three different scenarios that would affect the United States economy. The first is that deportation would result in a loss of $2.6 trillion in gross domestic product (GDP) over ten years. An assumption is used here to link the reason (loss in GDP) with the claim (legalizing the immigrants would boost the economy). The assumption is that the immigrants would be buying and consuming products here in the United States and the money that they spend would stimulate the economy while deporting them would damage it.

Another way that this claim is made acceptable is through detailing rising costs with the United States Border Patrol. Since 1992, their budget has increased 714 percent and by making the proposed changes will allow this to be reduced and allow the funds to be allocated in different ways. Statistics are used here to show that because of stricter immigration laws, more funds have to be directed to the Border Patrol while immigration continues to rise, which supports their assumed argument that the current system is ineffective.

Although the claim may still be unacceptable to many people, the researchers used logical assumptions, statistics, and long-term research to help prove how their claim is acceptable.


Article: http://www.cnn.com/2010/POLITICS/01/07/immigration.economy/index.html

Actual study: http://www.americanprogress.org/issues/2010/01/raising_the_floor.html