Immigration is a hot topic in today's society. Since the EU opened borders between the nations of Europe, there has been a steady migration away from the poorer countries and towards the richer countries, causing a shift in the homogeneous nature of the populations there. The United States defines itself as a nation of immigrants, because the nation has not yet been around 2 1/2 centuries. Still, there is great debate about the immigration from Mexico, Cuba, China, and other nations around the globe.
Arguments of all varieties are made both in support of immigration, and against immigration. The arguments that immigrants take jobs that US nationals want, the idea that immigrants don't pay taxes and thus are a drain on the economy and government, the idea that immigrants don't want to assimilate; all are arguments against immigration and are thrown around without much thought.
Aviva Chomsky sets out to refute those myths in her book They Take Our Jobs! and 20 Other Myths About Immigration. Chomsky breaks each myth into a different section and focuses on the historical and political implications of such thought, and why these claims are not accurate. She makes clear the stark contrast between the treatment of Cubans and treatment of other Hispanics trying to immigrate. She points out the history of immigration, and how our founding fathers wrote the Constitution in a way that would apply only to them.
It is made clear in this book that all 'men' are not created equal, that even today, 'men' does not include all men, just as it did not 230 years ago. Citizens are treated well in this country, for sure, but immigrants, even permanent residents, are not afforded the same basic rights as citizens.
I highly recommend this book if you engage in any debate about immigration, whether it be for or against the institution.
Written by Chelle
They Take Our Jobs! and 20 Other Myths About Immigration
by Aviva Chomsky
ISBN: 9780807041567
$11.20 on Amazon.com
There is not a lot in this blog to sink your teeth into. There is the assertion than Chomsky dispells myths but not a lot of meat about the actual arguments.
It has been my experience that when authors, particularly highly ideological ones like Chomsky, purport to dispell myths they are often in fact trying to promulgate an alternative set of myths of their own.
I'll try to avoid all this mythology and discuss this issue mainly in therms of facts.
As a Cuban American I agree with Chomsky that the wet foot, dry foot policy has the effect of creating a lot of disparity between the way unauthorized migrants (illegal aliens) are treated between Cubans and those from other parts of the world. The policy was a misguided attempt to weaken the Castro regime. It is not the first time our immigration policy has been used for this kind of political process. Russian Jews during the Soviet era were given similar preferences. It hasn't worked and it should be eliminated and Cuban illegal aliens should be treated like all other illegal aliens. Because Cubans are swing voters in a swing state, nobody wants to offend them so that will be tough to do. Identity politics are disgusting and often cause bad policies.
If Chomsky is trying to assert that illegals don't take jobs that Americans want, then he is wrong. There are perhaps some migratory agricultural jobs that don't attract Americans, but only a small percentage of illegal aliens are working in agriculture. Most illegal aliens are working in construction and in service industries like meat processing, restaurants, hospitality and janitorial services. These are not the best jobs but there are a lot of low skilled Americans who rely on them. Unemployment stands at just over 4 percent for college graduates but at nearly 15 percent for those lacking high-school diplomas. In poor black neighborhoods, it's around 30 percent and approaching Great Depression levels. Everytime, even before the current economic downturn, that there was a major immigration raid, Americans were lining up to fill the newly created job vacancies. The idea that illegal aliens were not filling jobs that American wanted is nonsense. And, because the labor market is driven by supply and demand, their pressence was causing downwards wage pressure for the low skilled Americans who were lucky enough to find jobs.
Chomskey is correct that illegal aliens pay taxes. But the whole story is that they pay very little tax and consume a lot more taxes from the Treasury then they contribute. About 30% to 40% of illegal aliens work under-the-table in the cash economy. There tax contribution is limited primarily to the minimal property taxes they pay indirectly through rent on low end housing which they tend to densley occupy (meaning per capital illegal, the individual contribution is tiny) and sales taxes. They don't earn much, they send a good proportion home, a lot is spent on untaxed expenditures like rent and food and that leaves only a sliver of their earnings which are subject to sales tax so their contribution is extremely low. About 60% to 70% of illegal aliens are committing felony identity theft or indenity fraud by masquerading as a citizen with a fake or stolen social security card. They are subject to medicare, social security and Federal income tax withholding. The medicare and social security withholding from illegals is usually estimated to be about $7 billion per year which is relatively trivial when you consider that they consume about $10 billion in services from the Federal reasury annually in various social welfare programs. In most cases they cannot legally qualify for these programs but nobody is actually checking and fraud is rampant. (Obama's illegal alien Aunt for example is currently living in public housing and everybody knows her illegal status). Another path to the public social welfare trough is through their anchor baby citizen children who qualify for these benefits. With respect to Federal Income Tax withholding, our system is highly progressive and any taxes that are withheld are later refunded. In fact, many of them get a tax refund that is LARGER than the amount of taxes that were withheld from their checks because they claim the EITC (Earned Income Tax Credit) which is designed to help out poor working American citizens. It is essentially welfare disguised as a tax refund. It is illegal for illegal aliens to claim the EITC and they do not qualify for it but it is a common fraudulent practice anyway. The bottom line is that illegal aliens are a drain on the Treasury at both the State and the Federal levels. That should be pretty obvious. They are poor and poor people are net consumers of tax while rich people are net contributors of tax. Here are some sources for the assertions above.
