Posted on 04/25/2006 10:57:43 AM PDT by underwiredsupport
Myth vs. Fact
by Thomas R. Eddlem
May 1, 2006
http://www.thenewamerican.com/artman/publish/printer_3745.shtml
Politicians and pundits are defending illegal immigration with worn-out myths that can easily be proven wrong.
Myth: Illegal immigrants contribute greatly to the American economy.
Fact: So-called statistics supporting this myth are typically a deceptive amalgam of statistics and supposition arranged to conceal an undeniable truth. Consider, for instance, this statement from the ACLU paper Immigrants and the Economy (2002): "Immigrants pay more than $90 billion in taxes every year and receive only $5 billion in welfare. Without their contributions to the public treasury, the economy would suffer enormous losses." If 32.5 million immigrants (the total of legal and illegal immigrants, according to the recent U.S. Census figures) really pay $90 billion in taxes, then they pay half the taxes the average native-born American pays. Note too that the ACLU combines both legal and illegal immigrants into its statistic. Most taxes paid by immigrants are paid by legal immigrants. Illegal immigrants often pay little or no taxes because many of them are working "under the table" in the underground, cash-based economy.
Welfare is a term limited to only a few federal subsidy programs, and the Center for Immigration Studies (CIS) notes: "Even though illegal aliens make little use of welfare, from which they are generally barred, the costs of illegal immigration in terms of government expenditures for education, criminal justice, and emergency medical care are significant." CIS estimates that the total net cost of illegal immigration is an annual drain on the government of $11-22 billion annually.
Myth: We are a nation of immigrants.
Fact: This myth is false on its face. Nearly 88 percent of the people living in the United States today are not immigrants; they were born here. This is a nation of natives, not a nation of immigrants. "But," the liberal propagandists reply, "we all have ancestors who come from other countries." And, one might reply, so does just about every other nation on Earth.
Are not the French merely descendents of the immigrant barbarian Franks, who drove out the Roman era Celtic Gauls? And the English are simply immigrant Angles and Saxons who virtually wiped out the Celtic Britons in the fifth century A.D. They too are simply nations of immigrants under this liberal myth, as is practically every other nation on Earth. The myth descends to meaninglessness upon any serious analysis. Yet whenever this myth is uttered, we are expected to nod our heads in agreement that a deep and salient point has been made.
Myth: You cannot deport 12 million people.
Fact: This is nothing more than a slogan for people who have stopped trying to address the problem. The U.S. government needs to begin deporting illegal aliens, and even if it only deports a fraction of them over the next few years that would be progress. If the Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency deported only two million of the 12 million illegal aliens, 10 million illegals would be better than 12 million.
Congressman Tom Tancredo (R-Colo.) notes that enforcing employer sanctions could lead many to go home on their own without deportation proceedings: "If you can't get a job in this country, and if you can't get social service benefits, you go home." Additionally, a lot of immigrants visit families on their own, and wouldn't be able to get back in if Congress decides to secure the border.
On the other hand, if the 12 million illegals are legalized, none would be deported. Moreover, this amnesty (whether called amnesty or not) would simply induce more illegals to cross the Rio Grande in the hopes of waiting until the next amnesty.
Myth: Illegal immigrants are only taking jobs Americans do not want.
Fact: Many illegal immigrants are able to work for less than market value because they don't pay income or Social Security taxes and are able to take their entire paycheck (or cash) home. This is not only unfair competition against employers who follow the law and pay employees "above the table," but it depresses the wage scale for Americans who would otherwise select jobs currently filled by illegal immigrants. These are jobs that Americans "do not want" only because the illegal immigrants have depressed the wage scale for the positions. Take away the illegal immigrants, and the market would raise wages to the level where Americans would take the jobs.
Myth: Guest workers would only be here temporarily.
Fact: History demonstrates that "guest workers" would be as temporary as the "temporary" telephone tax, still in effect, that Congress enacted in 1898 to pay for the Spanish-American War. And what would happen if 12 million "guest workers" decided not to leave? Those who argue against deporting the current 12 million illegal aliens as impractical are likely, if challenged, to say they find the prospect of deporting "guest workers" impractical as well.
Thus, it is hardly surprising that President Bush fails to mention a time limit on the "temporary" worker visas the federal government would permit under the "guest worker" program he is pushing in his public addresses. Most pending congressional legislation would limit the "guest worker" to three years — but what then?
Myth: Illegal immigrants have a right to come here. It is our Christian duty to provide hospitality.
