In Chapter 3 of We Wanted Workers, Borjas continues his conversation about immigration. The magnitude of immigration is one of the most debated topics in American history. Borjas breaks up immigration into legal and illegal. Based on history American citizens have always preferred legal immigration but it is not the only way immigrants have found themselves coming into the country. Borjas speaks of the US’ legal immigration process and its history. He shows the extreme growth in the legal immigration rate from 1950 to 2010. Borjas then goes into detail about the lottery system and family preference system. These two systems are a way for potential immigrants to enter the country legally if their families already have roots in the country. This legal immigration process is not always what ends up happening. There has always been a large amount of illegal immigration in the United States. It is believed that the flow of undocumented immigrants began to increase after the discontinuation of the Bracero Program in the 1960’s. This program was one that allowed Mexicans to come into the country and work in agriculture. The goal of ending this program was to protect jobs of agriculture workers but it only added to the problem. Growers wanted cheap labor and Mexicans wanted jobs. This is a main factor that added to the higher flow of undocumented immigrants entering the United States. There are many other examples of the desire for cheap labor but this is just a primary example of a relevant one in today’s economy. The Mexican component of the illegal immigration problem is one that is most controversial because of its large numbers. Borjas then goes on to talk about the overall number of undocumented immigrants in the United States. He believes that it is important to know how many undocumneted immigrants are in the country at one time (11.4 million in 2012). The problem with this is that the census that is given is not always answered by immigrants without papers that are trying not to be found. It is thought that 10 percent of undocumented immigrants go unaccounted for during this census. Is there a way to give this census a little more accurate? Would there be any other ways to make immigrants more comfortable with coming to the US legally like the lottery and family preference system?
2 replies on “We Wanted Workers Chapter 3”
In this ERA, you do a good job explaining the chapter and some of the important factors about immigration. More specifically, I like how describe some of the aspects of both legal and illegal immigration. To answer your question, a possible way to allow immigrants in the United States could be through some sort of lottery system or family preference system as you mention. However, in almost all situations, it would be unfair to some people as certain individuals will likely be left out.
After reading your ERA, Xander, I found it to be quite descriptive and informative on the topic of immigration. Your quote “American citizens have always preferred legal immigration but it is not the only way immigrants have found themselves coming into the country.” is impactful as it is a realization that there are many ways that peoples have found their way into our country. Because many of them cannot enter legally all the time. Sometimes a drug ridden or murderous past is negatively allowing them to cross our boarders.