Sociology Essay

Literature Review

Lysvette Rodriguez

Soc-303

Dr. Daniel Boudon

10/03/2020

Introduction: Immigration literature review

Globalization and the formation of regional blocks have increased immigration and fostered international relations, and boosted commerce. In the united states, citizens are divided on the issue of immigration. Those who support hold that immigrants founded the united states; hence no immigrants should be denied access to the American dream. On the other hand, the opposers cite societal problems such as poverty, unemployment, and insecurity that come with illegal immigrants. This literature review will analyze different opinions held by Americans regarding immigration. For better analysis, these three questions will be answered:

a. Do immigrants pose a threat to Americans?

b. What are the impacts of people feeling threatened by immigrants?

c. How does immigration impact the economy?

This investigation requires an honest approach in order to establish accurate findings. America is founded on liberty, with every person entitles to their own opinion. There will therefore be those who will agree with the findings and those who disagree. As such, both the advantages and disadvantages will be focused upon, which will ensure. This review aims to answer the questions posed above and provide evidence that is well-grounded and applicable in the future.

a. Do immigrants pose a threat to Americans?

Whether immigrants pose, a threat is controversial, with some holding that they are a threat while others hold that they are not. Those who hold that immigrants are a threat to the country, and people believe immigrants bring along social, political, and economic problems from their origin (Tummala-Narra, 2020). Consider Mexican immigrants who may, at times, bring about gang culture and mentality when they immigrate. Immigrants from Latin America are associated with the drug trade, while those from the middle east are often associated with terrorism. Americans have suffered due to immigrants' problems, such as the hundreds of deaths due to terrorist attacks and numerous drug addicts.

In most cases, illegal immigrants lack the necessary academic qualifications and documentation to secure them legitimate jobs in the country. Lack of qualifications causes high unemployment rates and results in social problems of increased crime rates and poverty—those who do manage to get employment to deny employment to American citizens entitled to the jobs. Politically, the subject has brought about enormous divisions and disruptions, especially in foreign relations. The relationship between the united states and Mexico have been strained as America moves to curb Mexican immigrants. At times illegal immigrants are killed and injured as they try to cross over to America, causing bad relations between the two governments. Travel bans enforced to minimize immigrant entry have been interpreted at times to be aggressive foreign policy, lowering the country's diplomatic standing. For these and many more reasons, a significant portion of Americans considers immigrants to be a threat to the country.

Other citizens do not consider immigrants as threats and instead urge others to welcome immigrants. Immigrants bring diversity to American culture as they are from diverse backgrounds, which many are interpreted to be a good thing. They also take up crucial low pay jobs shunned by American citizens due to low pay and harsh working conditions. Not all immigrants are dangerous to the country as some are genuinely escaping hostile conditions back at home, for instance, civil unrest and economic hardships. It is, therefore, invalid to make assumptions that all immigrants pose a threat.

b. What are the impacts of people feeling threatened by immigrants?

People who feel threatened by immigrants suffer from anxiety, which leads to hostile behavior towards immigrants. The united states have experienced increased levels of racism and xenophobia in the past decade due to immigrants' perception as a threat (Tummala-Narra, 2020). In his 2016 campaigns, President Trump made several statements to support xenophobia (Lee, 2020). His promise to build a wall separating the united states and Mexico was controversial and increased racial sentiments among his hardline conservative base. In addition to xenophobia, immigrants' feeling threatened by immigrants increases racialized defenses, given that most immigrants are from minority groups. Immigrants to the united states mainly come from Latin America, Africa, and the middle east. These cohorts of people are distinct in appearance and therefore suffer racial profiling and discrimination more often than immigrants from Asia and Europe. The increased anxiety against immigrants also limits immigrants' chances of getting meaningful employment, thus increasing unemployment and poverty among them. In conclusion, it appears that immigrants suffer most when the host feel threatened by immigrants.

