Emigration Essay Example for Free

Emigration Essay Emigration refers to the process of an individual or a group of people living their place of origin or residence country to live in another country. The concept of emigration is very much similar to immigration except for the native country. It is usually used to describe the act and phenomenon that characterizes human movement between establishment states or boundaries. The act of emigration usually occurs for various reasons; some people might decide to emigrate for political, economic as well as social reasons and others for such personal reasons like the desire to find a spouse while visiting another country and in the process emigrating to settle with them in other cases, old couples may decide to move from cold climates in order to settle in warm climates so as to spend the rest of their lives (Terra D. , 2000). This paper is about the benefits and disadvantages of emigration as a process. It also tackles the issues that have been debated on increasing the number of legal emigrants to the United States. Even though the emigration phenomenon has many ups, often, there are a few downs that come with its. Thus, it is important for both the individual and the states concerned to consider these aspects, before the emigration process is complete. In the U. S there has been a recent political heat generated by both the legal and illegal emigrants to America. Various factors like the war on drugs, terrorism, as well as the national deficit have entirely added the momentum to the debate on emigration. It is projects that by 2015, the total population of emigrants in the U. S would be at about 420 million people. The population of the Hispanics who emigrated from Mexico could be at 100 million, which make about 57 percent of the total number of emigrants to U. S. The U. S offers individuals a chance that often change many lives. For example, a large number of intelligence and ambitious persons, who are seemingly dissatisfied with the state of affairs in the mother countries often, bring these skills to America. The net effect by this is that the country of origin usually loses its most skilled personnel through the brain drain process. This will hinder the development progress of the country. On the other hand the country of destination often benefit from this process as it gets to get the best-trained and skilled personnel (Terra D. , 2000). In fact English and other European citizens who risked a great deal of their lives to sail across the sea founded the U. S. The products processed the skilled individuals can help improve the lives o the people in the mother countries who may not hence have had the technology to provide them in spite of the human resource. Emigration also increases the diversity of a country and its population and at the same time expands the culture of the destination country. The multi-ethnic religion languages and cultures is in America is mothered by other nation; the aspect of diversity offers a more tolerant population which is superficially than the indigenous population. It often presents new ideas perspectives music and food, the world of entertainment is often awash with new ideas and different customs among others that were originally not present. The emigrants in most cases take up the low paying jobs that are labor intensive but which must be done all the same and are usually shunned by the indigenous population. Similarly the additional cheap labor that is provided for by the emigrants aids the flexibility of business resulting in affordable prices better quality products as well as higher profits. One of the factors that affect the cost of doing business is labor thus, when most firms are faced with the crisis of doing low skill jobs like cleaning rooms they are bound to raise wages as high as possible so as to meet the demand or eliminate them altogether. Even though the prospect of higher wages sounds good for the employees it often means higher prices or that the business must operate within lower profit margins would translate to lower stock prices and thus less investment in dollar inflow. However the option of eliminating the positions altogether is not a viable one. As for one the business denies individuals the opportunity to employment on positions it can offer and that the service offered will also be of low quality. For instance the quality of food served would be compromised if dishes cannot be properly cleaned. These issues can best be solved if the base of the labor pool is expanded through the legal emigration process being increased (http://www. balancedpolitics. org/immigration. htm). The emigration phenomenon presents individuals who are struggling in their places of origin the chance for a better life. The history of America is built on individuals who emigrated to U. S and in the process sought opportunity, political as well as religious freedom among other various factors. For instance people should pose in the midst of the debate and ask themselves very pertinent questions like whether emigration are of any significance for America and also understand the issue from the perspective of the emigrant for example imagine you were the emigrant who was faced with starvation, detention without trial or risked hanging for practicing a faith that you so much believed in. r worse still you would not afford other basic human rights like expression the right for free education, medical care among others. Faced with this kind of dilemma anyone would opt for any alternative that is able to offer him or her a better chance to live. The United States is built or the backbone or such individuals who have sacrificed much to achieve this. There are equally very pertinent issues that have been rais ed by the opponents of the emigration process. For example the inflow of may emigrants posses the risk of many opportunities for terrorists drug dealers as well as other criminals to gain access to the country legally. As was demonstrated in the 9/11 tragedy most of the perpetrators legally emigrated to US thus, any chance that would increase the opportunities for entering the country only enhances the possibility of having many terrorists and drug dealers. Once they gain entry they have the freedom to wreck have however still the illegal emigrants pose more threat than the legal ones, as there are no proper records to help trace them (http://www. alancedpolitics. org/immigration. htm). There is also the perception that the emigrant particularly the poorer ones often are a burden on the tax payers in terms of healthcare education welfare among others as they consume more than they are able to give. A majority of emigrants to the United States often starts in the job market at very low wages unless they receive additional training. Apparently the tax system makes the provision of keeping low-income earners exempt from being taxed. This often translates to the case where the level of government resources needed for social security welfare healthcare and other activities like unemployment compensation among others will heavily be increased on the groups on a large that either pays very little or no taxes at all The other issue that is often raised in this debate is that the National identity of the Americans as well the language is slowly disappearing when for instance the debate on the issue of emigrants hotel up, there were numerous protests anti American slurs and Spanish version of the American anthem. This does not auger well for national cohesion, as people would be pulling apart in classes like race, tribes, and religion among others. The other problem that is presented by the emigrants is that less skilled American citizens will continue to earn less and at the same opportunities for this group will diminish as they are in competition with the emigrants. Thus, if the government pumps in more people seeking job opportunities, the amount of opportunities for work decreases. In addition the laws of economic supply as well as demand would certainly push the wages paid to the workers down further than they would be. However with a committed government policy and economic growth some of these fears can be eliminated. In effect the act by the government to decrease or altogether eliminate the chance of legal emigration to the U. S will only serve to create a strong desire for more people to entry the country illegally, Which will eventually result in less assimilation and at the same time fewer taxpaying as well as law abiding citizens in America (Fitzgerald D. , Waldinger R. , 2004 ). Many people have emigrated from their countries to America as the prospect of having a real chance of bettering their lives their children or family. Majorities of the people who have emigrated to American have often been characterized as those who would do all in their capacity just to gain access whether legally or not. This has forced illegal emigrants to often hide. As such they will not formally attend America schools, file tax returns like the rest of the citizens or any other typical activities that Americans undertake. Besides if they are able to break the law by gaining entry in to the country illegally there is no guarantee that this act will stop once they come to America. Consequently the legal emigrants and in particular those that plan to permanently settle in the U.  S are and must pay taxes and will most likely go to school to learn like the rests of the American population. Similarly since they are legally in America, they are less likely to hide and will easily assimilate with the rest of the prospect of losing national identity, language and culture. Finally they can also engage and earn the right to vote and at the same time participate in the political process which basically means they are able to develop a decision making stake in shaping the future of America. Therefore emigration as a process has much to offer for both the country of origin and the designate one.