Archive for August, 2010

Tax-Paying Illegal Workers Contribute to the Economy

Friday, August 27th, 2010 at 11:10 am  
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PRO-IMMIGRANT RALLYPeople who push for more and tougher anti-illegal alien laws often assert that undocumented workers in the US pay no taxes yet receive a disproportionate amount of support from federal and state relief programs. Nothing could be farther from the truth. One of the biggest illegal immigrations pros is that these workers do in fact pay taxes but do not, as a whole, take part in such programs.

Despite the popular misconception that illegal aliens do not pay taxes, the truth is that the Internal Revenue Service gathered almost $305 million in taxes in 2001 from people who filed using an Individual Tax Identification Number (ITIN). The ITIN is a special number given to those who do not have Social Security numbers but need to file taxes. That is what illegal aliens commonly use to pay their taxes.

Of course, undocumented workers are also paying sales taxes whenever they buy something, just as legal residents and citizens do. They also pay $7 billion in Social Security taxes every year even though they cannot benefit from Social Security programs. In reality, Social Security is kept afloat and working to a certain extent through the contributions of illegal immigrants.

The idea that illegal aliens are getting food stamps or benefiting from Medicaid, Medicare and Social Security programs is also untrue. Undocumented immigrants are barred from taking part in most federal, state and local aid programs. Some exceptions: illegal workers do benefit from free public schooling for their children and are eligible for short-term disaster relief.

Immigration Reform Sign on 4th Street

So what are some other illegal immigration pros?

These workers contribute to the American economy by complementing rather than replacing the US workforce. In many areas of the US there is a shortage of labor for low-paying or unskilled jobs. These are the jobs commonly filled by illegal aliens (most of whom are from Mexico), freeing up the local labor pool for better paying jobs.

Even with the recession, for example, Texas business owners state that it is still quite difficult to hire labor for certain tasks. To cite another example, Arizona lettuce farms will need 40,000 people to hand-pick their produce each year – a huge labor force that the area simply doesn’t have if the owners only look for local workers.

Some even say that if there were no undocumented workers available in the US, many businesses that need a large labor force would be forced to move their production overseas.

Unauthorized workers therefore contribute to the local labor force in a complementary way. Rather than replacing the local labor pool or competing with locals for jobs, the illegal workers make possible the affluent lifestyle of the local residents.

The real question is whether the illegal immigration pros outweigh the cons. Regarding the labor force, illegal workers also play a big role in providing a readily available work force for local businesses. As far as taxes and benefits are concerned, the picture is quite clear. Unauthorized workers pay more in taxes than they take out in the form of government services, due to their ineligibility for most services.

The Dark Side of America’s Illegal Immigration Problem

Sunday, August 22nd, 2010 at 10:53 am  
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illegal immigration crime statistics It’s no secret that the USA has millions of illegal aliens within their borders. Almost every time the subject of undocumented workers is raised, someone is bound to point out some illegal immigration crime statistics to discuss the dark side of America’s illegal immigration problem.

The population of illegal immigrants in the US is around 11 million and of that, 57% are from Mexico while 24% are from other Latin American countries in Central America. The rest are from other, more distant parts of the world.

Of these millions of people, there are obviously bound to be some criminals among them. Although most are simply hard-working people out to make money in a more affluent country than their own, there are in fact those who commit petty and serious crimes.

illegal immigration crime Since these people are mostly undocumented by official government agencies, it is difficult to find reliable statistics on their activities. Crime is also very much underreported since illegal aliens are often reluctant or afraid to report crime to the authorities. In fact, many criminals will prey on the illegal immigrant population precisely because their victims are disinclined to report them to the authorities.

According to the Paw Hispanic Center website, in their investigation of immigration crime statistics and the federal law courts records, 40% of all sentenced federal offenders were Latinos. Of those, 72% were not U.S. citizens.

However, other studies have pointed out that cities with large illegal immigrant communities do not necessarily have more crimes committed in them than those without a large population of illegal immigrants.

