The Labor Debate An American Dream Revisited

Essay, Research Paper

The Labor Debate: The American Dream Revisited

Immigration is one hot topic in modern day conversation. Many believe that immigrants coming to the United States are taking many well-needed jobs away from able-bodied Americans. On the other hand, there are still those that believe that the jobs being taken away are not ones that Americans would perform due to the terrible working conditions, low pay, and lack of medical coverage. The immigration problem has come to a point where the United States must make a decision to spend a lot of money to curtail the amount of immigrants using force and funds of an overbearing amount, or to just let the immigrants continue to go about their business in trying to find a way into a country where they are mildly welcome. The article The Labor Debate discusses both the pros and cons of immigrants, both legal and illegal alike, taking jobs of their own in a country where they might not be welcome.

I believe that the immigrants are not necessarily taking jobs away from the American worker. Those occupations that the immigrants possess are truly illegal for any employer to employ any American. The job sights include unsanitary conditions, dangerous equipment use without proper safety precautions, extremely long working days, and less than minimum wage for average pay. There is not one citizen in this country that would stand for such an outrageous environment to work in. Many would go directly to an inspection board to have the factory/plant evaluated to see if the factory could pass any sort of inspection. Hence, the factory/plant would be closed down and there would be even fewer jobs for Americans.

Those immigrants out there that are working are helping to construct certain items that citizens of the United States do not want to be a part of. Take as an example the sewing of blue jeans, a product that graces the legs of half the country. Many Americans out there need this clothing for working and playing in. However, the tedious work of sewing blue jeans does not fit into the description of the American dream for the citizens of this country. If it helps to put some food on the table for a starving family from Mexico, ask yourself if it is truly worth it to throw all the illegal immigrants out to send them to a place where no jobs are available to pay them money that can even provide this meager amount of food?

I know personally that if all the illegal immigrants were thrown to the wolves every time they tried to steal across the border, then I would not be here. My own grandmother rode in the bottom of a boat across the Atlantic Ocean just to obtain her own American dream. She eventually became a citizen and obtained her American dream of making enough money to travel to Hawaii for vacation. That is all she wanted to do. She worked three jobs under the table to pay for the expenses, but she did it due to perseverance.

As far as the taxing situation goes as well, the immigrants are definitely getting the blunt end of it too. They are still required to pay taxes without being able to file for an income tax return at the end of the year like all American citizens can. The reason they cannot file for the income tax return is in fear of being caught and sent back to where they came from. Therefore, those illegal immigrants working in this country are helping to pay taxes, social security, union wages, and our national deficit.

In conclusion, I believe that those many Americans that are whining about the illegal immigrants taking jobs away are not looking at the big picture. The illegal immigrants are filling jobs not wanted by the existing population. The illegal immigrants are paying helping to pay for programs that our country cannot pay for by itself already. The illegal immigrants are living up to the American dream. Why should this nation deny any person the right to the American dream? It is how this nation received its fame and how it will continue to obtain more.