Illegal aliens more than 3x more likely to claim EITC then Native Born"
The High Cost of Cheap Labor
The cost to local taxpayers of illegal aliens
If you want to give us some more detail about Chomskys argument I'll be happy to pursue this discussion further. I have reams of links at my disposal and I have followed this issue closely for years so I doubt Chomsky has much to say that I have not heard before. Most of them make it pretty clear that if we import a lot of poor people who lack highschool educations that we are going to end up with a lot of poor people who burden taxpayers. It is also clear that immigration is fueling massive population growth and that this growth is making all of our many problems much more difficult to solve. It's my opinion that we should be a lot more selective and restrictive about who we allow to immigrate.
I agree that illegal immigration is a problem that drains society. However, I disagree very strongly with current policies which are under "homeland security" which instead of deporting illegal immigrants, imprisons them indefinitely. You may find my blog, http://progressiveu.org/blog/49373-death-terminal-island-murder-transgen... interesting.
I see dozens of cases at the hospital. Right now there is a man who came over from Guatemala in a freezer. He spent 2 weeks inside a freezer box. Once over the border, the vehicle was apprehended by law enforcement. So the freezer was opened, and he went straight to Terminal Island in Long Beach, CA. He was tossed into a cell where he was gang raped. Welcome to America! He became suicidal and is now at the hospital where I work. He had an anal fissure on admission. He remains suicidal "if I have to back to prison" so he will be staying with us for a very, very long time, at $3000/ day of taxpayer money. That is just for the hospital. He also has 2 ICE guards with him 24 hours a day. I have no idea what they get paid, but I know its close to what I get paid as a nurse. Its a pretty sweet job, one that is highly coveted. How do you like them apples?
I think that keeping illegal immigrants locked up in prisons where they are not protected and are not even provided with basic medical care, as in the case in my blog linked above, is disgusting and inhumane. I do not understand why they cannot simply be escorted back to their home.
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That's because it's a book review, not a blog about illegal immigration that just happens to use her book as a source.
You can't vote unless you're a citizen. Cubans who make it to US waters are not automatically citizens, they are just immigrants.
Small quip: Aviva Chomsky is female.
And the teenager babysitting down the street works under the table. I worked under the table at a doctor's office for over a year. Unfortunately, because the doctor didn't want to pay the expense of actually having me on the payroll, I ended up owing almost $400 in taxes this past year after all my standard deductions. And they actually don't consume all that much, because they're afraid of being kicked out of the country. And even if they did pay taxes, they still wouldn't contribute that much to the treasury, because they take the lowest paying jobs that happen to not have a whole lot in the way of income taxes to replenish the treasury.
Again, this is a book review. If you want to have a discussion on it, read the book.
~C
Check out the latest entry in the Between The Lines column!
Want the highest rated list to change? RATE those blogs, then!
That's because it's a book review, not a blog about illegal immigration that just happens to use her book as a source.
A book review can have more or less detail. This one had less. Consider my comment as a review of the book review. It did not have much meat.
You can't vote unless you're a citizen. Cubans who make it to US waters are not automatically citizens, they are just immigrants.
My Cuban mother became a citizen in the early 1940s. Castro came to power in the 1950s and a great many Cubans fled to America and most of them are citizens and they are a very powerful voting block in Florida. There has been a steady flow of Cubans to America and the wet foot dry foot policy gives them practically automatic green cards. They can't vote at first but after an immigrant obtains a green card it only takes about 6 years to be naturalized as citizens and then they can vote. A great many of the Cubans who benefitted from the wet foot dry foot policy are now voting citizens because they have been coming for 50 years.
And even if they did pay taxes, they still wouldn't contribute that much to the treasury, because they take the lowest paying jobs that happen to not have a whole lot in the way of income taxes to replenish the treasury.
Exactly! I'm pretty sure I made this point. Poor people are net drains on the Treasury and better educated people are net contributors. At least 65% of illegal aliens lack a highschool education and the only jobs they are qualified to hold are low paying so they will always be net drains on the Treasury. If they are made legal they will be eligible for much more benefits and therefore be much bigger drains. And poverty to a very large extent, poverty is self-perpetuating. On average, a poorly educated parent is much more likely to raise a poorly educated and therefore kids. Historically, it has taken three generations for immigrations to reach educational parity with native born citizens. The evidence is starting to suggest that Hispanics are adopting the cultural pathologies (high rates of school dropouts, teenage unwed mothers) of a chronic underclass and educational data shows that we will be lucky if they reach educational parity in 4 generations. That means for each poor uneducated immigrant we allow to come the taxpayers are stuck supporting three generations of poverty stricken tax burdens.
When you import poverty you get poverty!
And they actually don't consume all that much, because they're afraid of being kicked out of the country.
Could you post some links supporting that assertion.
I posted links to studies that suggested they consumed $10 billion at the Federal level and many times that much at the State level. They are much more expensive at the State level because the States get stuck with the vast majority of the costs of educating their children, providing free healthcare and administering criminal justice. I can post quite a few additional links that are supportive of those numbers and I don't think billions is not "all that much". California is all but bankrupt and facing a budget gap of around $30 billion. $10 billion of that is the net cost of services for illegal immigrants.
Again, this is a book review. If you want to have a discussion on it, read the book.
Excuse me!