What does that mean? Well, it doesn’t mean that illegal immigrant communities are full of criminals. Most illegal aliens simply work hard and oftentimes succeed in giving their families a better life through the sweat of their brow.

illegal immigration crime statistics

Discussions of crime and illegal aliens often become highly passionate and politicized. Most recently, the murder of an Arizona rancher (Rob Krentz) last March 2010 allegedly by an illegal alien has ignited the controversy yet again.

Partly as a result of extensive media coverage surrounding the murder, Arizona passed the Arizona SB1070 bill to bring to an end anti-illegal immigration crime. The bill is today’s toughest state immigration law yet and its critics say that it will lead to a sharp increase in discrimination and harassment of illegal aliens. The law is particularly strict with requiring aliens to have documents with them at all times.

Time will tell whether the law will be effective in curbing illegal activities or lead to untoward harassment of aliens or some ethnic groups.

Currently, to justify various laws and policies regarding illegal immigration, the nation needs to examine the problem and gather reliable statistics. At the moment, the US has a dire need of illegal immigration crime statistics that can be properly interpreted so that lawmakers and policymakers can come to an understanding and perhaps even an agreement as to what exactly what needs to be done. Studies should be made and scientifically designed to shed light on the perennial problem of illegal aliens.

The Rising Cost of Illegal Immigration: Healthcare and Health Insurance

Thursday, August 19th, 2010 at 2:46 pm  
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cost of illegal immigrationThe US economy is in a rut and people today are more desperate for good paying jobs than ever before. Rising unemployment rates and a slow economy have fueled the recent debate over the cost of illegal immigration in the country today.

It’s no secret that illegal immigration has been on the increase in the past decade. Even with the recent slowing down of the US economy, foreign workers still flock to the US for the relatively higher wages they will be receiving compared to those in their home countries.

What are the costs of illegal immigration in the country today?

In spite of what many people believe, illegal immigrants do in fact pay taxes. They are also not eligible for most government aid and services such as food stamps, welfare or Medicaid. So the idea that undocumented workers take a huge share of Social Security benefits while not paying taxes is untrue.

However, one of the benefits that they can enjoy is that the children of illegal immigrants may go to free public school. This is considered a cost of illegal immigration that is worth paying because it would be unproductive and even dangerous to have a large amount of out-of-school and unskilled children and youths in society.

Allowing the children of illegal immigrants access to public school is really much better than the alternative. Nobody wants to have gangs of unemployed teenagers running around because they lack training and education.

A frequently discussed topic is healthcare for undocumented immigrants. Emergency hospital rooms are obliged to take in illegal immigrants because they are not allowed to turn away anyone, even if they cannot pay for the cost of medical care. Since most of them do not have health insurance, the hospital is obliged to absorb the cost of emergency care.

This cost is not negligible and in large hospitals can cost tens of millions of dollars, especially since emergency care is much more expensive than the non-emergency care available. Not all of the cases are even emergencies – many people just go to the emergency hospital room for care because they know the hospital is not allowed to turn them away.

Of course, some of these hospitals are funded by taxes and people have objected to taxes being spent on non-citizens.

While some take the position that publicly funded clinics should turn away non-citizens, others assert that public health and safety concerns dictate that all sectors of society have proper healthcare. Illnesses would be spread much faster if a large portion of the population was denied proper medical care.

Lawmakers are divided on the issue. Medical personal, consistent with the nature of their job, simply prefer not to turn away sick people.

In any case, before policymakers can tackle the issue, they must ponder what the real cost of illegal immigration would be if such a large segment of the population were deprived of health care. Especially in states like Arizona which share a border with Mexico. The government might save a few tax dollars to deny illegal aliens health care but would there not be a cost in the form of danger to public health and the possible increased spread of illness? This is a complicated matter that needs clear minds and not hysterical rhetoric.

Debunking Pro Illegal Immigration Statistics

Monday, August 16th, 2010 at 10:24 am  
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Pro Immigration RallyIllegal immigration is a problem that the United States is facing right now. Basically, with the excess number of people coming into the country, mostly from Central America and Mexico, the benefits and opportunities that should be given to American citizens are being given to these illegal immigrants. What’s worse is that there are some studies which show pro illegal immigration statistics.

