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Sarah Doherty

Professor Malcolm Campbell

UWRT 1103

23 Sept 2019

Topic Proposal: The immigrants are stealing our jobs!! Wait, are they?

Introduction/Overview

For my research I will be analyzing how legal immigrants affect the prosperity of the

economy, and how we can directly see the impact of that here in Charlotte. I also want to gain

more knowledge behind the common myth that if the United States allows more immigrants into

the country that they will be taking Americans jobs. This common myth has been crafted by

Republican politicians like Donald Trump who claimed, “When Mexico is sending its people,

they’re not sending their best…They’re bringing drugs. They’re bringing crime. They’re rapists.

And some, I assume are decent people,”. The myth is that immigrants are all evil people and do

nothing but harm to America. Today in our modern world there has also been immigration bans,

and the threat that certain cultures are not “safe” in the United States. However, George Borjas

an author for Politico, who has been titled “America’s leading immigration economist” claims

that, “A potential immigration policy should not be a ban on immigrants, or even low skilled

immigrants. High-skilled immigrants can really make America wealthier, and a steady influx of

legal immigrants also produces more taxpayers who assist financially as the native population

ages”. This is a prime example of how immigration into the United States helps to make the

overall economy prosper.

Charlotte has been the first city to adopt an immigration compact to help inspire new

people to move into the city. The immigration compact is a lengthy list of new rules that will lay
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out new ways that city officials will help immigrants integrate more smoothly into society. The

Charlotte Observer states that, “We are committed to advocating for common-sense and

comprehensive immigration reforms that strengthen our economy and attract talent and business

to our city”. Charlotte being a very inclusive city is trying to make immigration more feasible.

Nevertheless, it has been found that sometimes immigrants can raise wages rather than

decrease them, which is what Giovanni Peri, a Professor at the University of California at

Berkeley, concludes in an article in The Manhattan Institute , “…immigration raised wages by

six-tenths during the period from 1990-2006. It decreased wages of existing immigrants by 6.7

percent because there was a decrease in new immigrants to replenish the prior wave of

immigrants,”. This demonstrates a small, yet positive impact that immigration has had in raising

overall wages. But can this research be concluded as accurate since it does not come up to the

current date?

The complexity of my topic is more based on the economic trends, and how just because

the economy is flourishing it does not mean that it interrelates to immigration trends. Despite

this, I have found specific sources like, “The Economic Benefits of Immigration” in an academic

journal by Diana Roth-Furchtgott, which does correlate the economic trends to an influx of

immigration. The major platforms that I found debate on have been The Center for Immigration

Studies, Politico Magazine, The Manhattan Institute, The New York Times, and The Charlotte

Observer. It is important to find factual based articles, and then incorporate some articles

combined with opinion and factual matter, because the topic of immigration will always be

politically charged in some manner.

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Initial Inquiry Question(s)

How does immigration benefit the United States economy in a positive way? What is the

difference between the effect of legal immigration on the economy and illegal immigration? Do

employers value the contribution of legal immigrant workers in comparison to American

workers? How does hiring process of an immigrant compare to native born citizens? How does

the city of Charlotte handle immigration? What affects do legal immigrants have on the

economy, and the growth and development of Charlotte?

My Interest in this Topic

I am interested in the growth of immigration, and the impact it has not only on the

economy but directly on Charlotte because both sets of my grandparents are immigrants. I

always grew up hearing stories about the intense struggles they faced, and the sacrifices they

made so that my family could be here today. It was only when I grew older that I first began to

hear that in the political scheme of things Republican officials think of immigration has a

negative impact to our economy. I had heard a lot of things about immigrants, but never that they

affected our economy or the market in general. This is what piqued my curiosity, I want to know

if the people coming into the United States are affecting our economy and job availability, or if

this is just some old myth crafted by uneducated politicians like Donald Trump and John

Boehner. John Boehner is a former Republican Speaker of the House of Representatives and is

also on Trump’s side of the argument that immigrants do nothing beneficial for this country. I

went to librarians to seek their help on the topic, and Abby Moore was there to help. I discussed

with her how to narrow down my topic and she said that it would be beneficial to do general

research to incorporate into my essay. This is because more complex studies will be done on the

United States as a whole. Then I will be able to delve more in depth into the Charlotte
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community. I already know that Charlotte is an ever-evolving diverse city and the population

here just continues to grow. However, this also does not exempt our city from having growing

pains. Charlotte still must deal with this growth in a way that pleases constituents but is also

feasible for lawmakers to cater to.

Next Steps

In this last section, I want to find more research on cases that are more specific to

Charlotte. Whilst previously researching, I discovered how Charlotte has become the first city to

sign an immigration compact. I want to do more research through the Atkins Library online

search tools, and look more in depth at the Charlotte Observer to see how specifically the

immigration compact has been integrated into the city. I will be visiting Politico Magazine, The

Manhattan Institute, and The New York Times, along with any further scholarly articles that I

find through databases to help enrich my research on economic trends. I hope to learn how

Charlotte as a city is dealing with the new people immigrating here and if there are any reflective

trends with the job market or the economy fluctuation.

One specific thing I would like to further delve into is examining more current research

like George Borjas’s studies which was conducted from 2013-2017, and comparing it to

Professor Giovanni’s work from 1990-2006, seeing if they are concurrent or not. George Borja’s

claims that wage fluctuates based on the availability of workers. The increase of workers would

lead to a more balanced and consistent wage, as well as an increase in job availability which

would allow people looking for jobs to have more opportunities. My hope is to do more general

research as to how immigration affects the economy, and then tailor it specifically to Charlotte’s

economy and immigration policies.

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As I continue to research, I would also like to see analytical data and trends, preferably

through a graph or picture, that will assist to give my audience a visual connection as well as

written, on the immigration trends and the change in the economy. The Economic Policy Institute

will help me to find the visual representations that I am looking for.