Immigration has been a continuous tradition in the history of America. Huge number of people from all over the world come to America every year and most of them are undocumented workers. Undocumented workers are the most vulnerable and exploited workers in America. They are often victims of unpaid wages, dangerous conditions and uncompensated work place injuries, and other labor law violations. Workers who attempt remedy the abuse routinely face physical and immigration related threats. There are an estimated 6.5 million undocumented immigrant workers in the U.S according to the 2010 immigrants statistics., representing a vital workforce in manufacturing, service, construction, restaurant, and agriculture sectors. Immigrant and non-immigrant communities alike must be informed that all workers—documented or undocumented—are protected under the country's most basic federal and state employment and labor laws.
The most common protections denied undocumented workers include:
The right to receive the promised wage and/or at least the minimum wage and overtime pay for work actually performed.
The right to healthy and safe conditions on the job.
The right to receive workers’ compensation benefits for injuries on the job.
The right to be free from discrimination based on sex, color, race, religion, and national origin; age; and disabilities.
These unfairly treated workers are the one helping the country grow and compete in market places. They are hard working people and they deserve their rights and freedom as American workers. There is a tremendous need to inform workers and employers of their rights and responsibilities under the country's employment laws, to provide greater resources for enforcement of such laws, to increase access for workers to the legal system and community organizing, and to adopt immigration policy reforms that will remove the vulnerability of undocumented workers. Lately, the economy of America has not been good as before. Americans are loosing jobs everyday due to the fact that the results of the census are not always correct because undocumented workers are not included, so the government falls short on how much job opportunities should be created. With undocumented workers without documents, who really suffers? What are the pros and cons of undocumented workers becoming legalized in America? Is it fair for those who are helping the country grow, to be treated as criminals and disadvantages to the country?
The most common protections denied undocumented workers include:
The right to receive the promised wage and/or at least the minimum wage and overtime pay for work actually performed.
The right to healthy and safe conditions on the job.
The right to receive workers’ compensation benefits for injuries on the job.
The right to be free from discrimination based on sex, color, race, religion, and national origin; age; and disabilities.
These unfairly treated workers are the one helping the country grow and compete in market places. They are hard working people and they deserve their rights and freedom as American workers. There is a tremendous need to inform workers and employers of their rights and responsibilities under the country's employment laws, to provide greater resources for enforcement of such laws, to increase access for workers to the legal system and community organizing, and to adopt immigration policy reforms that will remove the vulnerability of undocumented workers. Lately, the economy of America has not been good as before. Americans are loosing jobs everyday due to the fact that the results of the census are not always correct because undocumented workers are not included, so the government falls short on how much job opportunities should be created. With undocumented workers without documents, who really suffers? What are the pros and cons of undocumented workers becoming legalized in America? Is it fair for those who are helping the country grow, to be treated as criminals and disadvantages to the country?
Undocumented workers as they are called in this post are not US citizens and therefore do NOT have the rights of American citizens. These workers are treated poorly because they cannot complain. If they were to complain they would need to admit that they are in this country illegally. If they do this they should immediately be deported. With so many people already in America it is hard to allow a vast quantity of new immigrants. There are many people who every day go through a long and difficult process to legally become citizens. These people are the ones being hurt the most. They are being held back because the system is being so clogged up. These undocumented workers may be doing work to “help” the country, but they are hurting it. The work that these people are doing could and should e done by American citizens that will pay taxes and allow our economy to work. These people are breaking a federal law by entering the country without going through the proper channels. Because they are breaking the law they are criminals and should be treated as such.
ReplyDeleteThe fact that these people are mistreated shows the selfishness that we have in this world. You got to understand that the only reason these people take risks to cross boarders illegally is for a better life here, so they can support their loved ones. Through their hardwork here, they tremendously help the government grow. Besides, these people do jobs that some citizens would never attempt to do. As a society we should have some sense of sympathy for the immigrants.
ReplyDeleteImmigration is always a controversial issue in the United States today for a number of reasons. If I were to list all of those reasons, it would take hours. However, it is safe to say that when it comes to undocumented immigrants coming to America to work for salary like most people do, there are always people who support it and those who oppose it. I can see where people who oppose the idea of illegal immigrants coming to our country to work. I come from an immigrant family who came here legally through a process of citizenship that took months to years to completely accomplish. The people who really suffer are the hard-working citizens as well as those immigrants that have abided by the law and done all that was necessary to obtain citizenship and opportunities for careers rather than take the easy way such as illegal, undocumented workers to answer that question. The pro of this situation is mostly for employers, as these undocumented workers are willing to work for a lesser salary in comparison to others who are looking for a pay that is higher. The companies and employers save money and production is increasing if you have a bunch of workers working for minimum or little wage. The con in all of this is that the opportunities for jobs is decreasing for those who live in America or immigrants who obtain citizenship that are all looking for good-paying jobs. From this sense, we might look at these undocumented workers as criminals. I do not think that its fair for undocumented workers to be working and taking jobs meant for those who abides by the working system but I also think its not fair to classify them as criminals for essentially "stealing our jobs". We must consider why they chose to come to America as a result of maybe poverty, lack of essentials, war, or other contributing factors that forces them to leave their homeland and come to another country. I believe that these undocumented immigrants will help our country grow as long as they intend on becoming on an equal plainfield and apply for citizenship.
