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Sara Rowley

Mr. Gardner

Milky Jalapeños

1 November 2019

Annotated Bibliography

Cohn, D'vera, and Jeffrey S. Passel. "Immigration projected to drive growth in U.S. working-age

population through at least 2035." Pew Research Center, Pew Research Center. 12 June

2019. Web. 13 October 2019

This research article by D’vera Cohn and Jeffery Passel describes the decline in working-age

citizens in the United States. Since the baby boom that followed World War II, the population of

working age citizens is at an all time low. In order to support the dependents (those too old or too

young to work) the population of working age individuals needs to increase. Without this

increase, our economy cannot continue to grow. Immigration is a crucial way to accomplish this

growth. Typically, immigrants range between 25 and 64 years of age and they come to America

looking for financial opportunities. As such they join the workforce and help to close this gap.

This article uses an informal tone and consistent logos/ethos throughout the entirety to inform

readers about how immigrants provide working age individuals to help grow the economy. It

establishes its credibility through the use of graphs and charts about the population, as well as by

citing data for them. Additionally, the source itself comes from a research, non profit site without

pop up adds, making it a trustworthy source. Finally, the source is very recent, from June of

2019, which means the information is up to date and valuable. This article is not from a .edu cite

however, so it is not the best database to use.

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I will use this source in my research paper to help show that we do need immigrants from

Mexico to help boost our economy. It is essential that we continue to provide for the dependents

in our country, and we cannot do that without a sufficient number of working age citizens.

Immigration from Mexico closes that gap, often times bringing new business and

entrepreneurship with it. A need for working-age people is one of the pro-immigration arguments

I will be making in my essay, and this source will provide good statistics to support the

argument.

Edsall, Thomas B. “What Does Immigration Actually Cost Us?” The New York Times,

The New York Times. 29 Sept 2016. Web. 26 Oct 2019.

In this article by Thomas B. Edsall, he analyzes the results of a few different studies about

immigration and how it affects the economy, including: “The Economic and Fiscal

Consequences of Immigration,” issued by the National Academy of Sciences issued, studies by

the Conservative Center for Immigration Studies, A Pew Study, and others. Edsall explains that

while many of these studies claim that immigration as a whole is beneficial to the U.S. Economy,

they use academic language that masks negative effects and connotations that immigration has.

Edsall cites sources that claim the taxes immigrants pay do not outweigh the cost of the services

they use. Additionally, he believes that the increased number of small businesses, surplus of

working-age adults, and reduction in item costs (because of cheap labor) are not beneficial

enough to compensate for the fall in working wages for others in similar fields. He concludes

that overall, immigrants cost more to the American economy than the benefits immigration

provides.
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This article offers some political insight on whether immigration is good for the U.S. economy or

not. It does come with some drawbacks though, his conservative affiliations dictate his opinions.

The author tends to be biased against immigrants. Additionally, this article offers a great many

quotes from research studies and political figures, but unfortunately, this tends to result in an

appeal to authority fallacy. Rather than discussing his views and findings, he talks about those of

others. This article relies on logos (logic) to explain the data that they have found and builds

credibility by referencing credible outside research and studies. It also loses some credibility

though, commenting more on the work of others, rather than on his own ideas. Finally, because

this article is fairly political, it also relies on some pathos (emotion) about how conservatives

already feel towards immigration.

I can use this article in my essay to add more to the anti-immigration side of my argument. It is a

little bit harder to find information and evidence that immigration is not benefiting the economy.

This article will help me to build up the other side of my research because it talked about the use

of taxes paid by immigrants, and discussed working wages for those in low-skilled career fields

as they relate to immigration. Additionally, because it quoted so many outside sources that I have

not looked into yet, I have a lot of options for additional sources that could be beneficial to my

research.

Ferriss, Susan. “Do Undocumented People Benefit the U.S. Economy? Here’s What the

Research Shows.” The Center for Public Integrity, The Center for Public Integrity. 8

January 2019. Web. 6 October 2019.

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In this article by Susan Ferriss, she explains how immigration from Mexico doesn’t hurt

American economy. Contrary to the claims in Donald Trump's presidency campaign, the effects

of immigration, both legal and illegal, have actually been positive, and have helped stimulate

some growth in the Amercan economy. One significant harm to our economy that Trump

promoted was that there were too many illegal immigrants stealing American jobs. The article

explains that this is false, immigrant workers make up about 17% of the labor force and only 5%

of those workers are actually undoccumented. Additionally, these low-skilled, undocumented

workers are vital in our economy and they open up posibilities for other, higher level jobs. Many

immigrants also create their own businesses which employ other immigrants, promoting

entrepreneurship. Finally, most immigrants have to pay taxes that help to boost American

Economy.

