What are the effects of large numbers of undocumented immigrants on American society? What policies toward them should be adopted?.
One effect on society is the calculation and total amount of undocumented immigrants living in America. Without knowing this it is tough to estimate the effects they are imposing. McLemore states, "The multiple entrances and exits of particular workers have established a cyclical migration flow that has complicated the problem of estimating how many undocumented immigrants are actually in the country at a given time" (395). The book states that estimates and studies have concluded a wide range of totals, anywhere from 15 million to estimates taken for 1980 being anywhere from 1.5 to 4 million. Without knowing this the government and country has no idea what and how much of the resources are being used on undocumented immigrants, how much they are paying in tax's and how much money they are sending out of this country, out of circulation. At the same time there is no way to know how much they are providing to society, and what they are bringing to this country. Society or the government has felt this has been a "problem" for many years and they felt they had to get it under control. " in 1979 the Federation for Immigration Reform (FAIR) sued the Bureau of the Census to prevent the count of undocumented immigrants from affecting congressional reapportionment; and during the early years of the 1980's, Congress repeatedly debated various immigration reform proposals" (395). All of this was done because some felt these undocumented immigrants were taking jobs away from U.S. citizens, their desire to work even for cheap wages lowered wages across the board. And as stated earlier the fear was that the undocumented immigrants were using resources reserved for U.S. citizens, such as social service benefits. .
There have been a few acts passed in regards to immigration reform.
