In spite of how often we hear that immigrants are a drain on
our economy and we need to build a fence after we deport all of them, the truth
is quite the opposite. According to the Wall Street Journal, which recently
surveyed 46 economists, immigration has been very good for the U.S. economy.
Here’s why:
“Immigrants fill in the gaps of our labor market, at both
the high and low ends of the skill spectrum.” In other words, “America’s
educational system does not produce enough scientists and engineers to meet the
needs of a growing technology sector, this means that some of the brightest
minds from across the world come to the U.S. (usually lawfully). But there are
also major gaps in low-skill jobs, [those which don’t require a college degree,
or even a high school degree].”
According to the article: “very few Americans are content to endure the
long hours required of agricultural work, for example, which is why 50% to 60%
of the food that touches our table was touched by immigrant hands along the
way. Because immigrants are willing to do this hard work…we all enjoy
inexpensive produce. The same logic applies to many other sectors of our
economy, and we all benefit.”
Undocumented workers are also consumers and, as such, they
stimulate our economy. They are also more likely to start their own businesses,
at a rate that’s nearly twice that of native-born Americans. [Does that make
them “job creators”?]
In spite of what you’ve been told, undocumented immigrants also
pay taxes. The Social Security Administration estimates that three out of four
undocumented immigrants has payroll taxes deducted from their paycheck and also
pays income, Medicare, and Social Security taxes. And while many of these are
using false Social Security numbers, the Social Security Administration admits
that they took in $12 billion in 2007 from names that did not match the right
numbers.
This means we know full well that undocumented workers pay
taxes and contribute to the Social Security pie, and not only do we try to deny
it, we are also perfectly happy to let it continue.
So, millions of undocumented immigrants are paying into a
government program that they will never receive benefits from because their
bogus number is not valid for receiving benefits, [only for paying in].
Therefore, these people are indirectly responsible for
subsidizing our broken and unsustainable Social Security system for the rest of
us.
Could the Government make a Social Security card that was
more difficult to counterfeit? Obviously they already do so with other US
documents like passports and Federal ID cards which utilize a photo,
fingerprints, and barcodes to verify the person’s identity. Perhaps they lack
the proper incentive to change the decades-old design of the Social Security
card which anyone with a sheet of blue construction paper and a typewriter
could counterfeit in under an hour?
Similarly, the IRS allows undocumented immigrants to file
their taxes using a special “Individual Taxpayer Identification Number”, while
assuring them that they will not share their illegal status with the Border
Patrol or the State Department. This means that many of them do file income
tax, even though they are not eligible for most of the public benefits that
their taxes make possible, such as: welfare checks, food stamps, federal
subsidized housing, Supplementary Security Income, and other cash benefits.
Yes, immigrants are allowed to receive a free public
education (guaranteed by the Supreme Court) and for emergency room treatments,
but those costs are mainly incurred by local and state governments. So, at the State and Local level, the average
immigrant DOES cost more in services than they pay in taxes. But at the Federal
level, the reverse is true.
Perhaps this is why the federal government seems so slow to
enact reforms? They are the only level of government capable of enforcing any
change to the current system, and they are reaping all the benefits of it.
State and local governments are more motivated to change things, because they’re
upside down on the deal, but they have zero power to change the status quo.
The end result? The American people are still receiving the
better end of the deal. The average immigrant will pay in $80,000 more over the
course of a lifetime than they will ever take out in services across the board.
That means that undocumented immigrants are a positive
blessing from God to our Nation. Maybe it’s time we started treating them that
way?
Special thanks to “Undocumented.tv”
for their original research and commentary.
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