Transcript Immigration Myths & Facts

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…
____________________________
• 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
80
70
60
50
40
30
20
10
0
Red Counties
Blue Counties
Foreign
Pop
Under
10%
Foreign
Pop
Above
20%
Immig. Threaten No Social
"BIG American Svcs
problem" Values
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
Where can you find accurate
information?
___________________________________
• 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
“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?
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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.
70
60
50
40
Undoc. Workers
Citizen Workers
30
20
10
0
Mgmt. Prof.
Admin. Sales
Service & Constr. Farming & Other
Taxes: What are the facts?
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• 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?
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- 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?
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• 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?
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• 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?
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• 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?
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• 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?
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• 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 nonnorthern-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
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• 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.