Fact: Nearly two-thirds of the 32.5 million foreign-born people living in the United States entered this country legally, and the United States has more legal immigrants than any other country in the world. That's hardly poor hospitality, and no bill before Congress that has a chance of becoming law would change this nation's hospitality. But it is poor hospitality to say to the nearly 22 million legal U.S. immigrants who waited in line that they wasted their time following the rules because illegal immigrants will now get the same status.
The need to deport illegal aliens and secure our borders has nothing to do with persecuting minorities or lack of hospitality. The United States can continue to allow a large or small number of immigrants into this country legally, depending upon how many can be reasonably assimilated without destroying our American identity. Rather, securing our borders is necessary as a matter of principle — in the interests of equal justice under law — as well as practical security in this age of international terrorism. And this nation can no longer afford to allow "myth-information" slogans to sidetrack the nation from fulfilling the mandate of controlling the borders.
When we had to stop importaing blacks to do those jobs, we imported the Chinese, now it's the Mexicans.
Americans have NEVER done those jobs.
Don't they usually use dead people's IDs?
This is a ridiculous response to the phrase 'a nation of immigrants'. That's not what this refers to and the author damn well knows it. What percentage of the population were immigrants in 1776? How many are second or third generation now? We don't have long bloodlines going back generations as they do in many other places. Take a poll ans ask people where their ancestors came from. Few would say America. Most would give the names of other nations.
That JUST Social Security taxes mind you, they also pay sales taxes.****
And if that's it - I concur.
My "source" was the same as the New York Time's and the Center for Immigration studies...my "source" was the numbner posted by the Social Security Administration.
I also provided a link to the CIS's website confirming my numbers.
You should read.
Agreed. The first thing to do is secure our southern border. We have not allocated anywhere near the resources necessary in terms of money or personnel. The President and others are always talking about doubling this or that, but the sad fact is that the base numbers are so low that any increase can be deemed sizeable.
"Officially approved by Bush on Dec. 17 after extensive bickering in Congress, the National Intelligence Reform Act included the requirement to add 10,000 border patrol agents in the five years beginning with 2006. Roughly 80 percent of the agents were to patrol the southern U.S. border from Texas to California, along which thousands of people cross into the United States illegally every year."
But Bush's proposed 2006 budget, revealed Monday, funds only 210 new border agents. Retired Adm. James Loy, acting head of the Department of Homeland Security until nominee Michael Chertoff takes over, said funding only 210 new agents was a "recognition that we need to balance those things as we go on down the road with other priorities."
The law signed by Bush had a caveat that went virtually unreported at the time. A summary, published by the Senate Government Affairs Committee, required the government to increase the number of border patrol agents by at least 2,000 per year, "subject to available appropriations."
There are only 11,000 border patrol agents to cover both borders. NYC has 35,000 police officers. Any increase in costs would be more than offset by elminating the costs associated with illegal aliens, including the crimes they commit.
I agree... For god knows how long we have let this problem festered and to blame Bush is wrong.. Yes he does deserve some critism, but the real problem lies in Congress who has done nothing for god knows how long..
You don't know your American history. Please tell us what jobs you are talking about. If this country had to depend upon blacks, Chinese, and Mexicans to perform the jobs necessary to build this country, we wouldn't have crossed the Mississippi yet.
And who did most of the dying to create and defend this country and its way of life?
Judging from the "tone" of your post, you'd be surprised to find out what the median wages are for Americans today.
Every elected federal office but one can be held by people not born here.
LOL! Criminality must be some new form of "social conservatism"....
Interesting that there is NOT ONE other country that has borders like ours, not even Mexico.. And good luck trying to cross in to Russia or China..
We can rebuild New Orleans each year but we can't build a wall?
The foreign-born population of the United States is currently 33.1 million, equal to 11.5 percent of the U.S. population. Of this total, the Census Bureau estimates 8-9 million are illegal immigrants. Other estimates indicate a considerably higher number of illegal immigrants.
The Bear-Stearns report, The Underground Labor Force Is Rising To The Surface, estimates that there may be as many as 20 million illegal immigrants. It is worth noting that the quasi-amnesty of 1986 resulted in three times more people applying than the USG estimated.
Too bad I already gave away today's Free Republic Award for Best Dramatic Performance.
Yours is a real loo-loo.
>>When we had to stop importaing blacks to do those jobs, we imported the Chinese, now it's the Mexicans.
Americans have NEVER done those jobs.<<
That sounds a wee bit racist. Which jobs have Americans never done, specifically?
I know : (
Reciting history is being racist?
Are you saying that we did NOT import labor from Africa and China?
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