This article successfully establishes its credibility by supplying plenty of sources and links to

further explain what is summarized/stated. It also provides context by explaining how the

campaign strategies about immigration Trump used were true or false and backing it up with

solid evidence. In terms of rhetorical appeals, this article focuses heavily on logos and ethos,

stating ideas and claims then backing it up with credible links. This article is not perfect though;

it does not come from an educational data base, and because it is somewhat political, it does have

some political bias around the claims.

Because this article is pro-immigration, I can use it to explain why immigration helps to improve

the American economy. It provides some general information about how immigrants create their

own businesses that employ other immigrants that I can do some more research on. I can also use
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the examples provided to help explain that low-skilled immigrants perform jobs that allow

Americans and legal immigrants to perform better paying jobs. Finally, many immigrants have to

pay taxes, and the article discusses that very few of those taxes are returned, instead benefitting

and growing the economy.

Rinaldi, Jessica. Photograph. 15 Oct. 2018. CNBC. Web. 22 Oct. 2019

In the image, four women can be seen holding up signs at a rally held by Boston Mayor Martin J.

Walsh in support of immigrant families protesting against the Trump administration's change to

the “public charge” provision. From left to right the signs read: “BOSTON RUNS ON

IMMIGRANT WORKERS”, “STAND UP FOR IMMIGRANT FAMILIES”, and “Immigrants

are our commonwealth.” They were a part of the protest to get rid of and prevent any new

laws/programs that make it more difficult for immigrants to acquire visas and green cards. The

faces of all the women protesting in the image are somber and serious.

This photograph has a very serious and solemn tone. The faces of all the women are straight and

their posture is erect. You can tell that they are very determined to stand up for what they believe

in. This also helps to develop some pathos, while looking at the women you can see that they just

want their family and friends to be treated fairly. Pathos is also built in the signs that the women

are holding, especially the one that says, “STAND UP FOR IMMIGRANT FAMILIES,” which

has a black and white image of a mother holding her child. Moreover, some logos is built in the

signs that read “BOSTON RUNS ON IMMIGRANT WORKERS” and “Immigrants are our

commonwealth.” Both of them present facts to the viewer, though the facts are not backed up by

any evidence, resulting in an anecdotal fallacy. Additionally, ethos is built in the context of the
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image because Mayor Martin J. Walsh, called for the rally to back up immigrant families and he

helps build credibility for their cause.

I will use this image in my essay to help support the side of the argument that believes

immigrants are vital to our economy. The two signs that say “BOSTON RUNS ON

IMMIGRANT WORKERS” and “Immigrants are our commonwealth,” will be the most useful.

In my essay, though I will have to specify that Boston is not the only place that runs on

immigrants to help build up the economy and commonwealth, but that it happens all across

America.

Saiidi, Uptin. “Here’s what research shows about immigration’s impact on an economy.”

CNBC, CNBC. 20 Dec. 2018. Web. 16 Oct. 2019.

In this video, Uptin Saiidi, the narrator and creator of the video, explains how immigration hurts

and helps the American Economy. When you look at the economy as a whole, immigration

proves to be very beneficial. In fact, a 1% growth in the immigrant population results in a 2%

growth in GDP per capita. Additionally, while immigrants only make up 15% of the population,

they own 30% of American businesses, which employ other immigrants and boosts the economy.

Immigrants aren’t all good though, when you look a little closer, they create competition for low

skilled jobs that would otherwise be filled by American born dropouts, and pre-existing

immigrants.

The purpose of this video is to explain both positive and negative side effects if immigration.

The tone informal and educational. Saiidi uses graphs and data from research that he cites to
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demonstrate what he is saying visually. It relies heavily on logos (logic) in the facts and tone to

prove that immigrants help to boost the economy in general. This, as well as the video being on a

reputable web page, helps to establish ethos (credibility). This video also looks at both sides,

explaining some ways that immigration can be harmful in addition to how it is beneficial. This

video isn’t a perfect source for my research, while it brushes up on Mexican immigrants, the

video is mostly about immigration as a whole.

I will use this video in my research to provide some reputable numbers and statistics about how

immigration benefits the economy. This video also compliments one of my previous sources as it

also talks about how immigrants bring in working-age people that our country needs to help

support dependents. In general, this video supports and improves on my other two sources, and

since it is from a news site, it is credible reinforcement to have.