Why Illegal Immigrants Can Be Good for the Economy?

Written By Ved Patel (Grade 9)

A speech written by a student writer from a US perspective on a topic that has acquired particular relevance in recent times.

I stand before you today and plead you to see through these lies. Our focus should be directed towards the so-called great nation of The United States of America, who have been targeting their illegal immigrants for decades now. These are ridiculous and are loathsome lies. Lend me an ear for a few minutes, and I tell you one thing; illegal immigrants are good for the nation’s economy. 

Our first big misconception about illegal immigrants is the fact that we think they take away American jobs. They snatch it away and steal the opportunity of working in our own land. However, have you ever realized that it was the other way around? In fact, illegal immigrants are massive contributors to job creation in the United States. Despite all the hardships and brutality that they go through in their lives, they choose to come to the US to build better lives for themselves. They build all the job opportunities but what do they get in return? If we allow a slight easement in the economy for immigrants, we will be introducing between 33600 – 470000 illegal immigrants to the nation. We can safely assume each immigrant-owned business allows 11 employees and with some quick calculations, they would account for 3.7 million – 5.2 million jobs in the US economy alone. Clearly, immigrants are not here to steal the nation’s jobs: they are here to bless it with more instead.

Another major and unjust misconception that illegal immigrants have to face is that they are “violent” and a “major threat”.The citizens of the US have formed a theory that the more the immigrants are situated in a particular place, the higher the crime rates. May I mention, they have not provided a single thread of scientific evidence to back up this claim. However, I would like to shed some light on the statement that immigrants are less likely to commit crime than people of American origin and research studies have confirmed this statement. They are associated with lowering crime rates. This holds true for all kinds of immigrants. The level of education, their job ranking, or their country of origin are none of the factors that contribute to immigrants committing crime. This is part of racial profiling and should be stopped at once. This is how they treat the immigrants in the US — the very immigrants who have clean criminal records. Only 3% of them have criminal offenses. Immigrants just want to pursue higher education opportunities and the economic boost that the country has to offer. 

Finally, I beg you to see through all the lies and whitewashing. Illegal immigrants are good for the economy. None of us can ever imagine the struggles that they faced in their lives. We are living in an era of brutality and the nation’s unjust reforms are not doing anything to help. I call upon you to help these people, to give them a life of joy and happiness in the US.

Featured Image Courtesy – The Conversation