The problem with these statistics which actually show illegal immigration as a good thing for the country is that they are holding back related information, which makes some figures look good compared to how they do when the whole picture is shown. Some facts and figures are really good, but when coupled with what accompanies these facts and figures, they turn into terrible information.

Pro illegal immigration statistics show that with the influx of new workers brought into the United States through illegal immigration, the workforce has grown to new, more efficient levels. While it is true that more jobs are being taken because of the presence of these illegal immigrants, you would have to take a look at the bigger picture. For one, these jobs are vacant, no matter if the illegal immigrants are in the country or not. With that established, isn’t it right to think that it is unfair for the American citizens who are unemployed, who are looking for the same jobs as these illegal immigrants? These opportunities are given to them, instead of to those American citizens who are paying their taxes and are fully in line with the law.

Some arguments also say that the underground economy created by the illegal immigrants generates income for the country, and helps in the country’s economy. Yes, it’s true that they have their own businesses and income generating activities – however, because they are illegal citizens, they are not paying their taxes. Additionally, because they don’t declare their income, they are given health benefits and education benefits for their children – which should rightfully be for the other American citizens who are in need of these more than they do. The income generated by their underground economy is far less than all the benefits that the government is spending on that are being provided to them.

Pro-immigration Rally

Pro illegal immigration statistics are often constructed in this way. Knowing the relevant information that should accompany the first two arguments for illegal immigration suddenly makes these arguments invalid and just downright wrong.  Do not be fooled by these arguments, as all they want is to provide confusion and to gather people to support illegal immigrants. There are laws in place for the security and welfare of the American citizens, and throwing these laws out the window will greatly affect not just this generation, but the future generations as well. There’s no harm in immigrants coming into the country – as long as they have passed their requirements and are good members of the community, why not? However, illegal immigrants do more bad than good, and that is something that needs to be addressed both by the government and by the American citizens alike.

The Sources for Illegal Immigration Facts

Tuesday, August 10th, 2010 at 10:21 am  
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Illegal immigration facts are in demand right now because people now understand the severity of this problem. Facts range through different numbers and percentages, each one of them important in helping the people understand what the problem of illegal immigration poses to the American citizens.
a high price to pay for low immigration
But how are these facts obtained? Surely these are not just made-up numbers just to drive in the point of the urgency of dealing with the illegal immigration problem. They are obtained through reliable sources and are worthy of your trust. They are worked on with proper and the most up-to-date techniques.

Over 70% of the United States annual population growth (and over 90% of California, Florida, and New York) results from illegal immigration, at a cost of nearly $68,000,000,000.00 annually.”

The premiere source of facts for illegal immigration are government agencies. The biggest source is the Bureau of Citizenship and Immigration Services. Out all of all the legal immigrants that they handle, they also have researchers to estimate how many illegal immigrants there are in the country. While their research is extensive, they of course can not give an exact number due to the elusiveness of these illegal immigrants. It would not be surprising if the figures they give are less than the actual figures for the amount of immigrants in the United States.

Other government agencies such as the Census Bureau employ demographic survey techniques to come up with data regarding the residents of the United States. Included in their surveys are information regarding immigrants. With the number of legal immigrants registered in the BCIS, we can see through their survey the percentage of immigrants that are legal and illegal – and the rate is alarming.

There are other private and public agencies working together for this cause in gathering illegal immigration facts. Facts include the number of immigrants in the country and per state, the frequency of the entrance and exit of illegal immigrants, their demographic characteristics, the amount that the government mistakenly spends on them, and others.

More than 71% of all apprehended cars stolen in 2005 in Texas, New Mexico, Arizona, Nevada, and California were stolen by illegal aliens or transport “coyotes.”

In this day and age, data in the form of numbers and figures are very tough to understand when everything else is visual. That’s why these information are often plotted on a graph or a chart so that the general public viewing them can readily recognize the information shown. The sources for this information employ bar graphs, pie charts, map charts, and other forms of visual aids which show the severity of the illegal immigration situation.

Are these sources credible? Of course they are! They are established government agencies that are working round the clock to provide us with this much needed information. Compared to other sources which say otherwise, these facts are based on intensive study and do not hide relevant information that would paint the information into a whole new picture as it really is.