ReplyDeleteUndocumented immigrant workers have been in underlying issue that is often overlooked here in the United States. These workers tend to work under very dangerous and underkept working conditions and are paid less than minimum wage for such hard work. Although this is not fair, if these undocumented immigrant workers were given citizenship, then under law, they must be paid at least minimum wage and money would have to be invested in fixing their work conditions. People think that this could offset the economy even more, and that the government would not be able to afford the new changes. It is not fair that these workers do not have the same rights, but there would have to be many reforms in the work force in order for the undocumented workers to gain equal rights.
ReplyDeleteIllegal immigration is an aspect of our society that presents many different implications. Undocumented workers are not U.S. citizens, and because of this reality, these individuals are going to be treated unfairly. What I find to be a staggering fact are how many undocumented workers there actually are. With 6.5 million undocumented workers these are jobs that are being taking away for Americans looking for work. Unfortunately, this issue is having a major effect of the economy. Since undocumented works are illegal, they are not entitled to benefits such as health care, social security, dental, even minimum wage. Essentially, these employers are able to take advantage of these illegal immigrants. Of course, these companies that decided to hire undocumented workers run the risk of serious legal implications such as major fines. So the question is what’s the incentive for these businesses to hire undocumented workers? In a struggling economy, being able to produce the same if not more units of output for a cheaper alternative to paying documented works is a logical explanation. In this case the incentive outweighs the risk. This sad reality is not something that is going to change over night. What needs to be understood is the living conditions this illegal immigrants had before they crossed the border. These individuals faced poverty, crime, hunger, limited job opportunities, and not being able to support a family. Coming to American being able to work for cash even if it is under the minimum wage is in many ways a blessing. Although, I feel sorry for these individuals, I cannot imagine the notion of undocumented workers being of any benefit to the economy. I believe these individuals should be deported and give Americans more opportunities to find work. Being an American citizen means you were born with certain rights guaranteed by our constitution. And not getting a job because an illegal immigrant is filling that spot because it’s a cheaper proposition is fundamental wrong. In final, this issue of undocumented workers needs to be fixed because in not fair to Americans or the dignity of those illegal immigrants.
ReplyDeleteIt is unfair that many immigrants have to come to this country illegally because of the awful condition which they live in, but it is also unfair to American citizens when these illegal immigrants come to America and work here illegally. As many people have mentioned they are taking away jobs from American citizens during a time when it is very difficult to find a job. It is true that undocumented workers do have to work under severe conditions with little pay since many employers take advantage of their situation and use them as sources of cheap labor. However, these illegal immigrants also take away money from the economy since they do not have to pay any taxes since they are not citizens. Also, a lot of immigrants send most of their money back to their families back in their home countries, which means that even more money is not being put back into the economy. These illegal immigrants do not deserve the benefits of a US citizen because they are not citizens. It is unfair to the immigrants who spend from months to years trying to come to America. These people are breaking the law and manipulating the system. If the government were to legalize undocumented workers then immigrants would really have no incentive to try and come to this country legally.
ReplyDeletePeople from many countries around the world come to America for better lives. Immigrants do anything to earn money. It is sad that undocumented immigrants receive low income and unable to get benefits or health insurance when they are injured. They live as invisible people in the country. I agree that those undocumented immigrants are hard working and it is scary for them to work without protection when they are injured because danger is unpredictable. Since those undocumented immigrants have already lived in America long ago, it is a complicated and ambiguous decision to deport those people back to their countries. They have already set their goals and hopes in the United States. There should be a resolution for this problem that satisfy both citizens and undocumented immigrants.
ReplyDeleteWhen it comes to undocumented workers in this country, it is both the illegal immigrants and Americans that suffer. The illegal and undocumented workers suffer because of how unfairly they are treated. They, essentially, are not treated like real people, but just strictly as worker mules that are paid unfairly, treat with disrespect, or devoid of having any compassion shown towards them. Americans suffer as well because these undocumented take away jobs that Americans need during our country’s time to economic suffering. But there really is no solution to the problem because many of the jobs that the illegal immigrants do are so low classed and demeaning that Americans don’t want to lower themselves to that level. The only way removing the undocumented workers from this country would work is if unemployed Americans would get off their horse and apply for these jobs, just so they would be able to have some sort of an income.
