Immigration Myths & Facts_______________________

Why we must not be bystanders

A presentation by the Arizona Advocacy Network and Somos America

What we know about what the public incorrectly believes…

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• 62%: Strain our health care & education systems

• 47%: Increase terrorism threat

• 42%: Increase crime

• 38%: Take jobs from Americans

• 23%: Don’t pay any taxes

Other myths…___________________________________

• Refuse to come through legal paths

• Won’t assimilate or learn English

• Don’t have any rights

• Come here to vote

• Bring disease across the border

Red & Blue Counties Experience Immigration Differently

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Where do these myths originate?___________________________________

• Most come from anti-immigrant and hate groups and are parroted by hate radio and TV

• None of these claims can be independently verified

• Most anti-immigrant websites are controlled by the same people and source each other or the hate radio and TV personalities

___________________________________

• Best Sources: – Academic studies that have been through

peer-review processes and stand up to critical analysis

– Original source data like FBI, ICE and Dept. of Justice

Where can you find accurate information?

“A lie gets halfway around

the world before the truth gets its boots on.”

Crime: What are the facts?_______________________

• Immigrant communities actually have lower crime rates than surrounding areas (Sources: Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago 2005; The Myth of Immigrant Criminality, Dr. Rubén G. Rumbaut, UC Irvine Professor of Sociology, Dr. Walter A. Ewing Immigration Policy Center; Dr. Robert J. Sampson, chairman of the sociology department at Harvard article in The American Journal of Public Health)

• According to an ASU study, undocumented immigrants account for only 4.4% of all crime.

Crime: What are the facts?_____________________• The FBI does not collect data on immigration

status of offenders.

• Arpaio arrested more than 90,000 people over a six month period. His own website says that 803 of these were undocumented immigrants. That is less than one percent of all arrests. (Sheriff’s website, Jan 25, 2008)

Jobs: What are the facts?_______________________

Undocumented immigrants tend to work in fields that require unskilled labor and little education. U.S. citizens are more likely to

have jobs that require more advanced skills and education.

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Taxes: What are the facts?_______________________• Studies from ASU, University of Arizona, Thunderbird

School of Management, Texas Comptroller and others show:

– Undocumented workers pay real estate, sales, income, and other taxes

– Undocumented immigrants pay payroll taxes as well, as evidenced by the Social Security Administration’s suspense file (taxes that cannot be matched to workers names and social security numbers), which grew by $20 billion between 1990 and 1998.

– Undocumented workers contribute $7.5 to $8 billion to Social Security and Medicare. These are funds that they will never be able to claim.

Taxes: What are the facts?_____________________

- In Arizona, sales taxes supply nearly 50% of our state

revenues. All immigrants pay sales taxes.

- Schools are funded primarily by property taxes, which are paid by anyone that owns a home or rents a home or apartment. (Landlords cover their taxes with tenants’ rent payments.)

(Source: http://www.immigrationforum.org/about/articles/tax_study.htm)

Drain Social Services: What are the facts?

_____________________• Undocumented immigrants are ineligible for social

programs, welfare, etc. so they cannot “drain them.”

• Even U.S. citizens are being turned away from Medicaid because they lack the documents (i.e. birth certificates) to prove citizenship. (Reports from Arizona Social Services Organizations.)

Burden Health Care System: What are the facts?_______________________

• A recent UCLA study showed that undocumented immigrants from Mexico and other Latin American countries are 50 percent less likely than U.S.-born Latinos to use hospital emergency rooms.

• They are also far less likely than the general population to use any medical services.

• Undocumented immigrants are infrequent patients for primary care visits because they fear being asked for ID cards, Social Security numbers and employment histories. They fear being reported to authorities. (Source: Archives of Internal Medicine)

Burden Health Care System: What are the facts?

_____________________

• The far greater financial burden on our emergency rooms stems from the 47 million U.S. Citizens that have no health insurance and the 30 to 50 million more that are underinsured.

Won’t learn English: What are the facts?_______________________

• Among first generations, 23% speak English well.

• By the second generation, English is the primary language; 88% speak English well.

• By the third generation, 94% speak English well.Source: Pew Hispanic Center)

Won’t learn English: What are the facts?

_______________________• Demand for English classes at the adult level far

exceeds supply, and we continue to place barriers in the paths of those who wish to learn English.

• In 2006, Arizona voters passed a ballot measure barring undocumented immigrants from taking English classes from organizations receiving state funding while simultaneously requiring that all government business be conducted only in English.

Won’t learn English: What are the facts?

_______________________________________

• We need to ask if this is a genuine concern or a pre-conceived opinion. We should ask ourselves why so many Americans flock to our cities’ “Little Italy” and “Chinatown” neighborhoods, where the languages and cultures of the “old countries” are still spoken in businesses, on advertisements and in the media, while simultaneously resenting hearing Spanish.

Refuse to enter legally: What are the facts?

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• Most immigrants cross the border legally.• Around 75% of today’s immigrants have legal

permanent (immigrant) visas• Of the 25% that are undocumented, 44%

overstayed temporary visas. • Undocumented immigrants are estimated to be

less than 2% of the US population. (Source: Department of Homeland Security http://uscis.gov/graphics/shared/statistics/index.htm)

“They should get in line like everyone else!”What are the facts?

________________________________________

• More than 480,000 undocumented immigrants per year are coming to the U.S. and finding work.  There are industries (agriculture and construction for example) that are entirely dependent upon undocumented labor. 

• Yet the immigration quota for Mexicans seeking work, for example, is capped at around 25,000 annually (five percent of 480,000).  The wait to get into that pool of 25,000 is six to ten years.  

“They should get in line like everyone else!”What are the facts?

________________________________________

• These workers would much prefer to enter legally through the ports of entry, but until we change our hypocritical system of being dependent on hundreds of thousands of undocumented workers each year while only allowing a tiny fraction to enter legally, we will remain in this ugly situation.  

(Source: Pew Hispanic Center & League of Women Voters)

“Today’s immigrants are different from those of 100 years ago.”

What are the facts?__________________________________________

• The percentage of the U.S. population that is foreign-born has declined from 15% in the early 20th century to 11.5% today.

• Today’s sending countries are different, but American attitudes toward new immigrants have not changed: fearful and disdainful of non-northern-European immigrants.

“Today’s immigrants are different from those of 100 years ago.”

What are the facts?__________________________________

• Chinese Exclusion Act barred Chinese from 1882 to 1892.

• Truman signed law ending discrimination against Indians and Filipinos.

• There were many derogatory terms for Italian immigrants. “WOP” stood for With Out Papers.

“Today’s immigrants are different from those of 100 years ago.”

What are the facts?___________________________________• In the early 20th Century there was

widespread discrimination against Irish immigrants.– “No Irish Need Apply”– “Paddy Wagons”

• Racial/ethnic Profiling continues today: Jon Stewart’s real name is “Jon Stewart Leibowitz.” Why did he change it?

There are 50,000 Undocumented Irish in the United States…

Here is the text

…None live in the T. Don Hutto Family Detention Center.

Young children live like criminals in this prison.

• text

Dehumanization justifies discrimination___________________________________

• No human being is “illegal.”– Are speeders “illegals?”– Are you an “illegal” if you get a parking ticket?

• Calling people “illegal” serves to deprive them of the dignity to which every human being is entitled.

• We must help stop the dehumanization of fellow human beings.

Please join us in choosing not to use dehumanizing terms like “illegal.”

Thou shalt not be a victim.

Thou shalt not be a perpetrator.

Above all, thou shalt not be a bystander.

--Holocaust Museum

Washington, D.C.