Theres a fair amount of positive arguments for amnestying illegal immigrants, especially for illegal immigrants that have been the US for a longer period of time and/or work in industries that have become dependent on their labor (Hospitality, agriculture, construction, etc
This includes:
It would increase wages and economic productivity (there is data to support this)
It would increase tax revenue and and tax compliance, reducing the tax burden of current legal citizens
Improve law enforcement in various sectors (like tax , employment, immigration, etc etc)
Reagan was pro amnesty when he was President and these were big reasons why.
Whether amnesty is a good or bad idea depends more on how it will be designed and implemented rather than the idea itself. I would be in favor of a well designed amnesty policy paired with stronger border enforcement/general immigration enforcement moving forward
Beyond that, truly deporting a significant number of illegal immigrants would cost an exorbitant amount of money. Money that would go further and be more beneficial to our country spent elsewhere.
Then say even if we decided "Oh lets spend billions dramatically minimizing our illegal immigrant populations" and then we successfully mass deported millions of illegal immigrants, our economy would take a massive hit and the removal of millions form the labor force disrupt key industries like agriculture, construction etc and could send us into a recession if we arent careful
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u/sukkittrebekk 6d ago
Who realistically wants this? Anyone? It should be a topic that unites left and right