Immigration Is One of the Main Topics in the United States

Immigration has and will always be a major topic here in the United States. From non natives coming from all around the world legally and illegally, this idea has always brought both positive and negative sides of the spectrum of immigration. Positive views go to show that immigrants are benefiting the society through a variety of different ways such as cheap labor, buying goods and services, and taking low end jobs such as washing dishes that would go unfilled. Others are against this idea and argue that these immigrants are having a negative effect on American society, due to taking jobs away from natives and by being dangerous threats to our states.

This difference is why America needs to learn more about immigration. The half and half beliefs of natives will only cause roadblocks and issues in the long run. The article “Ivy league study: Illegal population is 22 million, double established Estimate” by Neil Munro goes to more detail about the issue of immigration and the effects of them being in America. But more importantly the author targets the uncertainty of the population of illegal immigrants. This is done by the means of persuasion used throughout the article. Munro uses a series of rhetorical strategies that involve evidence and formal diction to try to convince the audience of his point. The author’s main argument is that having a false understanding of the number of immigrants is inadequate and dangerous as studies/data will be flawed.

This is effective as it targets and directly affects and supports the intended audience. But the author fails to persuade the opposition on this topic who support the influx of immigrants in America, as it is obvious he is a far-right centered conservative. Due to failure to influence advocates that do support immigrants on the situation, Neil Munro’s article lacks effectiveness in that sense and could be much more powerful.

Neil Murano first goes to state that the illegal population of immigrants in America is a lot bigger than what is believed in the states. The established estimate number of illegal migrants is around 11 million, but Murano says its much greater and closer to 22 million. This is significant as it conflicts with projected wages, salaries, crime rates and many other studies. “Our original idea was just to do a sanity check on the existing numbers, instead of a number which was smaller, we got a number that was 50 percent higher” said Edward Kaplan, operations research professor at Yale. This goes to support the authors argument as it defends the fact that there are more immigrants in America than expected. The study was done to give a safe estimate of the amount if immigrants in the states. The professors at Yale go further to explain that it was not oriented towards politics. It was being used as a better estimate of an important number (Feinstein). This goes to tell that the numbers are unbiased, making Munros argument stronger.

Furthermore, the study shows the current widely accepted estimate, the conservative estimate, and the average estimate of illegal immigrants. The accepted amount is 11.3 million as stated before, the conservative amount is around 15 million, and lastly the average estimate is close to 22 million immigrants. This shows that the population is greater than the expected almost certainly, but more importantly gives hints that it could possibly be upwards to anywhere from 22-34 million illegal immigrants. Not only that, this study was taken in 2016, meaning it does not include the numbers for the years 2017 and 2018. Munro says that more and more illegal immigrants are overstaying their visas and crossing the borders. Leading to an even bigger population than when tested. Edward Kaplans position as a scholarly source gives him authority and power to provide such studies and analysis. By using Kaplan as a source, it gives Munro more credibility as a writer. Despite that, the study does not help convince the opposition on his point. It is very neutral meaning it does not sway to the left any more than it does right.

Another aspect of Munro’s argument is the impact of the increased flow of illegal immigrants on the work force of natives. He goes to explain that more than four million Americans will be joining the workforce every year, and if there are more immigrants than projected, they will be taking more of U.S. jobs leaving less for Americans to fill. This will rise the price of houses, increase taxes and hurt the education of students in primary and college schools. Decreasing not only that but families that are currently struggling in the U.S. will only worsen as less job opportunities are available. To add, the study from Yale university does not examine the number of illegal white-collar workers in the tests taken. But Breitbart News estimates that U.S. companies higher around 1.5 million white-collar visa workers that should be being taken from American college graduates. By bringing the effects of increased immigration population, it creates a strong rhetorical emotional appeal of anger and shock to his audience conclusively helping Munros stance.

Throughout Neil Munro’s article, he uses a variety of rhetorical strategies to further convince his audience on his point. He successfully does so by using data and studies by unbiased sources which contributes to strength of his article. However, Munros stance is very fallacious and has no evidence to help persuade the opposition on his stance. The study by Yale University provides no essence to change the pro-immigration beliefs. It does not flow one way or the other. He also states that natives will suffer through job loss, an increase in taxes and several other factors from the increase in illegal immigrants. Still with just using assumptions and very minimal concrete facts to justify what he is saying. By not adding stronger and more reliable evidence, it lacks a number of persuasive techniques, failing to change the mind of the left party as many fallacies and little real evidence seem to be brought up. Although the article creates strong appeals to the audience, it needs more facts that change the mind of others, which would make it a more effective article.