Think Negative Public Opinion Essay
Choose two of the following four questions and write essay based on them. Each answer to the questions should not be more than two/three pages (double-spaced). So, minimum four pages, and maximum six pages.
The due date is Wednesday, February 19 at 11:59pm. Please show which questions you chose.
Also, I have attached lecture slides which are 7 lectures in total, and the lecture reading for each lecture reading its label at the end of the file name L#. For example, “Age of Migration, pp.21-29,L2” that’s the reading for the second lecture.
1) There are four important factors that cause international migration flows: economic pressures; social networks and connections between migrant sending and receiving countries; immigrant admissions and immigration control policies; and cultural perceptions people in developing countries have about immigration and richer, developed immigrant receiving countries. Indicate which of these you believe is the most important and second most important factors and explain why.
2) You are the newly appointed immigration advisor for the Trump administration. You have been asked to prepare a brief report for the President outlining what type of immigration admissions and control policies he should adopt in order to achieve two objectives: provide the U.S. economy with the immigrant labor it needs and reduce illegal immigration to the U.S. Based on what you have learned in this class, what mix of immigration policies would you recommend and why? Please be aware that this is not an essay question that is asking you to simply critique the current immigration policies of the Trump administration, although you can certainly refer to them.
3) Do the positive economic consequences of immigration outweigh its negative socioeconomic consequences for unskilled immigrants or vice versa? Think not just in terms of the wages immigrants receive, but also the type of jobs they do, the labor they provide, their long-term socioeconomic mobility, and how they are treated/perceived by mainstream American society (you do not have to necessarily focus on all these issues). This question is asking you to weigh the pros and cons of immigration for the immigrants themselves, not for American society.
4) Do you think negative public opinion toward immigrants is justified, for instance, the belief that immigration is bad for the American economy, that illegal immigration is out of control, or that immigrants endanger public safety and increase crime? (it may be useful to briefly refer to the course material on the economics of immigration and immigration policy)