I am asking in terms of economics rather than cultural changes, I would also appreciate if you explore hypotheticals in which the country in question already has a stable/ unstable economy.
Edit: im not from the US, nor am i talking about immigration to the US. I live in the middle east and as you probably know most middle eastern countries have fucked up economies. I was arguing with someone a couple of days ago and they were heavily against illegal immigrants, i could dismiss most of their arguments, except that “a country with an unstable economy shouldn’t accept immigration of any kind”, and i realized i dont really know how mass immigration affects an unstable economy, negatively or otherwise. Hope this helps.
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So undocumented workers (illegal aliens if you prefer) are functionally exempt from workplace protections and minimum wages laws- if they try to complain, or address grievances, they risk deportation or worse. This makes illegal workers cheaper to hire and thus more attractive to employers, who often face no risks or repercussions for hiring undocumented workers. This drives down wages across the board as “native” workers lose bargaining power, and are forced to accept lower wages and worse benefits just to stay employed. Lower wages helps to drive public outcry against illegal workers, which effects harsher restrictions and punishments against illegal workers which only makes the issue worse as they’re held in increasingly precarious situations. Remember: they’re being paid lower wages because it’s trivial for their employer to call immigration and replace them. As long as employers are willing to offer more than those workers can earn in their home countries they’ll be willing to take the risk.
Here’s the best summary I could find to ELI5 after reviewing a number of reputable sources: “The available evidence suggests that immigration leads to more innovation, a better educated workforce, greater occupational specialization, better matching of skills with jobs, and higher overall economic productivity.” [Source ](https://budgetmodel.wharton.upenn.edu/issues/2016/1/27/the-effects-of-immigration-on-the-united-states-economy)
The “illegal” part is primarily based on policy, not on economics. If some part of a population feels that something should be illegal, even if it doesn’t make economic sense, then that’s what will happen.
I don’t think you’ll be able to get good answers to this question from strangers on the internet. It’s highly politically charged, and even people that study this question professionally have significant disagreement with one another, largely along political lines.
The least controversial answer is “it depends”. The culture, politics, language, demographics, education, and wealth levels of both the illegal population and the host population all have a significant impact. Is there work they can perform, legally or illegally? Do they possess useful skills? Can they speak the local language? Are they primarily families or individuals?
How do you define the economy? Do you just want to know whether the GDP goes up or down? If illegal immigrants are employed without displacing existing jobs, that will always have a positive effect on the GDP- more labor is being utilized, and thereby more goods and services are being generated. But that’s a simplistic answer that doesn’t really capture the questions people debate over.
At that point the next question is, even if the effect is a net positive, who are the winners and losers? In the US, winners are typically the companies that benefit from cheap unskilled labor- agriculture, domestic services, etc. They capture a significant portion of the economic benefit that exists from illegal immigration. The existing citizens (particularly unskilled workers) are losers, to an extent; they benefit from the trickle-down effects of goods and services made possible by illegal immigration, but they’re also bearing costs that “should” be borne both by the immigrants and the companies that benefit.
The benefits to society come from legal, employment -based immigrants, who are highly educated and skilled, contribute significantly more tax dollars than the welfare they receive. They drive the research, innovation and entrepreneur activities in the US.
To immigrate to the US legally, they must possess credentials, be thoroughly vetted, pass FBI background checks and provide records of immunization. This process is extremely time consuming and costly.
The illegal immigrants, on the other hand, are often not well-educated and compete with the lower income US citizens for low-skill jobs. While the middle class and above get to enjoy the cheap labor they provide, they also strain the local communities by consuming resources like housing, healthcare, and education for their children, while contributing little to no taxes due to the nature of their shadow employment.
Whether they are net contributors to the US economy remains a controversial topic and subject to debate.
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