Immigration on the Rise

The New York City population is made up of a multitude of races, ethnicities and nationalities. People immigrate here for access to more opportunities, and the desire to create a better life for themselves. However, the uptick in people moving to this city has become quite drastic in the recent decade…and it has posed the controversial question of whether it has been more beneficial or harmful to our community. 

Although immigration is shown to have many advantages, statistics have also shown why it should have some limitations to it. New York City currently stands as the most densely populated city in the United States, and trends do not show that changing anytime soon. Home to Ellis Island, it has a history of people coming in large numbers to situate themselves in a new home. But following the administration of Mayor Eric Adams back in January of 2022, people have questioned if he is handling the situation in an effective manner. 

When asking about students’ opinion on the topic, Kashvee Kayani (a junior at Hillcrest) said “It needs improvement because many people who are immigrating are living in bad areas. The government should improve their living conditions since they’re letting them stay in the country.” “The people that are coming in are suffering,” said another student who chose to remain anonymous. The amount of people that are migrating here daily is becoming overwhelming, as housing and shelter is limited leaving many of these immigrants without a place to sleep at night. PBS.org did an interview in which it stated “What we've seen is that the shelter system is overwhelmed and they're at capacity. When I was at the Roosevelt Hotel, which served as an Intake Center, there were people who were sleeping outside…and had been sleeping outside for four, five, six days during a heatwave. And they were just waiting for intake.” 

It has been an unendurable situation. The housing crisis in New York has only grown larger, because as the government is trying to house everyone that they already have, more people are continuing to come in. The New York Times wrote an article on the crisis, stating “Many have sought shelter with the city, which has a legal obligation to give beds to anyone who asks. Last fall, the city’s homeless shelter population hit a record. It has only grown since then.” With the homeless population growing, the unemployment rate is also rising for these immigrants. It is getting harder for everyone to find work, completely going against the main motive for immigration as many of these people are staying below the poverty line. 

Another anonymous interviewee told us their point of view, commenting that “I think immigration should have a limitation because if there’s too many people it might get overpopulated. At the same time, we can’t force people to stop coming because they’ll always find a way. It is good to have a diverse group of people living together because that’s what America is.” This contributes to the overall point… our current system of immigration processing is not well-run, and it is essentially doing more harm to the people coming here than good. 

However there have been proven reasons why immigration can be beneficial. As more people are immigrating, the overall economy is increasing. An article titled “The Contributions of Immigrants Are Essential to U.S. Economic Growth and Competitiveness” stated “For example, immigrants also help counteract the slowing growth rate of the U.S. population, which helps drive the expansion of the labor force and contributes to overall economic growth.” This  implies that the increase in the U.S. population is accommodating the amount of labor that is needed. This means that the immigrants are not only able to get their job, but they are also able to contribute to the economy and themselves by doing something that will actually benefit them in every aspect. In addition, during an interview with Angelica Nino (a junior at Hillcrest) said that “Immigrants will always immigrate. There’s always people trying to move away from a country or a city, and that’s inevitable…whether you like it or not.” By this quote, we can tell she is trying to express how regardless of the government, people’s personal views, etc, immigrants will continue to travel as they are all just looking to create a better life for themselves. Therefore, the overall concept of immigration is inevitable.

Additionally, globalcitizen.org cites that “In reality, immigrants change culture for the better by introducing new ideas, expertise, customs, cuisines, and art. Far from erasing the existing culture, they expand it.” This proves to us that incoming immigrants are actually increasing the diversity of our population because different cultures get to mix together, allowing them to interact and learn from each other. 

In conclusion, overpopulation can be a good thing but mostly impacts the economy and society negatively as other factors are impacted negatively by the population and people who are coming over and gathering with each other causing the problem of overpopulation.