Four myths about immigrants
Donald Trump has opened the floodgates to lies about聽immigration. Here are the myths, and the facts
MYTH: 聽Immigrants聽take away American jobs.聽
Wrong.聽Immigrants聽add to economic demand, and thereby push firms to create more jobs.聽
MYTH: We don鈥檛 need any more聽immigrants.聽
Baloney. The U.S. population is aging. Twenty-five years ago, each retiree in America was matched by 5 workers. Now for each retiree there are only 3 workers. Without more聽immigration, in 15 years the ratio will fall to 2 workers for every retiree, not nearly enough to sustain our retiree population.聽
MYTH:聽Immigrants聽are a drain on public budgets.聽
Bull.聽Immigrants聽pay taxes! The聽Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy聽released a report this year showing undocumented聽immigrants聽paid聽$11.8 billion in state and local taxes in 2012 and their聽combined nationwide state and local tax contributions would increase by $2.2 billion under comprehensive聽immigration聽reform.聽MYTH: Legal and illegal聽immigration聽is increasing.聽
Wrong again.聽The net rate of illegal聽immigration聽into the U.S. is less than zero.聽The number of undocumented immigrants聽living in the U.S. has declined from 12.2 million in 2007 to 11.3 million now, according to Pew Research Center.聽聽
Don鈥檛 listen to the demagogues who want to blame the economic problems of the middle class and poor聽on new immigrants, whether here legally or illegally. The real problem is the economic game is rigged in favor of a handful at the top, who are doing the rigging.
We need to pass comprehensive聽immigration聽reform, giving those who are聽undocumented聽a path to citizenship.
Scapegoating them and other聽immigrants聽is shameful.
And it鈥檚 just plain wrong.