Illegal immigration facts should be coming from reliable, unbiased sources. They should be shown fully without any bias, and should preferably be aided by visuals to make it easier to understand the extent of the problem. Fortunately, most of the facts on this problem fit this description, giving Americans a good overview of the predicament posed by illegal immigration.

Illegal Immigration Laws – Amnesty

Friday, August 6th, 2010 at 2:23 pm  
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Amnesty, which has been granted seven times in the US, is a controversial subject regarding illegal immigration laws. America has had a long-standing problem with workers who cross its borders illegally to find higher paying work than what is available in their home country.

There are many factors responsible for the illegal immigration problem. The US has a long border that is hard to police. In addition, there is high motivation for workers to risk the dangerous border crossing because of the relatively high potential reward for those who do make it across.

These undocumented workers then stay inside the US and generally work hard to make a living despite the lack of official government support. Some people who have studied the worker’s predicament suggest amnesty as a solution.

What do we mean by amnesty as applied to the problem of illegal immigration?

In 1986 a blanket amnesty bill was passed for the first time ever in the United States of America during Ronald Reagan’s term s president. The Immigration Reform and Control Act or IRCA was seen as a solution to the illegal immigration problem at that time. It was the first of the illegal immigration laws to grant amnesty to aliens, mostly Mexican workers who had been living in the US for several years.

The IRCA granted amnesty or legal forgiveness to millions of illegal workers who were then changed in status to legal immigrants. In the decades since the IRCA, there have been several other minor amnesties granted or extended for undocumented workers.

The reasoning behind this immigration amnesty was that since the workers were already inside the US borders, it was better to accept them into the system as regular taxpaying citizens. Mass deportation would have cost billions and was not an effective measure to take.

Humanitarian reasons and fairness, proponents declare, should allow them the rights and obligations of legal workers especially since many of them have been in the US for a number of years and have been assimilated into American culture. They state that if workers have jobs, work hard, speak English and do not commit crimes (other than that of being an illegal immigrant), they have earned legal protection from the government.

Other countries, most notably Spain, have also granted amnesties to illegal immigrants.

illegal immigration lawsCritics, however, assert that most of the American people are not in favor of amnesty for illegal immigrants. They point to surveys that say most Americans do not want amnesty and fear that more amnesty laws will result in a further flooding of illegal aliens across the US border.

Opinions are divided as to the desirability and effectiveness of amnesty in solving the illegal worker problem. Studies have been made that suggest that granting amnesty boosts the economy. For example, in 2008 the Kauffman Foundation found that immigrants are more likely to start businesses than native-born citizens, signifying that legalizing aliens would result in more jobs and stimulate the economy.

Meanwhile the debate over illegal immigration laws rages on. One thing is for sure though – amnesty is a hotly-debated topic and the furor is not likely to die down any time soon.

Alarming Illegal Immigration Statistics

Tuesday, August 3rd, 2010 at 9:18 am  
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Protest by the Tea Parties Against Amnesty and Illegal ImmigrationIllegal immigration is a huge problem that the United States of America is facing right now. This website shows the alarming illegal immigration statistics that is present in our country today.

Immigration into our country is not a problem. They contribute heavily to the success of our nation, and without them, we would have a much different standing than what we have right now. Immigrants lead to a much more diverse workforce to span all current industries. Immigrants pay their taxes and follow the law to keep the country’s economic and social stability. All these are fine examples of what they can do for our country.

That is – IF they’re really legal immigrants.

83% of warrants for murder in Phoenix are for illegal aliens.

95% of warrants for murder in Los Angeles are for illegal aliens.

86% of warrants for murder in Albuquerque are for illegal aliens.

Illegal immigrants primarily come from Central America and Mexico because of the close proximity to the United States. Coming in through different modes of land transportation, these illegal immigrants purposely defy immigration laws to get into the country for a multitude of reasons – however, it all boils down to going to a better place than their own countries. The purpose might be valid and noble, but their means of getting it done is unjustifiable.

