Question 36 - Social Studies Practice Test for the HiSET Test

These two letters to the editor represent different views on the subject of undocumented workers.

Letter 1:

Illegal immigrants, or undocumented workers if you prefer, should be banned from the United States. All people living here without proof of either citizenship or immigration status need to be rounded up and sent home. Many come here solely to have children who will then allow the parents to stay in the United States of America. They should simply follow the rules like all previous immigrants and apply to be here, rather than coming illegally. They are also stealing the jobs from good hardworking Americans. The immigrants also do not pay taxes which in turn means the rest of the country has to pay for them.

Letter 2:

Who are the undocumented stealing jobs from? To steal, whatever you take must have value to another. The jobs in the fields and hotels of America that many undocumented workers fill are jobs that otherwise would go unfilled. Thus they are taking something without value, which is not theft. If someone wants to end the practice of hiring the undocumented, go after the employers. Why don’t we do that? Simple. Employers have votes, money and lawyers. The undocumented have none of that. The other group of undocumented workers come from horrible places where they are at risk of their lives. Unless we make the threat of staying worse than leaving, they won’t stop coming back. The immigrants also do pay taxes in the form of sales taxes and use taxes which are the highest amount of taxes most poor people, regardless of citizenship, pay.