Since
Donald Trump won the presidential election in 2016, many rumors have been
widespread in the United States, a lot of which are the immigration issues.
Many people are asking: should America build a wall along the border with
Mexico? This question can also be explained as if America welcomes immigrants,
which is a big issue because American immigrants have different backgrounds. In
other words, who should be banned and who should be allowed to immigrate to
America? The debate is continuing. In fact, Most of the Americans agree that
the immigrants who are well-educated and are working in universities,
hospitals, and high-tech industry contribute to this country. They can directly
or indirectly increase the America GDP. Some economists calculate the growth of
GDP and profit caused by foreign workers is massive numbers. The reason is that
the production could potentially be four or five times greater than they do in
their origin countries (Peri, 2012, p. 37). This an important reason why
America accepts 140,000 skilled immigrants every year. However, Trump
administration is planning to reduce the skilled immigration, which is a
powerful assistant to America economy, and this policy will harm the U.S.
economy in GDP growth.
GDP represents the gross domestic product, which gives an
overall picture of the state of the economy. In Ilya Somin’s “Trump's Immigration Restrictions Will Hurt
Americans”, the author argues that Trump administration is trying to limit
specific immigrants’ rights of living and working, which have some influences
on the GDP, and it is unreasonable that the government do anything that may
decrease the GDP. For example, immigrants who do not have a legal status will
be arrested or deported, including thousands who do not have a criminal record
(2017). The expenditure of
such activities executed by the government will result in a negative number of
the GDP calculation because these activities cannot be considered as an
investment. The reason is that refer to the economic definition, an investment
is a capital good which is purchased with the expectation that it will generate
income or returns in the future. That is, arresting and deporting the
immigrants who do not commit a crime is not productive in the economic system.
Instead, it is an unnecessary waste. In addition, Somin points out that there
are millions of Americans benefit from the products, innovations, and profit
made by immigrants every day. Therefore, losing these immigrants will decrease part
of the Americans’ profit.
Another effect is also serious. According to Yeganeh
Torbati’s “ Trump Administration Red Tape Tangles up Visas for Skilled
Foreigners, Data Shows”, the author reports that related agencies issued a 45
percent increase challenges or “requests for evidence” to H-1B visa petitions
during Jan. 1 and Aug. 31 in 2017 (2017). This data reflects a tougher
environment for skilled foreign workers who tend to immigrate to America.
Hence, many employers will suffer loss, such as the heavy users of H-1B visas
in Silicon Valley. They complain that there are sometimes few qualified
Americans so they need skilled foreigners (Torbati, 2017). If not, they need to
solve the problem by reducing the production, hiring higher-salary Americans,
or trying to move parts of their offices or factories overseas, and then hire
local workers (Rafter, 2017, p. 45). In the first case, lower production means
less output and income. In the second case, considering the costs, those firms
will reduce the amount of workers, which means the unemployment rate may go up,
and the employees will be required to work overtime; moreover, “requests for
evidence” is an extra expenditure that employers are reluctant to pay under the
uncertainty that their applications for skilled foreign workers will pass or
not. Thus, the employers lose some opportunities to recruit high
cost–performance workers. This is what Giovanni Peri says in “Immigration, Labor Markets, and Productivity”:
on the specialization, “the employers have less choice of workers in terms of
their labor market skills and productive activity” (p. 42). In the third case,
the production is not domestic. It can be seen that each of the solutions
decreases the America GDP.
Peri then says that many Americans and Europeans thought
immigrants deprived their job opportunities, especially during a recession.
However, some research considers that the immigrants in the labor market create
opportunities for firms to increase their productivity and their employment of
native workers (p. 44). In fact, the labor demand and supply curve could shift
to the right. Another concern is the abuse of H-1B working visa. The biggest
problem is that many foreign workers replace U.S. workers with a lower payment
(Perkins, 2017, p. 39). Perkins provides some
advice for fixing the immigration policy in “H-1B: A Good System Gone Bad”. First, increase the price of acquiring an
H-1B visa. Second, eliminate the $60,000 salary loophole and the incorrect
information. Third, change the eligibility rules in order to benefit American
companies instead of foreign companies. Lastly, if an H-1B worker loses a job,
and then find another job without spending additional time, do not ask him/her
to leave America immediately (p. 41). Perkins’ advice is accepted by many
expertises.
In conclusion, the U.S government
should not restrict the skilled immigration in order not to harm America
economy. Under the policy, the H1-B visa program could be
revised, but it should not be limited too much since the holders play an
important role in America economy and have a long-run benefit to America. The
United States is an advanced country and also a race melting pot. Many people
in the world have American dreams, and the American dream should be co-created
by all those who want to contribute to the United States. A win-win situation
is what Americans need.
References
Peri, G.
(2012). Immigration,
labor markets, and productivity. CATO
Journal, 32(1), 35-53.
Perkins, B. (2017). H-1B: a good system
gone bad. Computerworld Digital Magazine,
3(9), 38-41. Retrieved from http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&AuthType=ip,cpid&custid=s1088435&db=a9h&AN=122833134&site=ehost-live.
Rafter, M. V. (2017). Hiring and the
H-1B. Workforce, 96(5), 44-48.
Retrieved from http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&AuthType=ip,cpid&custid=s1088435&db=a9h&AN=124950162&site=ehost-live.
Somin,
Ilya. (2017, April 21). Trump's Immigration Restrictions Will Hurt Americans. The Report, from U.S. News
& World Report. Retrieved
from
http://link.galegroup.com.lscsproxy2.lonestar.edu/apps/doc/A490483626/OVIC?u=nhmccd_main&xid=4569cdbfFER
Torbati, Y. (2017). Trump
administration red tape tangles up visas for skilled foreigners, data shows.
Reuters.
Retrieved from http://icof.infobaselearning.com/icofnewstopic.aspx?reutersID=366341.
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