Five Immigration Myths

The facts about immigration are sometimes difficult to ferret out while the myths continue to be put forth in our media. The Progressive Book Club blog site has a fine book review citing five major myths and the links to document the facts as opposed to the myth.

Evidence shows immigrants use less public health care than citizens.

The Social Security Administration (SSA) has concluded (PDF) that undocumented immigrants “account for a major portion” of the billions of dollars paid into the Social Security system under names or social security numbers that don’t match SSA records.

Undocumented immigrants file nearly 6 million of the approximately 130 million individual tax returns each year.

In a 2007 report, the White House Council of Economic advisers concluded that about 90% of native-born workers experience wage gains from immigration (PDF), which total between $30 billion and $80 billion per year.

While undocumented immigration has reached high levels, crime rates in the U.S. have declined (PDF), most notably in cities with large numbers of undocumented immigrants such as Los Angeles, San Diego, El Paso, New York, Chicago and Miami.

Given the facts we as a nation would be a lot better off finding ways to make immigrants a functioning part of our society instead of building ineffective walls to bar movement across the border.

Peace.