1 Kesner Matthew Kesner CAS 114B Professor Zelaya 17 March 2014 Argumentative Essay Currently in the United States

immigration reform is the height of the political debates concerning changes to present immigration policy of the country. It is used to change immigration into an improved system, by amending or removing responsibilities. The abuse of immigrant workers in jobs with low pay or no pay, dangerous work conditions, and verbal and physical abuse(Kwesiga) has gone on for far too long and this issue needs to be addressed once and for all. Changing the immigration law and revising the immigration rights will help Central Americans fit into society and receive the rights that they have earned. There are 38 million immigrants currently residing in the USA, more than half (54 percent) of whom are from Latin America, including Mexico and Central and South America (Barry, Bell, and Kwesiga). Undocumented immigrants work and are employed in numerous fields, including construction, landscaping, gardening, painting, roofing, and installing dry wall. Immigrants contribute every day towards having our economy run smoothly, and if they were to stop working due to being mistreated on the job, agriculture jobs would not get done and the economy would fail. Without immigrants, Americans would be forced to take on the jobs that they so effortlessly handed down to immigrant workers. There are numerous rules that the immigration policy must change immediately, in order to broaden immigrants rights. The federal government needs to create proper working policies, so that the undocumented immigrants can successfully do their jobs, as well as feel comfortable

2 Kesner enough to stay in their occupations such as farming, construction, landscaping, and the like in order for the rest of the United States to be provided with the essentials that they take for granted today. Immigrant workers deal with low pay or no pay, dangerous work conditions, and verbal and physical abuse (Kwesiga) everyday and the immigrants are not going to deal with the abuse and harsh conditions much longer. The United States needs to change the policy as soon as they can before immigrant workers rebel and stop working. Some jobs are seen as undesirable by workers, so those jobs go to immigrant workers since the immigrants need a job and a place to work. Having a place to work is necessary for an immigrant and transportation is also needed for them to live, but hard for them to come by because of enforcement of discrimination and labor laws to combat the exploitation of immigrant workers in jobs(Kwesiga). They have trouble affording a means of transportation to get to their jobs forces them to deal with small vans that are packed with other immigrants. In all, why would employed United States immigrants, which are essential to our governments workforce, want to work in hard labor with such poor conditions? They are individuals as well and they should be treated as such and not treated, as though they are useless and below everyone else. Another right the United States immigrants should receive is a drivers license in order for them to have an easier access to forms of transportation to get to their jobsite. If they do not have a way of transportation, they cannot attend and fulfill their job requirements. If they do not accomplish their job then the Unites States will not have the essentials needed to live. Most people do not appreciate all the work that goes into the low paying, dangerous, and abusive jobs that the immigrants face daily. Introduce the quotation Many employers praise the immigrant work ethic, (Kwesiga) but still do not help out or try to change anything about it. This policy needs to change immediately and if it does not most United States citizens will receive the

3 Kesner repercussion. This creates another reason to grant citizenships, so that these immigrants do not feel they are being taken advantage of by our government. This policy needs to be changed and altered to give immigrants proper rights and a drivers license. An additional error to the immigration policy that should be changed is the right to a SSN (social security number). If immigrant workers are paying taxes, it is an injustice to deprive them from receiving a social security number. They also pay income taxes, and for those who own a property or home also pay property taxes. All of these contributions support healthcare, education, and other amenities. It is important for social workers to understand that for many undocumented Latino men, the actual immigration experience is an expression of the masculine values of responsibility toward family and the importance of work. Government workers that are extracted all this money from innocent immigrants do not realize that immigrants background and they may be depriving them from meals on the family table. Since the immigrants pay for all that they need to pay taxes on, denying them to a social security hurts them and the United States. Without giving working immigrants SSNs the American Government will truly never know how many individuals United States soil is harboring. This system is essential and numbers should be given out to all immigrants who prove their worth. If immigrants abide by United States laws they should be offered a path to citizenship by learning the American Culture and passing a citizenship test. A pathway to citizenship will help immigrants incorporate into the United States labor market and increase their earnings. With these increased earnings, the Unites States would gain profits that would benefit everyone. It is a benefit for the United States population to include these hard working immigrants. Having the undocumented immigrants become documented will help grow the economy, withering down the number of the United States debt, and give benefits to them, such as a drivers license and the

4 Kesner benefit of living a more unrestricted lifestyle and it increases a gain to the already, United States citizens as well. The United States has to look at the benefits of making undocumented immigrants citizens from both the immigrants perspective and the United States as a whole's perspective. There are many factors that go into becoming documented and there are also risks that may occur when taking the steps to become a documented immigrant. The vast majority of whom are undocumented migrants, are at significant risk (Furman) of loosing all that they have because they do not have the correct documentation. Their job, their house, and or their way of transportation can all be taken away from them. These undocumented immigrants need to be legalized for their own well-being and for the benefit of the Unites States. A possible solution would be to decrease the extremity of the tasks needed to achieved to gain citizenship. Some of the steps are unnecessary and unachievable, making these hard working immigrants that are essential to our living standards unable to attain citizenship which is an outright shame and disgrace.

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Work Cited Barry, Daphne P, Bell, Myrtle P, and Eileen N Kwesiga. "Immigrants: The New 'Invisible Men and Women' in Diversity Research." Journal of Managerial Psychology, 25.2 (2010): 177-188.

Ackerman, Alissa, Rich Furman, and Nalini Negi. "Undocumented Latino Immigrant Men in the United States: Policy and Practice Considerations." International Social Work, 55.6 (2012): 816-822.