They are pricy
Illegal immigrants are detrimental to our society because they hurt our economy and take jobs. They cost the federal government a lot of money each year. They also take jobs away from American workers.
Because of their sheer numbers illegal immigrants put a great strain on the American economy. It costs the government billions of dollars a year to house these illegal immigrants, and because they don't pay taxes we never get a single cent of that money returned to our government. They also cost around 200 billion dollars a year in depressed wages. Another thing is that many illegal immigrants end up in prisons, around 30% of all the inmates in prisons are illegal immigrants. Because of those reasons and others illegal immigrants are hurtful to the U.S. economy.
Illegal immigrants take jobs away from low skilled American workers. They will work for less pay and little to no benefits which incentives employers to hire them since it will save the company money; employers want the cheaper employee so they will have a net increase in income. They take away jobs in the agriculture, construction, restaurants, and hotels that jobless Americans would gladly fill. Also American high school dropouts would earn as much as 8% more if illegal immigrants didn't take those jobs for less. Isn't it a responsibility of America to care for its own people first? If that is true we must crack down on illegal immigrants so our low skilled citizens can have the best quality of life possible
debateapollo

Con

Congress is considering major immigration reform, in large part to enable employers to bring more immigrant workers into the country to fill critical positions. Rather than present the reasons why this is necessary, below is a perfectly articulated rendition of why immigration is good for the U.S. economy. Leon Sequeira is the current Assistant Secretary for Policy for the U.S. Department of Labor. He testified before the House of Representatives on May 3, 2007 about the impact of immigration on our economy, and said in part:

"While the number of immigrants as a percentage of the population might seem large, it is in fact far lower than other periods of heavy immigration in our history. Over the past ten years, 8.8 million immigrants added about 3.4 percent to the population. In contrast, throughout the 19th century, immigration added 6.2 percent to the population each decade, rising above 9 percent during the 1850s and 1880s, and immigration peaked at 10.4 percent of the population during the decade between 1901 and 1910. After 1910, immigration rates fell dramatically, merely adding 5.7 percent to the population during the 1911-1919 decade, further falling to 0.4 percent in the 1930s, and then slowly rising to a still low 2.0 percent in the 1970s. Immigration rates rose in the 1980s (3 percent) and 1990s (3.4 percent) and have since remained stable.

The growth of the foreign-born workforce has not produced significant adverse effects on native-born workers. During the last ten years, the unemployment rate for native-born workers fell from 5.4 percent to 4.7 percent. The unemployment rate for African-Americans has declined from 10.5 percent in 1996 to 8.3 percent today. While unemployment has gone down, wages have gone up. Over the last decade, as the foreign born workforce increased, average hourly earnings of production and non-supervisory workers increased 8.7 percent after adjustment for inflation. In 2006, the median usual weekly earnings of foreign-born full-time wage and salary workers were $532, compared with $698 for the native-born.

There are three fundamental reasons why immigrants are important to our economy. First, the U.S. workforce is aging. Second, continued immigration will allow us to maintain a higher ratio of workers to retirees than other major economies such as China, Japan and Germany. Third, immigrants contribute significantly to innovation and entrepreneurship in our economy.
Debate Round No. 1
AquaGekko23

Pro

First of all I would like to thank deateapollo for becoming my opponent

My opponent said that immigration rates are low now. While that may be true the outlook on jobs is very bad. Because of this recession many American workers can not find jobs and illegal's tend to work for less and no benefits. Because of this many employers seek to hire them.

My opponent said that they have no effect on native workers but if you look at the current job situation in America there are native workers that are unemployed and illegal's that have jobs. Just think, if they were not in our country more Americans would have jobs and our economy would be doing better because we would not have to pay unemployment for them. Also as I stated in my first speech high school dropouts would earn as much as 8% more if illegal did not take the jobs for less.

Yes some of the U.S. workforce is aging but there are unemployed Americans that are ready to take their places. My opponent also said that they would allow us to maintain a greater balance of workers to retirees, but if you think about that it would just create an unsuitable cycle of bringing in more and more immigrants and it would be very costly to our economy because of strain that illegal immigrants put on our economy. And to answer my opponents last point they do not help our economy since it is just putting a strain on our social services because of unemployed Americans and it pushes native born workers out of work. Also legal immigrants solve all of the advantages that my opponent stated and they are here legally which means without breaking the law. Also they are better for our economy since they are usually educated and can support themselves, they also pay taxes and are not freeloaders.
debateapollo

Con

My opponent is forgetting that she and also I immigrated to America which were supposed to be land of the Indians.

I would 5 reason why illegal immigration is not bad

Diversity
The cultural diversity brought by immigrants is a positive thing in itself. Increased diversity brings new influences in art, architecture and food.

Business
Immigrants are statistically more likely to start businesses than people born in the United States. Their businesses often attract international investment capital as well.

Education
Many international students study in the United States, but then are forced out due to limited student visas. Allowing for their permanent immigration keeps those educational benefits here, producing new doctors, scientists and programmers.

Production
More workers produce more capital. It has been demonstrated in countless studies that immigrants, after a start-up period, contribute to tax collections, labor and the production of wealth just as much as those who are native born.

Safety
The Immigration Policy Center has determined that legal immigrants have an incarceration rate five times lower than the general population, indicating that immigrants contribute to a stable and safe society.
Debate Round No. 2
AquaGekko23

Pro

Yes cultural diversity is good and I am not trying to stop immigration all together just illegal immigration

Also for the business thing immigrants that are legal can still fill those positions

Immigrants can still have your education advantage if they are legal

Native born workers need jobs that are being taken by illegal immigrants

Some illegal immigrants are terrorists that would hurt our country's safety

Over all my opponents points can still be solved with legal immigrants also they dropped all of my points which means I win them all since they conceded them. Vote con for these reasons
CONTEXT(Help)
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Argumentation and Debate - 62242 »Argumentation and Debate - 62242
Lindsey Suskie »Lindsey Suskie
Debate #4 »Debate #4
Resolved:US should substantially increase security on Southern border »Resolved:US should substantially increase security on Southern border
Plan »Plan
HARMS  »HARMS
Illegal immigrants hurt our economy »Illegal immigrants hurt our economy
They are pricy
They don't pay taxes »They don't pay taxes
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