Immigrants pay income, property, and sales taxes at both the state and federal levels. Immigrants pay 90-140 billion dollars in taxes annually. Lack of documentation does not make immigrants immune exempt from paying taxes, and undocumented immigrants pay tens of billions of dollars in income tax each year. Furthermore, undocumented immigrants cannot apply for federal benefits such as welfare, the SNAP program, or medicare. (http://www.aila.org/contentViewer.aspx?bc=17,142#section4)
Myth #2: Immigrants take jobs away from natural-born Americans
Immigrants create jobs for U.S. workers and foreign-born students fund U.S. graduate programs. Companies created by Chinese and Indian immigrants generated over 19.5 billion dollars and 73,000 jobs in 2000. Immigrants often take labor-intensive jobs that natural-born Americans don't want. 511% of employment growth in Massachusetts from 2000-2004 was because of new immigrants. (http://berkshireic.com/?page_id=8)
Myth #3: Immigrants bring crime and put Americans in increased danger
Immigrants are less likely to be charged with crimes. Every immigrant ethnic group has lower rates of imprisonment and crime than native-borns. Immigrants comprise 5% of all Armed Forces and 7% of Navy personnel, therefore increasing the security of Americans. (http://berkshireic.com/?page_id=8)
Myth #4: Immigrants don't want to learn English
Over 75% of immigrants speak English well after ten years in the country. Adult English language classes are in high demand, and most immigrants must wait for months--for those in Massachusetts the wait can be up to two years--before they taken off of class waiting lists.
(http://www.nytimes.com/2007/02/27/education/27esl.html?pagewanted=all&_r=0)
Myth #5: Immigrants are different today than 100 years ago
The U.S. has a foreign-born population of 11.5% compared to 15% in the early 20th century. Just like 100 years ago, immigrants today first settle in single-ethnic communities, speak to each other and read newspapers in their native language, and create businesses to serve their communities. They also face the same suspicion, stereotyping, and discrimination as those who arrived in the early 1900s. (http://www.census.gov/prod/2002pubs/censr-4.pdf)
Immigrants arriving in 1900...
…and in 2013
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