What are some myths about illegal immigration?

Question

I answered a similar question yesterday, but wanted to add some points:

That it's a victimless crime.

That those who speak out against it must all be racist.

That it's not really that big of a problem. (Come to a border state sometime).

That they're all just here to work (I didn't know their babies and children could work, or even their wives that stay at home, or their nanas who don't work..)

That it helps Americans. (Lowering the working wage to an unlivable level is helping? Not unless you're into slavery)

That it doesn't directly affect Americans (notice that everyone who thinks this lives closer to Canada than Mexico)

That everyone is illegal except for Native Americans, so be quiet (I'm a Native American. Ever heard of the Bering Strait? Plus, this is a classic logical fallacy and distraction technique, the strawman. Come up with actual facts/evidence aside from buzzwords and slogans and I'll talk to you)

That it isn't a bipartisan issue.

Answer 1

Myths!
The economy of the country will fall apart when we get rid of them!

Also we will not have vegetables anymore or at least we won't be able to afford them!

Answer 2

That everyone is illegal except for Native Americans, so be quiet (I'm a Native American. Ever heard of the Bering Strait? Plus, this is a classic logical fallacy and distraction technique, the strawman. Come up with actual facts/evidence aside from buzzwords and slogans and I'll talk to you)


Throw up a THEORY and then pull out the straw man BS.

I AM Curious to know WHICH tribe buys into that whole LAND BRIDGE theory.

I got a dollar that says this one has NO tribe an NO number.

Answer 3

It isn't a victim less crime. The taxpayers get shafted by the employers.

Those that speak out against illegal immigrants are usually speaking out against law breakers (the immigrants, and the employers). Being Mexican or Hispanic has nothing to do with it. Mind you most Hispanics do work very hard and well.

True - most illegal immigrants are here to work.

Lowering Wages - true. Employers that hire illegals pay less than those that hire legal workers. Often these wages are less than minimum wage. And then these employers claim that Americans don't want to do this work. Not at the wages these employers pay. But then again big businesses such as Walmart also drive down wages by (1) putting the competition out of business and (2) providing low quality low pay McJobs.

Canadians don't have this illegal immigration problem that America has. Canada too has illegal immigrants, but in far fewer numbers (as a % of population) and a better employment verification system.

Answer 4

I'd like to address just a few of the myths that have been spread about illegal immigration: Illegal immigrants are only doing work Americans won't do. The truth is that illegals are taking good jobs, or what used to be good paying jobs, from Americans. Ask anyone who used to work in the construction, hotel or restaurant industries and they'll tell you quite a different story than what is being portrayed. Are there some jobs that Americans in general are not as willing to do? Yes. Do these require twelve to eighteen million illegal immigrants, and millions of more legal immigrants, to fill? Of course not. One could even make the argument that there is no such thing as low income jobs filled by illegal immigrants. They are really subsidized income jobs with the US taxpayer picking up the tab. The scope of the societal costs from such a poorly paid and sometimes exploited workforce is overwhelming. You, the taxpayer, pay tens of billions for entitlements to these tens of millions and their families. This includes food stamps, public housing, Medicaid, Social Security, Supplemental Security Income, Earned Income Tax Credit, public schooling, the WIC program, food stamps, and Temporary Assistance to Needy Families. Removing illegal immigrants from the work force would only raise wages, relieve an overwhelming economic burden on the welfare, correctional, medical and educational systems, lower the unemployment rate, and force a few people to clean their own pools or mow their own grass until they could find an enterprising teenager to do it for them. To act as if our national economy could not survive without an additional three million 'undocumented workers' a year is simply ridiculous and a red herring argument at best. For those who make the arguments that open borders are 'needed' the question is really on their shoulders as to how many millions of illegal immigrants do they think we really need. I've yet to receive a straight answer to that question. Building The Wall across the southern border is morally equivalent to the Berlin Wall built by communist totalitarians. Perhaps the silliest argument I've heard yet, but one stated with all seriousness on the Senate floor by Colorado's own Senator Ken Salazar and shamelessly alluded to by those who cringe at the idea of a secure border. Never mind that one wall was built to keep people in and the other would be built to keep people out. One kept people from escaping to freedom, the other would be built to protect a free people from those who seek to break its laws and violate its national borders. We all know that good fences make good neighbors. Sovereignty begins at the border and a country is not a nation if anyone, at anytime, can come in whenever they feel like it. We have a responsibility to let in anyone who wants to immigrate. Not everyone can come here. If we let everyone come, they would. The American people have no moral responsibility to perpetually take in untold millions of people just because they would rather live here than in their country of birth. We are the most generous and compassionate nation the world has ever seen but that doesn't mean everyone is guaranteed the right to live in this country just because they want to. Nor does it mean that the American standard of living has to be compromised due to the underdevelopment and corruption of other countries. We are a nation of laws that should be respected, not circumvented and violated at will. It is Mexico's responsibility to reform its corrupt government and palsied economy. That won't happen unless Mexico quits using the US as a dumping ground for its poor, its desperate, and its criminal element. Illegal immigration is the safety valve used by the Mexican government to prevent true reform from social pressure at home. It has also become the second biggest source of income for Mexico as millions of immigrants (both legal and illegal) send tens of billions of American dollars back home to their family and friends. Billions of dollars that otherwise would have stayed in American communities are siphoned off to keep afloat a crippled economy and an unbelievable culture of corruption. Illegal immigration is not related to national security.

