Immigration Myths

1
Immigration Myths Facts_______________________

• Why we must not be bystanders
• A presentation by the Arizona Advocacy Network
  and Somos America

2
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 Dont pay any taxes

3
Other myths

• ___________________________________
• Refuse to come through legal paths
• Wont assimilate or learn English
• Dont have any rights
• Come here to vote
• Bring disease across the border

4
Red Blue Counties Experience Immigration
Differently
5
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

6
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

7

• A lie gets halfway around
• the world before the truth gets its boots on.

8
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.

9
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. (Sheriffs
  website, Jan 25, 2008)

10
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.

11
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
  Administrations 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.

12
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/art
  icles/tax_study.htm)

13
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.)

14
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)

15
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.

16
Wont 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)

17
Wont 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.

18
Wont 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.

19
Refuse to enter legally What are the facts?

• ________________________________________
• Most immigrants cross the border legally.
• Around 75 of todays 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)

20
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.  

21
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)

22
Todays 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.
• Todays sending countries are different, but
  American attitudes toward new immigrants have not
  changed fearful and disdainful of
  non-northern-European immigrants.

23
Todays 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.

24
Todays 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
  Stewarts real name is Jon Stewart Leibowitz.
  Why did he change it?

25
There are 50,000 Undocumented Irish in the
United States

• Here is the text

26
None live in the T. Don Hutto Family Detention
Center.
27
Young children live like criminals in this
prison.

• text

28
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.

29

• 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.