Immigration in America

Immigration has been influencing our country from the moment it started. Depending on whom you ask these influences may be positive or negative. A lot of people in this country see immigrants as a huge problem and don't really care for them too much, thus those Americans are the reason we have such strict rules against them now. They don't take the time to look at these immigrants for who they really are and this is probably why they feel the way they do about immigrants. . An author by the name of Peter Brimelow thinks that immigration does not contribute to a better America because it's undemocratic. (Brimelow 1) I disagree with him as I feel that immigration control should be put to an end because immigrants play a major role in this country and most of us don't even realize it.

Immigrants come to America with an energy that this country doesn't have. A lot of them do jobs that Americans won't do. These jobs are overlooked by everyone because they don't pay well and they are insignificant as far as being an ideal career for the average American. These include jobs such as landscaping, dry cleaners, tailors, cab drivers and the list goes on. Just because children don't grow up saying they want to be these people when they become adults doesn't mean these jobs aren't important. Think about it, if no one ever cut the grass in public areas just imagine how tacky our cities would look and also its just inhumane because that's not the type of environment that was meant for humans. Almost everybody relies on the dry cleaners or a good tailor to make sure their clothes are intact and up to par. In major cities, where it is almost impossible to drive or have a car, we have a reliable taxi service where foreigners are usually the drivers. If there were no immigrants I doubt we would have a taxi service because you wouldn't find most Americans driving a cab. These are all small examples of jobs that we as a society rely heavy on all the time and don't really pay mind to it. Some of us take these jobs for granted and this is why we have people who don't appreciate immigrants, but it doesn't stop here.

Another reason why immigrants can contribute to America is because it is way cheaper to hire them. This ties into what I just talked about previously and this is the main reason why Americans refuse to do these small jobs. Immigrants come to this country with a hungry desire to succeed and don't take shame in anything they are doing just as long as they are providing for their families.( http://borderbattles.ssrc.org/Hirschman/) They wouldn't mind working for low pay as long as it is putting food on the table. If anything its better than having Americans do these same jobs because of the way Americans think. They will automatically try to go on strike or rally against the fact that they are not getting paid enough for what they are doing. This just cause more strain and stress to our economy and this refutes an idea from author, Peter Brimelow that immigration will cause more strain on the economy.(Brimelow 1) He makes this oversimplification without really giving a reason why this could happen, which makes this statement poor. The immigrants are just grateful enough to have a job and they just make the best out of their situations. If at any time they do start to get stubborn and try to go on strike they can easily be deported back to their own country if they don't have green card, so most of them try to keep a low profile and are very cooperative so causing havoc to the government doesn't seem like a problem.

So I am really not seeing what the harm is here. What's the real reason why some people are so against immigrants? It could be that Americans just overall fear the fact of someone from a different country coming to their own land, taking their jobs and succeeding at them.(http://borderbattles.ssrc.org/Hirschman/) You would think we as Americans would be more confident as we do have the upper hand because once again this is our own land. How come we fear immigrants so much? Phillipe Legrain