ReplyDeleteAnother problem is that big businesses have become accustom to the pay scale for these workers, so if these undocumented workers were to be documented it could crush our economy even further. The most likely outcome would be that these workers would be fired and more undocumented workers would be brought into the country, adding to the amount of illegal immigrants running free in America. If by choice, these companies decided to keep their paying their previous employees the price of the company’s products would increase substantially. This in return would hurt Americans further because as most of us are already struggling with the economy, having to spend more money on goods that were once cheap, would only help diminish our hard earned money. The same would happen with hiring Americans to perform the tasks previously performed by the undocumented workers.
The entire situation with undocumented workers is one big mess that is nearly impossible to sort out. However, it’s not really a question of whether it’s fair or not for big companies to treat the undocumented workers they way they have. With the way that Americans are struggling in this tough economy any change to the system could accidentally spiral downward and cause more problems for Americans. Before we pass any legislation on the issue I believe we need to get the economy back to normal, and we need to get the rest of Americans settled down with jobs in order to prevent further problems.
Undocumented immigrant workers both have their pros and their cons. The pros are that the employers can make them work for less pay, without benefits,and make them do the work that none of us would want to do. Without these immigrants I feel America would be exposed and it would be a lose-lose situation for both the immigrants and our country. Though the immigrants do the dirty work, they still are sheltered better than they were in their home country and their lives are better and will become better by doing what their doing. The cons however are pretty much just gettting caught. If the employers get caught than they are punished and they lose workers because the immigrants are shipped back to their country. I feel that this situation should not change because it will only be a loss for our country.
ReplyDeleteThe undocumented workers of America should not be treated in this way. The companies that they are working for are taking advantage of them and their situation, because they are in fear of being deported. These people will work to extreme hours and in extreme conditions just so they can stay here and support their families here. It has become increasingly difficult to immigrate to America and make a new life here. People just want to better their lives and offer a life they never had for their children. This is the land of opportunity after all. Sure the economy is bad and unemployment is much higher then we’d like, but that doesn’t mean we should treat these undocumented workers horribly, like criminals, or even deport them. One can only imagine the situations these people were in while living in their homeland. If you were in a bad situation in a different country wouldn’t you do anything to escape it? We as a society need to be more empathetic towards undocumented workers because we all wish to live in the best possible scenarios; just for them it’s a little different.
ReplyDeleteI believe that though this might be considered taking advantage of people, it is not as bad as people make it out to be. These people know exactly how little they're getting paid, but prefer it to the worse conditions of their country. For those who are all up in arms about how little these illegal aliens make, consider this: they would be making less money in their own countries, working under worse conditions. People in China work for pennies an hour and people still buy China made products without thinking twice. It's only when we see this happening in our own country that we see something wrong. Just something to think about.
ReplyDeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteIn all honesty, the term "illegal immigrant" means it is illegal for the person to be in the country. In my opinion, we should not allow illegals into the country and that people should just wait their turn to enter the U.S. My ancestors came into this country with papers, they did everything by the books. Back then, many people actually got turned away because of illnesses and for having the cold. Even though we were asking people to immigrate to the U.S., many people did get turned away. If they wanted to come into the country, they would have to wait until they got better.
ReplyDeletePeople should have papers proving who they are when they are in the country. I can understand not wanting to become a citizen, but people should at least have a green card if they are in the U.S. If the "line" to get a green card is long, people should just wait their turn. Our government knows that there are undocumented people coming in the country, which causes it to lower the amount of people it lets in each year. Is it fair to the other people in line? Would you be mad if 100 people cut you in line just before you got on your favorite ride at an amusement park?
How do we solve the problem? This is my solution: We can make it known that one year from now, we will be cracking down on illegal immigration. As far as people already in the country, we can make it known that they have one year to apply for a green card for free, no questions asked (other than the regular info needed to apply for a card). We also need to secure our Mexican, Canadian, and oceanic borders. After the one year grace period, we need to deport all people here illegally. Now many reading this will think "That's not fair," but they would have known ahead of time and anyone currently in the country would have had a year to acquire free documentation. The people already here would have to be treated fairly in the workplace and get at least minimum wage. Because they would be documented, they would pay taxes. This means they would receive benefits like workman's comp if they get injured. Because they have proof they belong here, they would also be protected from discrimination. My idea would protect the immigrant workers we already have and it would prevent future problems with discrimination against immigrants. By cracking down on our borders and ridding of illegal immigrants after the one year grace period, we will be able to allow more people in each year and those who wait will not be punished for their honest act.