The United States Should Expand Immigration

Although I requested con to make the first arguments in round 1, I will start off the debate with my own arguments. Benefits1. Immigrants are a net benefit to the US Economy One of the most important aspects of the immigration debate is whether immigrants are economically beneficial or harmful to the United States. My first claim is that immigration increases the value of the US economy. To understand how, it’s important to understand the economics of immigration. The consensus among economists is that free trade increases efficiency of the market and produces the greatest amount of wealth in society. This holds true with the labor market as well. For evidence, Michael Clemens wrote in the Journal of Economic Perspectives that “If only 5% of the population in poorer countries immigrated to richer countries global incomes would rise by four to nine trillion dollars. (1) This happens because, when a poor individual moves to a richer country, he or she is able to produce much more wealth for the same amount of effort, and thereby increasing his/her own income while also adding more value to the economy. This increases efficiency in the market, which can be measured by economists. The table below (from same source) shows various efficiency gains that result from partial or complete removal of immigration barriers. Wealthier immigrants also greatly benefit the US economy. Currently, there is a way to immigrate to the US using an H1-B visa. The data that economists have gained from looking at the cost and benefits to the US economy from these immigrants show it is clear that they increase wealth in the economy. By looking at only a few entrepreneurs that came with this visa, it is clearly the benefits outweigh the costs. The table and graph below show individuals who founded major companies, and wages paid to by immigrants vs the wealth created by immigrants. (2) I would support greatly increasing the current cap of 65,000 H-1B visas to allow for many other college-educated immigrants to come to this country and enhance the economy. 2. Expanded Legal Immigration and Unemployment Another common contention among skeptics of immigration expansion is the idea that they steal jobs from other Americans. Although some citizens in a narrow range of occupations can be negatively effected by immigration, this is greatly offset by the amount of jobs and wealth that are created by having immigrants come to the country. So, how do immigrants create jobs? It’s easier to see when an immigrant takes a job somewhere, but it’s much harder to see what’s happening behind the scenes in the economy. In the economy, there is a supply and demand of labor just as there is for all other things. When there is the introduction of a new consumer into the economy, there is more demand for goods and services, which increases the demand for labor to produce these goods and services. For proof, we can look at the past 60 years where baby-boomers, women, and immigrants have all entered the work force with no effect to long term unemployment rates. The table below demonstrates how unemployment rate does not have a significant correlation with immigration rates within the different regions of the country (3). Also, the short video above will explain more in depth on how immigration relates to unemployment and income. . http://www.youtube.com... 3. Expanded Legal Immigration Leads to less Illegal Immigration My third argument for expanded immigration is that it would help with reducing the amount of illegal immigration the country receives. To understand why, we need to look at our current immigration system. The complicated system we have in place makes it so that it is nearly impossible for an unskilled worker without any family ties in the US to come to this country legally. The graphic below explains in detail how the system works (4). As you can see, our system is very restrictive in the type of people that can come to the USA legally, and so if a poor worker has a strong desire to come here, there is little other options besides coming here illegally and hoping for the best. It is rational to have a system in place where even poor workers are given the chance to legally come to this country to work, even if it not with full citizenship. It would help curb the demand to come here illegally while also benefiting the US economy and the workers themselves. As I have ran out of time, I will go more into depth on the topics I mentioned, as well as introduce new topics in relation to immigration next round. I look forward to viewing my opponent’s response! Sources:1. . http://www.jstor.org...;2. . http://www.antolin-davies.com...3. . http://www.immigrationpolicy.org...4. . http://reason.com...