Name: Obil Samuel Flores Quintanilla

Course: Recent American History

Topic: Special Topic Paper about the topic“Central American Immigrants, a real U.S. challenge
in the 21st century (2000-to present).”

Central American Immigrants are a real U.S. challenge in the 21st century. The immigration of

Central American people to the United States is a phenomenon that has deep historical and socio

political roots. After two decades of internal wars in the isthmus due to the influence of the

Soviet Union and the United States, poverty, misery and the estimate number of 300,000 deaths

between 1975 and 1991 were left. All these social phenomena were part of the causes of a

massive migration of Central Americans to the United States. Thousands of people left their

homes, family, and possessions looking for a better future and the American Dream. The Central

American Immigrant Population grew dramatically from 354,000 in 1980 to 1,134,000 in 1990

when the most difficult part of the crisis in the region had already past. However, the pattern of

migration did not stop there, but continued and grew during the subsequent years.

Much attention is paid to mistaken concepts about the problem that migration of Central

American people represents. Many people think that immigrants come to take job opportunities

of the U.S. citizens and therefore harm the American economy. Nonetheless, evidence and

official numbers show the opposite. Most immigrant people have a constructive monetary

influence on the U.S., adding $88,000 more in tax profits than what they consume. Likewise, the

capitalism economic system is strongly benefited as demand on products and services are raised

and when consumerism is increased. Consequently, immigration per se should not be considered

in terms of a challenge to face and defeat because it causes problems in economy. The real

challenge about illegal Central American immigrants is that they weaken the legal environment,

and consequently the national security of the United States. Because they enter in an illegal way,

they break the rules established by this country. Likewise, this type of immigration not only
promotes instability in the security system, but also it creates the enabling environment for

illegal actions. According to Kane, T. &Johnson K.A. (2006), “The real problem with

undocumented immigrant workers is that floating the law has become the norm, which

makes the job of terrorists and drug traffickers infinitely easier” (para. 18). Central

America and more specifically the Northern Triangle, which is a new term to refer to Guatemala,

Honduras, and El Salvador, is facing a crime wave due to the fight against gangs and cartels of

drug dealers. There are cases in which criminals run away from their countries in Central

America and find it easy to enter in the U. S.and continue committing crimes. Estimated

numbers state that three out of every one hundred people who live in the United States whether

have no documents or possess fake documents. This is a serious security problem.

Addressing this challenge is important to the United States because despite the fact that illegal

immigrants contribute with this country by paying State and local taxes, they do not contribute as

they should. According to the Institute Of Taxation and Economic Policy, “contributions

would increase by$805 million under full implementation of executive actions and by $2.1

billion under comprehensive immigration reform” (para 2). Furthermore, it is important to

the United States in terms of saving money. The cyclical process of capturing in borders and

deporting might sound something easy and cheap. Nevertheless, the 2015 budget of the

Department of Homeland (DHS) requested $229.1 million to make work related to deportations

only. In the same year, more than 100,000 Central Americans were caught crossing the borders

illegally. At the end, this tedious process represents a waste of money and effort which could be

avoided by creating an integral program of non-citizen workers in the country.

The topic of Central American immigrants is also important for the society in general for

security aspects. A country without demographic control is prone to cover all kind of criminals
and terrorists. Media is informing all the time about the delicate situation that Central America

is going through. For example, Guatemala is well known as a country in which impunity reigns

because of the corruption in the system of justice; El Salvador suffers the impact of two criminal

organizations called Mara Salvatrucha (MS-13) and Barrio 18 (M-18). Honduras is known as the

murder capital of the world; there are 169 homicides per 100,000 residents. In Chicago, the most

violent city of the U.S., the average murder rate is 15 per 100,000. It is important to state that

many of these criminal organizations have strong connections in the United States. So, when

they their members are persecuted in their home countries, they come to the U.S. to continue

committing crimes. More control is needed to avoid the entrance of harmful people.

If the United States fails to handle this issue, other effects would be also perceived in other

areas of the U.S. civil life. It is clear that Central American immigrants contribute to the

economy of this country. For example, In the last two decades, the U.S. economy has reflected

an increase in terms of Gross Domestic Product (GDP), this means that there is more production

per worker and more people working. Maybe it would be a mistake to attribute this growing to

the labor force of the immigrants, but there is an important point of analysis that can be taken

from this. An integral and intelligent immigration program will never kick the productive

immigrants out, but will offer the immigrant workers, whether legal or illegal, the opportunity to

work, generate wealth, and be part of a dignified status as a non-citizen visitor worker. However,

this integral program also has to take into consideration people who are not productive for

society and become a charge of others.

There is discontent for the increase in job rivalry with low-skilled workers. If the United

States fails to handle the immigration topic carefully, this discontent will get worse than it is

now.
In social media there are thousands of opinions which claim that this lack of control is leading

down salaries and conditions of theAmerican workers. Today, more than never in history; the

existence millions of people, who live illegally in the United States, represents a powerful

workforce that degrades the work conditions and discourages Americans to go to the field of

work. For example, when employers have to decide between a low-qualified immigrant and an

American technician, most of them focus on how much they will have to pay to them. Obviously,

the low-qualified worker is going to request a lower salary and the employer will be grad to pay

less. Therefore, this situation makes employers more reliant on an unlawful and alien labor force.

Besides, employers get used to offer low pay and deplorable conditions which is not fair for

someone that has studied hard during years to be a professional on a field. In the long term, the

most affected ones are going to be America’s poorest workers. In addition, if the U.S. authorities

do not take concrete actions, massive immigration will be used as a covering for criminals.

If the U.S. handles it successfully, areas like economy, security, control on borders will result

very benefited. The Central American immigrants are a very active and hardworking population.

According to the Migration Policy Institute (YEAR) “ 87% of Central Americans between

18 to 64 years old are employed workers in the civilian labor force” (p. 9). With regulations,

and a new inclusive policy the economy would be boosted to incredible levels. Also, a more

formal status would make the workers contribute with taxes and they would stop making use of

services that they do not pay for. That would also help to bring equality among the whole

population that lives in this country.

Another advantage that could be gotten from a careful attention to the challenge of

Immigration is Security. A better control of who goes in and out of the country is the ideal

process to avoid the entrance of people who committed crimes in their home countries.
Moreover, nobody doubts that the U.S. has many enemies around the world that would make

terrorist attacks if they could. Maybe sad actions will not be eradicated at all, but the authorities

will be able to identify who the responsible are.

RESOURCES

Galeano, E. (1973, 1997). Open Veins of Latin America. New York, NY: Siglo XXI Editores

Main, A. (2014, July 8). Misguided U.S. policies fuel immigration crisis. Washington Times, The
(DC). Retrived from http://www.washingtontimes.com

Foot, R. (n.d.).The Cold War and human rights. Retrieved from

http://phobos.ramapo.edu/~theed/Cold_War/y%20Cambridge%20C%20W%20vol%203/Ch%20
21%20The%20Cold%20War%20and%20human%20rights%20ROSEMARY%20FOOT.pdf

Kane, T. &Johnson K.A. (2006). The Heritage Foundation: The Real Problem with
Immigration... and the Real Solution. Retrieved from http://www.heritage.org

Institute of Taxation and Economic Policy (2016, February 24). Undocumented Immigrants'
State and Local Tax Contributions. Retrived from http://www.itep.org/immigration/

Migration Policy Institute. (2015, September 2). Central American Immigrants in the United
States. Retrieved April 1 , 2014 from
http://www.migrationpolicy.org/article/central-american-immigrants-united-states