U.S. - Mexico BorderSecurity is one of the biggest issues in this situation. The government needs to have a record of all the people in the country – Americans and immigrants alike. The pain of the September 11 attacks is still fresh in the minds of some, and so national security must be accounted for on all fronts. Illegal immigrants coming into the country do not submit documents of any form, so they are just like ghosts on our land. There’s no clear information on them, so it would be difficult to track them down if there is a need to do so. While not all of illegal immigrants get into trouble with the law, there are a handful that do so – and this security breach makes it harder for our law enforcement to get these people into their custody.

29% (630,000) of the inmates in all state and federal prisons are illegal aliens—at a cost of $1.6 billion annually.

Illegal immigration statistics also show that as these illegal immigrants grow in number, their needs grow as well. Because illegal immigrants operate under the radar to prevent themselves from being caught, they don’t declare their income. In turn, they receive welfare benefits such as free health care. Public education is given to their children as well, as children born in the country, even when their parents are both illegal immigrants, are granted US citizenship under the 14th Amendment. Millions of Americans do not receive these benefits, and yet these illegal immigrants do so. There is a severe issue of priority here – as Americans, all we should be receiving benefits that the government spends for. However, with these illegal immigrants in the picture, we are experiencing having to share these funds with them, when they are not supposed to be here in the first place. It’s not only us who are affected, but as well as our children and our future generations if this continues happening.

More than 380,000 “anchor babies” born in the United States in 2005 were to parents who are illegal aliens; making those 380,000 babies automatically U.S. citizens. 97.2% of all costs incurred from those births were paid by the American taxpayer.

Most importantly, these illegal immigrants are taking jobs which could have been given to legal immigrants and American citizens. It’s bad enough that some of our countrymen are experiencing tough times. It’s even worse that the jobs that they can take to help their situations are being taken by illegal immigrants who have not followed the law regarding their entry to the country. It’s just downright unfair for Americans to have to deal with unemployment when illegal immigrants are taking up opportunities that are not meant for them.

Democrat Movie Night March 23, 2007 PosterThese illegal immigration statistics are compiled to give the general public the information that they need to realize the severity of this situation. While there are many problems facing our nation today, the issue of illegal immigrants is one of the most immediate problems because of its direct impact to our way of living. Because of their presence and the funds that they siphon off from deserving American citizens, statistics need to be calculated just to show the general public how complicated this situation has become.

Statistics are presented in this website – but the action needed in solving this widespread problem would come from the little things that you can do. We can present all the statistics that we can gather regarding the situation, but it is up to you, the readers, to take the first step.

After reading through the information found here, we are hopeful that you can help us in our fight to solve the problem of illegal immigrants in our country. It is not enough that we know how many illegal immigrants there are in our country. It is not enough to know how many millions of dollars are being drained because of their presence. We have to take action, and we have to take action now.

More than 66% of all births in California are to illegal alien Mexicans on Medi-Cal, whose births were paid for by taxpayers.

What action can we do? As average American citizens, we have the responsibility of protecting our homeland. If you have any suspicions or have received information regarding illegal immigrants, contact your local authorities right away. Your anonymity will be preserved when you provide such valuable information. Being vigilant is the key, as all it takes to expose a whole house of illegal immigrants is one phone call tip from a responsible citizen. The government can only do so much in putting guidelines and preventive measures in place for illegal immigration. As always, the support of the people is needed in any endeavor that they put into motion.

Immigrants are very much welcome in the country. They have paid their taxes, they have submitted their requirements, and have worked hard to carve out their place in our society. However, illegal immigrants are breaking the law. If they are given the freedom to continue to stay in the United States, many benefits, privileges, and opportunities meant for legal American citizens will be allocated to them.

24.9% of all inmates in California detention centers are Mexican nationals here illegally.

40.1% of all inmates in Arizona detention centers are Mexican nationals here illegally.

48.2% of all inmates in New Mexico detention centers are Mexican nationals here illegally.

These illegal immigration statistics expose the extent of the problem. How we, American citizens, and the government can solve it is a major hurdle in making our country a better place for us and for our children. With this information, hopefully we can all be moved to fight against this situation.