Fear and negative attitudes toward illegal immigrants results in negative attitudes towards legal immigrants as well. A study conducted by Stephan et al. (2005) found that people were most hostile against immigrants when they saw them as threats and having negative traits. The report also found out that negative group descriptions led negative attitude towards foreign exchange students who were in the country legally. The threats focused on in the study include symbolic threats and realistic threats, both in which case led to negative attitudes towards foreigners. The negative attitude towards legal immigrants makes it difficult for them to adapt to the country and alienate them from American society. Legal immigrants are perceived to be the catalysts to achieving a cultural balance in the united states. Negative attitudes towards them do alienate them and hinder the country's ability to achieve cultural balance. Therefore, it is safe to conclude that negative attitudes towards illegal immigrants affect legal immigrants too and hinder the nation's ability to achieve cultural diversity.

c. How does immigration affect our economy?

The question that continues to linger in everybody's mind is the impact of immigration on our economy. Most people are misinformed on the actual impact of immigrants on the economy. The politicization of the issue has created a false impression either way, with some politicians being openly biased in favor of immigration while others opposed it. Liberals have led their followers to believe that illegal immigrants are entirely crucial to the economy as they provide cheap labor and take employment positions. American citizens and legal immigrants are willing to take.

On the other hand, conservatives have held that immigrants are harmful to the economy regardless of the little benefit they may bring. In the last five decades or so, conservative politicians have helped advance the anti0imigrant sentiment through inflammatory political rhetoric. For instance, in the 1980s, President Reagan framed immigration as an issue of national security (Amadeo, 2020). The 1990s view of immigrants followed the move as freeloaders on various media platforms. In the last two decades, there was a notion that immigrants were waging war against the middle class. American prides itself on having one of the largest middle class on earth, which makes it categorized as a high-income economy. The impact of immigration on the economy has been characterized by bias, which has made it impossible to determine the real impact.

The actual impact of immigration on the economy is best determined from an economist's point of view. Economists offer a shred of relatively less biased evidence and analysis on immigration's impact on the economy. Economists hold that immigrants provide cheap labor, attracting more companies (Carpenter & Loveridge, 2017). In the past decade, American companies have been relocating their operations to china because china offers them cheap skilled labor. The NAFTA also resulted in American companies moving from the USA to Canada and Mexico (Lee, 2020). The shift of companies to other countries in search of cheap labor to the American economy. The high paying job only exists as long as the companies have cheap laborers to handle menial tasks at lower prices. Due to limited capital, numerous immigrants run small and medium-sized businesses that provide quality and diverse employment opportunities.

Contrary to popular belief, immigrants do pay tax. Illegal immigrants pay tax either individually or through their employers, hoping that their tax payments will help them get citizenship someday. Payment of taxes by immigrants in the workforce improves the age dependency ratio, which is good for the economy. It is worth noting that illegal immigrants are not eligible for health care benefits and other tax benefits; thus, they are not freeloaders. According to economists, immigrants are more beneficial to the economy regardless of the failure to enjoy taxpayers' benefits.

Conclusion

Immigration remains a controversial topic, given its positive and negative impacts on the economy and society. Some people support the concept of immigration, while others see it as a threat to the country's culture and economy. It is difficult to establish whether immigration is right or wrong. This literature review has analyzed various articles that touch on different issues regarding immigration. It has answered the three questions posed of whether immigrants pose a threat to the country, the impact of immigrants' feeling threatened by immigrants, and the impact of immigration on the economy. Therefore, this review will provide crucial information regarding immigration, given that it contains evidence from different points of view.

References

Amadeo, K. (2020, April 20). Immigration Pros and Cons. Retrieved October 02, 2020, from https://www.thebalance.com/how-immigration-impacts-the-economy-4125413

Carpenter, C. W., & Loveridge, S. (2017). Immigrants, Self-Employment, and Growth in American Cities. Journal of Regional Analysis & Policy, 47(2), 100-109.

Gee, L. C., Gardner, M., & Wiehe, M. (2016). Undocumented immigrants’ state & local tax contributions. The Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy.

Lee, E. (2020). America First, Immigrants Last: American Xenophobia Then and Now. The Journal of the Gilded Age and Progressive Era, 19(1), 3-18.

Stephan, W. G., Renfro, C. L., Esses, V. M., Stephan, C. W., & Martin, T. (2005). The effects of feeling threatened on attitudes toward immigrants. International Journal of Intercultural Relations, 29(1), 1-19.

Tummala-Narra, P. (2020). The fear of immigrants. Psychoanalytic Psychology, 37(1), 50–61.