The Cost of Immigration by Jacqueline Bau and Jessica Bau

Jessica and Jacky have a project about cost of immigration. We have to choose a group from the population, and talk about their life and economic choices. We chose our own case of the cost of immigration because Jessica and me are immigrants to this country and this state.

Jessica and I are from Ecuador. We left our country because we were looking for a better life. Also we wanted to see our parents after ten years. We would like to talk a little bit about our life. Jessica and I are cousins.  We lived with our aunt. Then we decided to come to the US because that life for us in Ecuador was difficult. Our lives became hard when our aunt left and we and our brothers stayed to live alone. We never knew at that time about the economics in the world because always my aunt provided everything for us. And she was the good person because she knew how to manage the money our parents sent for us. Soon after we stayed to live alone we and our parents decided for us to travel to this country.

Our trip was so long and very sad because we suffered a lot when we left all our things in Ecuador. We were regretted leaving our family, friends, our own land, fun and culture. The scarcity in our country was hard because the labor, the capital and the education were a problem for our parents and us. That’s why my parents came for a better future for us, and we came for our studies and with many goals. Especially for Jessica because she has a baby. She has to see for both her and her baby so the problem is more bigger than just me.  It is big problem because the scarcity now is the education and capital for her and her baby.

The resources in this case, are hard work and being responsible with our needs. We were looking for capital and labor opportunity when we traveled to another country. While we are going to school, and in the evenings we are going to work, because we have to help our parents. This situation is difficult for immigrants. The choice for us was come to the US and fight for a better life. We had to think about all those goals when we decided to come to this country. We know that we can accomplish this with effort and dedication.

In class we have already learned about the scarcity that is a problem in which everybody wants things, but there is not enough things for everybody to have. The scarcity in our case was the problem about capital, labor and education.  The labor in Ecuador is $10 at day. They started working at 6 or 7 AM and the finish of day is at 5 or 6 PM.  The capital coming from the labor is too low. So the difference between Ecuador and the US is that in this country they can earn a little bit more than Ecuador. In the US the labor pay is by the hour. The minimum wage in Minnesota is about $7.25. If we multiply this wage by the 8 hours that people work it is more than Ecuador.  Really in this country are opportunities but there are consequences to it. The consequence is that maybe immigrants will have to go back to their country if the police stop them. It is a problem for us because we need money to go to school and yet working is difficult. If we want to work, employers want people who have experience.  

A shortage of education for people is very expensive. The choice was accepted by our parents to come to this country. The definition of demand in class was decided to be what you like or want most. The choice was what we want to get in the future for ourselves. Resources are anything that people use to make or do things to work. The resources for us are capital, labor and education. We were looking for jobs when we came to this country. Also we were looking for schools where we can study, depending on how much English we know. A trade-off is to give up one thing for another. The trade off for us was living in our home, Ecuador, and coming to the US. The opportunity cost is choosing one choice over another. But for us the opportunity cost was leaving our family, friends and our own house. It is the value of two choices, in our lives.

In this project the teacher made a question for us. The question was what is the cost of immigration for this population? People decide to leave their country and come to another because they want better things for themselves and their children. Most people leave their children in their country as our own case with our parents leaving us behind. Scarcity is a big problem because everybody who leaves their country leaves for some reasons. Some of these are labor and the capital, because the capital is scarce and there is too many laborers. Many people don’t have jobs to get money to survive. The cost for immigrant’s people is the lost affection from their kids because they had two choices, come to the United States or stay in their country where the economy is bad.  The people who are immigrants come to the United States and they start a new life with new resources to get ahead. For undocumented people their trade-off was leaving Ecuador. Because their choice was come to the United States since they didn’t have the resources to survive in Ecuador. So the opportunity cost for them the lost affection from their family, the loss of their land, the loss of some traditions. Sometimes when you find new friends you begin to obtain some new traditions from there. Also when the immigrant comes to this country another cost is that they have lost their freedom because when they come they have to make many debts to pay for the travel.  The travel is about $13,000. That it is so expensive. They have to pay it back with interest. Sometimes this interest is around 3%, 5%, 6%, or even 7%. This depends who is giving you this debt because if you don't know the person the interests may become around 10%.

In this country are there many laws in the immigration. Many people cannot drive because if the police stops them they go to directly to immigration and they go back to Ecuador. Not driving is a trade off because is difficult for people move from one place to another. So every time they have to be careful because they need pay their loans and debts. 


The cost of opportunity is that nothing is free for anybody.