Immigration Law

HOW ILLEGALLY PRESENT IMMIGRANTS HELP BOTH THE ELDERLY AND THE YOUNG

By Greg Siskind

Don't let the article's title fool you. The writer ultimately finds that the immigrants help both groups and not just one. The elderly are helped because many of the immigrants - particularly illegally present immigrants - will never collect Social Security benefits despite paying billions of dollars in to the system. The young are helped because competition for jobs at lower skill levels has led to more young people staying in skill and improving the education and skill set, something that benefits them (and the country) in the long run. That's not to say that we should be content that we have illegally present immigrants. The issue divides the country and we need to put it behind us by putting this huge population in a legal status, devoting resources to firmly enforce immigration laws and stop the flow of illegal migration and, most importantly, establish a real guest worker program and a better functioning green card system so that we don't just find ourselves in the same place in ten or fifteen years.

Full post as published by Greg Siskind's Blog on March 30, 2008 (boomark / email).