Immigration: Is it a real problem or a political football?

"The border wall" is in the news daily. Part of the US government is shut down until funding for the wall is resolved. But why is this an issue? There are several perspectives.

From Forbes:
Though unemployment is at its lowest rate in half a century, the fear of losing jobs to immigrants has been a hot topic issue over the past few years. There may be some who cite the influx of immigrants -- whether by legal employment status or illegal means -- as a cause for concern for American workers. Some say that technology jobs that would otherwise go to American citizens are instead granted to lower-paid immigrants who are in the U.S. via H-1B or similar work visas. Others claim that America’s migrant farming or food services workforce is largely made up of immigrants when those positions could be filled by underemployed or unemployed Americans.

https://www.forbes.com/sites/forbestechcouncil/2018/10/11/why-fear-of-immigrants-in-employment-is-short-sighted-at-the-dawn-of-the-automation-age/#3de3e28b41b9

From The Pew Research Center:
By race and ethnicity, more Asian immigrants than Hispanic immigrants have arrived in the U.S. each year since 2010. Immigration from Latin America slowed following the Great Recession, particularly from Mexico, which has seen net decreases in U.S. immigration over the past few years.

Asians are projected to become the largest immigrant group in the U.S. by 2055, surpassing Hispanics. Pew Research Center estimates indicate that in 2065, Asians will make up some 38% of all immigrants; Hispanics, 31%; whites, 20%; and blacks, 9%.

http://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2018/11/30/key-findings-about-u-s-immigrants/

From The Conversation:
Their representation in particular industries is even more pronounced, and the Department of Agriculture estimates that about half of the nation’s farmworkers are unauthorized, while 15 percent of those in construction lack papers. In the service sector, which would include jobs such as fast food and domestic help, the figure is about 9 percent.

Further studies show that the importance of this population of workers will only grow in coming years. For example, in 2014, unauthorized immigrants made up 24 percent of maids and cleaners, an occupation expected to need 112,000 more workers by 2024. In construction, the number of additional laborers needed is estimated at close to 150,000. And while only 4 percent of personal care and home health aides are undocumented, the U.S. will soon require more than 800,000 people to fill the jobs necessary to take care of retiring baby boomers.

http://theconversation.com/why-care-about-undocumented-immigrants-for-one-thing-theyve-become-vital-to-key-sectors-of-the-us-economy-98790

From FactCheck.org:
Alex Nowrasteh, with the libertarian Cato Institute, analyzed the Texas data to make a comparison of immigrants in the country illegally and native-born residents. In a recent post he noted that in 2015 Texas police made 815,689 arrests of native-born Americans, 37,776 arrests of immigrants in the country illegally and 20,323 arrests of legal immigrants. Given the relative populations for each group, he wrote, “The arrest rate for illegal immigrants was 40 percent below that of native-born Americans.” In addition, he wrote, the homicide arrest rate for native-born Americans was “about 46 percent higher than the illegal immigrant homicide arrest rate.”

https://www.factcheck.org/2018/06/is-illegal-immigration-linked-to-more-or-less-crime/

From The Migration Policy Institute:
In 2016, 1.49 million foreign-born individuals moved to the United States, a 7 percent increase from the 1.38 million coming in 2015. India was the leading country of origin, with 175,100 arriving in 2016, followed by 160,200 from China/Hong Kong, 150,400 from Mexico, 54,700 from Cuba, and 46,600 from the Philippines. India and China surpassed Mexico in 2013 as the top origin countries for recent arrivals.