Discussion post from Marsella H.

Geographical Issue: Undocumented workers

Sources:
Undocumented workers in the labor market: An analysis of the earnings of legal and
illegal Mexican immigrants in the United States
Francisco L. Rivera-Batiz Department of Economics, Columbia University, New York,
NY 10027, USA Received: 7 July 1997/Accepted: 16 March 1998
Picture:
http://immigrationinamerica.files.wordpress.com/2015/04/map_illegalimmigrant.gif

I have chosen an article that was a little outdated but it is still a crucial ongoing issue, and
it represent a great example and information of the matter. It covered the issue of legal
and illegal immigration and undocumented workers versus legal workers. It gave statistic
number of the difference in pay, and how it influences the amount of earnings; how much

more legal immigrants will make compare to illegal immigrants. Due to their language
barrier and education it caused them to also get lower earning wage than legal workers.
The issue between legal, illegal and earning wages, also come in other serious matter.
Such as discrimination in labor earning and work environment; for example sweatshops,
and no or very little breaks during work hours. In 2015 there were nearly 1 million
permits that was given to illegal immigrant to be able to work in California.

My reply to her:
Hi Marsella,
First of all, I enjoyed reading your article. I also pay a lot of attentions to the immigration
news. Especially the working one that you provided caught my attention. Part of the
reason California has a high number of illegal working status immigrants is because
California provided a better working opportunity in comparison to the other states.
California, even though with laws that designed to kick out some immigrants out of the
state but at the same time, the states provide numerous places for people to work.
Especially seeing how California is accepting more and more immigrants, with that
saying, the state know what they are doing and would like to provide them places to work
for the economy. Since you mostly just talked about the illegal immigrants, I also want to
say that places in California is much more not conservative, and people can accept them
for work. I also think how people are in a hurry of hiring people. Usually, the workers
dont ask more but just to survive.

Discussion post from Shirley Yang

Geographical Issue: Immigration
Summary: As we all know, there are more and more immigrations in U.S. and Canada.
The number of unauthorized immigrants in the U.S. has stabilized in recent years after
decades of rapid growth. But there have been shifts in the states where unauthorized
immigrants live and the countries where they were born. The face of U.S. immigration is
changing right before our very eyes. The overall racial and ethnic makeup of the U.S.
population is changing, in part due to the shifting nature of immigrant flows. Immigration
has been a constant source of economic vitality and demographic dynamism throughout

our nations history. Immigrants are taxpayers, entrepreneurs, job creators, and
consumers. But the immigration system is broken and in need of an overhaul.
Link (Links to an external site.)
http://www.migrationpolicy.org/article/frequently-requested-statistics-immigrants-andimmigration-united-states (Links to an external site.)
Zong, Jie and Batalova, Jeanne. "Frequently Requested Statistics on Immigrants and
Immigration in the United States." Migration Policy Institute
26 Feb. 2015. Web. 17 Sep. 2015

My reply to her:
Hi Shirley,
Immigration in the North America has contributed to the overall grown of the economy.
As a result, as you mentioned, the overall immigration system is not working so well and
as well as the number of the immigrants went up rapidly. Culturally, the cause of this is
probably back in the 1890s, when the very first immigration group came to North
America. As the United States become stronger, and the economy is taking a lead in the
world. Such as being in one of the most developed countries in the world, more and more
people are seeking to find a better opportunity. Compared to the immigrants before, they
mainly focused on how to survive and the immigrants today are focused on finding a
better place to live (living standard) or having a better economic opportunity. A big factor
why so many people stayed in California is their culture. They believe they have the
similar living environment as their home country, For example, the different Chinatown,
Korean towns, Little Tokyo, etc. I opened the map and analyzed the flow of the
immigration. About 92 percent from 1945 stayed in California and 2012, only 75%
stayed in California. Mainly due to the law changes in California. Since we had so much
of them, the immigration law somehow kicked out a bunch already and other states
have a higher rate of passing the green card exam or the citizen test. Some other factors
such as the high spending in California also drives out a bunch of people.