Answer 5

THAT THEY COME HERE FOR A BETTER LIFE !!!!
What a bunch of Bull !!!
They come for all the free stuff and our Government takes from American Citizens and gives to the Illegals .

CLOSE THE BORDERS , NOW !!!!

I'm a farmer , I know a lot of farmers and we don't need the illegals .
If they do it's their own fault that they didn't building the equipment to do the jobs .
Don't let them feed you those lies
Danial F - Why doesn't the Government use it to put SS in the red and out of trouble and pay the illegals health care so the American Taxpayer's don't have to pick up the bill ?

Answer 6

The pro-illegals claim that they are doing jobs Americans won't do - they actually take American jobs.

They CLAIM they pay taxes - BS! Illegals are typically paid under the table

They say our economy would collapse without them - WRONG! The drain on our health care system, schools, welfare for anchor babies, prisons, etc... would decrease dramatically!

We would have to pay $5 for a head of lettuce w/o the illegals - LIE since labor is only a tiny part of the cost.

They also claim that we are racist if we don't support them - race has NOTHING to do with this argument. It is about the law!

Answer 7

When the end of the last big guestworker program was being debated in the early 1960s, California farmers claimed that “the use of braceros [Mexican guestworkers] is absolutely essential to the survival of the tomato industry.” Instead, termination of the program prompted mechanization which caused a quintupling of production for tomatoes grown for processing, an 89-percent drop in demand for harvest labor, and a fall in real prices.

The same sort of thing happened half a century earlier, when the textile industry predicted disaster if child labor were ended. At a Senate hearing in 1916, one mill owner said that limiting child labor would “stop my machines”; another said “investors would never receive another dividend”; while a third said that ending child labor would “paralyze the country.”

Answer 8

Not supporting illegal immigration does not make you racist, and some times it is not a victimless crime. (A lot of times, Illegal immigrants are smuggled over for large fees, the cops catch the smuggler, and he runs with them in the back, driving erratically the entire time, with a gun shooting at him. Then he tries to sue the U.S. for enforcing its border laws.)

Anyway...

They do the jobs Americans won't do...

Yes, American adults with college degrees wont do them, but there are other Americans who will. Personally, I like it when my server at a resturant can speak english.

Kim B, it is his own fault he got deported, should have come here legally instead of illegally. It would have taken longer to get a work visa, but he would have been LEGAL. Any one, no matter the nationality, who is here illegally should be deported.

Answer 9

Yes - I really agreed with you yesterday and you deserve a star today.



A big issue that nobody brings up is the higher costs we all pay for EVERY consumer good that is supply/demand priced.

This includes gasoline, home heating products, electricity, housing, public schools, medical, etc.

All of these things and more are DIRECTLY affected by just a small increase in demand. Taxpayers are building a new school in CA every day. A drop in demand of 3% for gasoline would reduce our pump prices by about 50 cents a gallon. The list goes on and on. Yes we pay slightly less for things that we can do without like hotel rooms, dining out and tomatos. But we pay a lot more for the things we CANNOT do without.

Answer 10

Alan Greenspan once said "Consumers want products at the lowest price they can find whether it's made in the Guandong province of China or Peoria, Illinois." He's right. That is why businesses send jobs overseas or hire undocumented labor. Why pay an American the legal, minimum wage when you can an undocumented person to do the same job at half that amount?

MYTH: Undocumented workers do jobs Americans won't do. FACT: Undocumented workers do jobs Americans are not allowed to do.

Answer 11

MYTH: We want them here

FACT: "don't let the door hit you on the butt as you leave"

I know I'm making like of a serious subject - I am soooooooo sick of the 20 to 30 million illegals that have invaded our great country!