In 2013, there were 41.3 million total immigrants in the U.S., including 11.4 million illegal immigrants, according to the Migration Policy Institute. At least one percent of every state’s population is made up of immigrants, and as a result, every state is impacted by immigration.

Maryland has a total population of about five million and an immigration population of about 815,000. Legal immigrants constitute almost 10 percent of Maryland’s population, while illegal immigrants make up about four percent, according to the American Immigration Council.

However, student knowledge and opinions of the economic impact of immigration vary widely.

“I think [legal immigration] is wrong because they don’t have to pay taxes,” one  junior said. However, immigrants do pay taxes. According to the AIC, immigrants pay between $90 billion and $140 billion a year in taxes.

On the other side, many members of the JC community believe immigrants work in areas that are important to economic development and growth. “Immigration doesn’t negatively impact the economy. Immigrants do the jobs that honestly no American really wants to do,” senior Max Butschky said. Numerous students held similar views.

“[Immigrants] work a lot harder than a lot of Americans because they did a lot to get here, and we need people willing to do the jobs that Americans won’t,” junior Austin McMillan said.

As a result, JC students don’t believe that deporting all illegal immigrants is a good idea. “[Deporting all illegal immigrants] is not a good idea, [the government] tried and failed in the 60s, so I wouldn’t try it again,” legal immigrant and German teacher Richard Möller said.

Butschky agreed with Möller’s opinion. “I wouldn’t try direct deportation of illegal immigrants in the near future.”

Some students have personal ties to immigration.“My grandparents immigrated from India, and it was hard because people weren’t accepting and were less understanding,” freshman Sehrish Shawkat said.

Grace Mottley is a News Editor for The Patriot and jcpatriot.com.