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       Illegal Immigraton: Facts and Myths  

           Along with the increased public awareness of the problem of illegal immigration, a number of widely held but untrue misconceptions
           are often voiced. We would like to try to clarify some of these misconceptions in an effort to help our community better understand
           the complexity and ramifications of this serious social and economic problem.

           1. UNDOCUMENTED IMMIGRANTS TAKE AWAY JOBS FROM U.S. CITIZENS AND DEPRESS WAGES.

               Undocumented immigrants are an intrinsic part of our economy and our daily lives. We see and talk to them everyday, they
               clean our homes and offices, care for our children, tend our gardens, prepare our food, build and improve our homes. Those
               who say that these jobs would be filled by authorized U.S. residents, if undocumented workers were removed, may not be
               aware of the serious labor shortages in these relatively unskilled, low-paying occupations, or of the projections for a growing
               demand for these  types of workers, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. The unemployment rate in Mercer County
               hovered between 3.3% and 5.3% in the last decade,  consistently running below the national and state averages. In practical
               terms, Mercer County has full employment. Higher wages alone would not be sufficient to attract U.S. born workers to these
               low status jobs, and there is a limit as to how high wages would be able to rise without creating an inflationary effect on other
               occupations up the ladder. A $15 an hour dishwasher job may persuade a teenager to give up postsecondary education and
               enter the workforce. But everyone else's salaries in the restaurant would have to rise commensurately. Any guesses as to
               how high the average dinner tab at a restaurant would go? What would be the wage at which young people might consider
               a career as domestic workers? Without immigrants, how many two-income households would have to give up one income
               because of the inability to find affordable housekeeping and childcare services?  After the recent and well-publicized immigration
               raids in meat and poultry plants across the country, experience has shown that  employers were not able to replace but a small
               portion of the jobs being done by unauthorized workers, in spite of offering higher wages.

           2. UNDOCUMENTED IMMIGRANTS SHOULD BE DEPORTED.

               Undocumented immigrants are not a separate and distinct group who can be neatly "removed" from our midst. These neighbors
               are part of "us". According to the Urban Institute, 85% of immigrant families are of mixed-status. This means that undocumented
               immigrants live mostly with other family members who have legal immigration status, or are U.S. citizens. We have heard about
               the emotional and  economic devastation visited on the families affected by the numerous deportations in our area when the main
               or only breadwinner in the household is taken away. It is not just the U.S. citizen dependents of these undocumented immigrants
               who suffer. Their employers, the religious congregations where they worshiped, the businesses they patronized, society at large
               suffers when hard- working, tax-paying, productive members are taken away. The “pie” gets smaller.

           3. UNDOCUMENTED IMMIGRANTS ARE CRIMINALS.

               Lack of immigration status is not a voluntary choice in most cases. Many of those deported in our area had attempted to obtain
               legal status, but after a complex and very expensive process, were rejected because in the years it took to decide on their petitions,
               the situation in their country might have marginally improved. Others had been denied the opportunity to even start the process,
               because they come from a country, like Mexico, where visa quotas are set unrealistically low, ignoring economic, geographic and
               historical realities. The inability to achieve legal status has nothing to do with the mostly exemplary behavior of these undocumented
               immigrants, or a perverse desire on their part to remain disenfranchised. There are willing employers and relatives who wish to sponsor
               them, but the barriers put up by a dysfunctional immigration system stand in the way of legalizing the status of most undocumented
               immigrants. We have criminalized people for seeking a better future through hard work, doing what we and our ancestors did since
               this country was founded. Rather than  dedicating resources to decreasing the backlog of immigration petitions so that families can
               be reunited, and employers can fill job vacancies, Congress has chosen to increase expenditures in more border enforcement, and
               jails for immigrant detainees.  In the words of Carl Sandburg “When a nation goes down, or a society perishes, one condition may
               always be found; they  forgot where they came from. They lost sight of what had brought them along.”

           4. UNDOCUMENTED IMMIGRANTS ARE A NEGATIVE DRAIN ON OUR SOCIETY.

               There are some who allege that these immigrants consume more social services, like health and education, than what they contribute
               in taxes and through their work. Most studies reflect just the opposite. The studies which claim a negative economic impact from illegal
               immigration do not account for the present contributions of the immigrants as workers and consumers, or the future contributions of
               the children of immigrants who are the principal beneficiaries of the social services provided to these families. Some question why
               children of immigrants should be entitled to education and health care at taxpayers'  expense. As is true for children in general, the
               answer is simple: because they are our future, the workforce that will sustain our growing retiree population. In the 1990-2000 decade,
               New Jersey would have had almostno population growth without the influx of new immigrants. The Social  Security Administration
               receives over $8 Billion annually in payroll taxes for wages reported under "unmatched" Social Security numbers, which are likely to
               belong in large part to undocumen-ted immigrants. At a time when we are contemplating the need to reform our Social Security
               system because of the unsustainable demands imposed by the retirement of the Baby-Boom generation, how can we responsibly
               consider removing immigrants from oursociety?

PREPARED BY



The Latin American Legal Defense and Education Fund (LALDEF)

PO BOX 80, PRINCETON NJ 08542  INFO@LALDEF.ORG

Call toll-free: 1-877-4LALDEF (1-877-452-5333)

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