Essay #3

Immigration: Benefits and Disadvantages

Immigration brings some benefits and disadvantages for the receiving country. One of the disadvantages that we could mention is the overpopulation. Sometimes people who lives in poor conditions decide to go to another country to find a better life, but the problem is that occasionally countries do not have the necessary resources; for example: education and health facilities, to maintain their own population and also the immigrants. The increase of diseases is another problem that immigration causes, and the main reason of this problem is the lake of social insurance of immigrants who are illegal. Accordion to PSYCHClinician.com, nearly 46 million people in the United States are currently estimated to be without health insurance, representing approximately 15% of the total population. For the native-born, the uninsured rate is 12.7%, but among noncitizens, a group that includes temporary workers, foreign students, permanent legal residents, and those here without documentation, the rate is 43.8%. In the other hand we have the benefits of immigration. One advantage of immigration is the increase in the culture diversity. Here, in Costa Rica, we can experiment the diversity of cultures thanks to the immigration, one example of this is the Afro-Caribbean food. The second advantage is the increase of the workforce. “The size of the U.S. work force increased by 16.7 million workers in the 1990s. Of these workers, 6.4 million were immigrants - 38%” (Aug 9, NCSL). As we can see, immigration brings negative consequences to the receiving country but we cannot forget the benefits that immigration provides too, and we also need to be aware that sometimes people really need to go to other countries to live a better life.

Bibliography

National Conference of State Legislatures. “Immigrants in the Workforce: Some Fast Facts”. ncsl.org, 23 Feb 2011. < http://www.ncsl.org/default.aspx?tabid=13120>

Journal of the American Academy of Physician Assistants. “Immigrant health care in the United States: What ails our system?” . jaapa.com , 23 Feb 2011. < http://www.jaapa.com/immigrant-health-care-in-the-united-states-what-ails-our-system/article/130524/>