The Impact of Illegal Immigration in the U.s

Regarding tax paying, you may be surprised to find that many illegal aliens do pay taxes via false tax identification numbers. Even if they avoid income tax, they pay sales tax when they use that income to purchase goods and services. Although there is no definitive evidence, some sociologists argue that per capita illegal aliens may be paying more taxes than citizens do. On the other side of the argument, evidence is clear that certain areas of the country, like southern California are experiencing a drain on social services due to illegal immigrants, particularly in health care and educational services.

The entry for illegal immigration on
Wikipedia
references some very interesting contradicting evidence on the concept of increased crime associated with illegal immigrants: “The bulk of empirical studies the last century have found that immigrants typically are underrepresented in criminal statistics. An Op-Ed in the New York Times by Harvard University Professor in Sociology Robert J. Sampson says that immigration of Hispanics may in fact be associated with decreased crime.A 1999 paper by John Hagan and Alberto Palloni estimated that the involvement in crime by Hispanic immigrants are less than that of citizens.”

In response to American concerns regarding terrorism, the 9-11 commission study did find that fifty-nine out of the ninety-four terrorists who operated within America committed some form of immigration fraud, and many violated multiple immigration laws. However the direct conclusion that illegal immigrants are in some way participating in terrorism is ludicrous. The concern that terrorists could enter our country illegally is a valid one; however there is absolutely no practical way to eliminate this threat through illegal immigration policing. So although fears of terrorism have no realistic basis in illegal immigration, there are concerns regarding national security which are partially valid. The tighter our borders are to illegal entry means, the better our national security is on the whole. We can also have better awareness of and control over the impact of immigration on our country.