From the origin of the United States, immigration has been crucial for the economic advancement and expansion of the nation. The US truly is a melting pot of many cultures and ideas, and it has benefited greatly from its diversity. However, with a much-reduced demand for unskilled or low-skilled workers, US policy must adapt so that it can better maximize the net economic benefits of immigration. While this probably does not include a universal drop in the number of legal immigrants, it would include the screening of applicants in such a way that preference is given to more economically beneficial candidates. It would also include making families totally responsible for their elderly relatives who migrate to the US, eliminating the refugee portion of immigrants, denying more, but not all, government services to illegal immigrants, controlling the southern border with more manpower and better technology, and establishing a national verification database. The optimal policy from an economic perspective should seek to provide U.S. businesses with the labor they require without placing added burden on the taxpayers. Before specific policies can be addressed, it is crucial that immigrants be separated into four categories: legal, working-age immigrants; legal, elderly immigrants; refugees; and illegal immigrants. These groups are radically different, and they must be addressed differently.Universally cutting legal immigration levels would deprive businesses of labor resources that have allowed them to grow. It is important to note that legal immigrants increase the national income between seven and twenty-five billion dollars a year. Businesses benefit greatly in terms of increased labor availability. Immigrants usually have a higher percentage of college degrees than people now living in this country, and thus they contribute greatly to the filling of higher-skilled jobs. Excluding refugees, thirty-three percent of legal immigr...
