Can helping immigrants help us?
In a recent article written on the foreign immigration occuring in the United States, Virginia shows a different approach has been taken to the problem. In an area where there was a lagre percent of Latino workers (some legal and some illegal) the immigrants were causing many problems with the social aspects of the community. In the town of Herndon Virginia the mayor and other officials looked at this as an economic opportunity rather than a burden. The mayor looked at the problems some of the Latinos were having (being homeless, poor, not speaking English, not finding jobs) and set up a way for these problems to be overcome. He made available a seperate section of housing options and put forth job oppurtunities for the Latinos to have. In addition, English classes were given to the Latinos so that they could interact with the rest of the workforce in Virgina. As a result, the Latinos were able to sufficiently help the economy by working and making wages rather than standing on a street corner hoping to find work. I think it is a factual statement to say that there will always be immigrants (both legal and illegal) present in America trying to find work. Instead of complaining about them and the poverty lives some of them live it would make more sense to help them to adapt to the American lifestyle. Sure, most of these immigrants will find work with homebuilders and other household jobs because of their low educational background but they can still prove to be an economic plus to us as a society rather than a burden.
4 comments:
I have to agree that educating immigrants is beneficial. If the immigrants are not working, they are most likely collecting on some type of welfare. This only hurts the economy. By giving the immigrants a decent education however, they will get a good job, and positively benefit the economy.
I think it would hurt the town a lot to just kick out all the immigrants that are there. These people came to work and make money to send back to their families, as Aguilar, an undocumented worker, stated himself. Immigrants, both legal and illegal, perform many services for this country, do many of the jobs that Americans wouldn't consider doing. I personally think that the Mayor did the right thing by establishing a day laborers site that will not only help these immigrant workers to get work, but will also help educate them. These workers are an asset to the community; if they were forced out of town, I think it would hurt the town economically because they'd be losing people who are willing to work hard and do jobs that most people in America won't do. Kicking them out would also hurt the town because the costs of goods, like housing, would undoubtedly increase as a result.
I think the mayor's approach is going to make a positive impact on the economy. If the immigrants can not interact with people in english, then what kind of jobs can they really obtain? By giving the immigrants more of an equal footing, they can contribute to our society and have more of an impact on the economy. The mayor made a good decision that is going to benefit the economy because now we have more contributing members in society.
I have to agree also that the mayor's choice was a positive one. Immigrant workers do a lot of "dirty" jobs that most people would not want to do, yet these are the jobs that are vital to our communities, like sanitation workers, and trash collectors etc. Educating these workers so that they can do their jobs better would not only better the community but also the economy.
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