COMMUNITY
ORGANIZING
Myths
& Realities about Immigration Today
Vets Affairs
Testimony
National
Statement Supporting Human Rights by NNIR
The
Struggle to Pass the Equity Bill
Strive
Act a False Promise
Vets Affairs Testimony
2
Myths
and Realities about Immigration Today
Myth
1: Amnesty is a bad thing.
Amnesty,
also called legalization or regularization, is a law that
would allow undocumented immigrants to obtain “legal
permanent resident” status in the United States. With
legalization, undocumented immigrants could access a “green
card,” a social security number, and could eventually
apply to become a United States Citizen. The last time an
amnesty occurred in the United States was in 1986. Today,
Spain and Greece have enacted amnesty programs for the undocumented
immigrants living in their countries.
Amnesty has gotten a bad reputation mainly because elected
officials or other anti-immigrant groups, such as the Minutemen,
say that it is bad for our country. They say that amnesty
rewards lawbreakers and that too many immigrants will destroy
our way of life. In fact, amnesty would be a major positive
step to recognizing immigrants as equals in society. They
would be able to hold jobs without fear of immigration authorities
and could access basic forms of identification, such as
driver’s licenses. Immigrants would no longer have
to live in fear of their neighbors or the government.
Reality
1: Amnesty would protect the human and civil rights of immigrants.
Myth
2: Congress has enacted an amnesty.
This
is not true. Congress has not yet passed any legislation
creating amnesty for the undocumented. If you see an advertisement
for immigration services promising amnesty, this is fraud.
If you see this type of fraud, contact us at Filipinos for
Affirmative Action: 510-465-9876.
Reality
2: There has been no amnesty enacted by Congress since 1986.
Myth
3: The new law would have undocumented immigrants jump ahead
in line.
One
prevailing myth about the current immigration bill (S. 2611)
is that undocumented immigrants will be able to attain legal
resident status before the people who are being petitioned
through family reunification channels. The concern is that
undocumented immigrants are being treated more favorably
by the government than legal immigrants. Under the Senate
proposal, undocumented immigrants would get at the end of
the line. All of the people who have petitions pending in
the backlogs of the family unification system would be processed
before any undocumented immigrant could apply for a green
card.
Reality
3: The Senate’s legalization program favors families
who have been waiting before undocumented immigrants could
access greencards.
Myth
4: Undocumented people do not pay taxes.
The
Social Security Administration estimates that nearly 75%
of all undocumented immigrants pay taxes. Undocumented immigrants
pay approximately $7 billion annually into the Social Security
system (source: New York Times, April 5, 2005). It is widely
acknowledged that undocumented immigrants are keeping the
Social Security system solvent. However, by federal law,
undocumented immigrants cannot access Social Security or
any other public benefit. So, undocumented immigrants are
actually a boon to society because of their contributions
to our public welfare system.
Reality
4: A majority of undocumented immigrants pay taxes.
Myth
5: The current immigration debate only affects Latino immigrants.
Approximately
65% of the Asian community in the United States was born
in another country. In 2004, the Asian community numbered
approximately 14 million, meaning that there are more than
9 million Asian immigrants in the U.S. Of this number, 3.7
million are not citizens. In California, Asians are the
second largest major racial or ethnic group in four counties
and the majority of the population in eight cities across
the state. Clearly then, the immigration reform debate also
impacts not just the well-being of Latinos, but Asians and
all other immigrant communities in the U.S.
Reality
5: Immigration reform proposals affect all immigrants including
Asians, Africans, Latinos, and Europeans.
Myth
6: Guestworker programs are good because they allow people
to come to the United States.
Guestworker (or temporary worker) programs have a long history
in the United States. The U.S.’s first major experiment
with guestworkers was the Bracero program that lasted from
1942 to 1964 and involved 2.4 million Mexicans. The Bracero
program has been decried by scholars and historians alike
as one of the most abusive immigration programs in history.
Harley Shaiken, director of UC Berkeley's Center for Latin
American Studies and an expert on U.S.-Mexico trade and
labor relations, noted "What happened to the braceros
is both a tragedy and a disgrace." (Source: San Francisco
Chronicle, January 16, 2004)
Abuses in the Bracero program were commonplace and workers
were often deported for standing up for their rights on
the job. Abuses are also common in modern-day guestworker
such as the H1-B professional worker program. Nurses, high-tech
workers, and other often have to work harder and longer
than their U.S. counterparts, and live under the constant
threat that their employer may fire them, leaving them without
legal permission to be in the U.S.
We can see from the lessons of history that even though
guestworker programs allow individuals to come to the U.S.
legally, the risk of exploitation and abuse is high. There
is a better alternative. We need to guarantee workers’
human and civil rights on the job by giving them the option
to immigrate to the U.S. as legal permanent residents.
Reality
6: Guestworker programs stack the deck against immigrants
and leave them at the mercy of their employers.
Myth
7: If I have a greencard, I cannot be deported.
Unfortunately, having a greencard is not a shield from deportation.
The only shield from deportation is US citizenship.
Just 20 years ago, an individual could be deported for major
crimes like arson or drug trafficking. Today, an individual
can be deported for very minor crimes and even for administrative
paperwork offenses. For instance, under current law, a greencard
holder can be detained by immigration authorities for failing
to file a “change of address” form.
Proposals before Congress today would expand the categories
of deportable offenses in unprecedented ways. Potentially,
an individual could be deported because they are merely
suspected of being a gang member – ie guilty without
being convicted in a court of law.
Reality
7: Even with greencards, immigrants can be deported.
Myth
8: Immigrants are taking jobs from African Americans.
There
is no substantial evidence that immigrants are taking jobs
from African Americans or other workers. Furthermore, studies
that attempt to show that immigrants displace Blacks from
lower-wage jobs fail to take in other factors such as educational
attainment, work experience, and discrimination. Analysts
such as UC Berkeley economist Steven Pitts say the culprits
are employers, not immigrants. "The reality is that
with or without immigrants, a major detriment of black job
outcomes is the issue of racism in the labor market. When
people talk about immigrants taking black jobs, it places
the onus on the workers and not the employers.” (Source:
San Francisco Chronicle, April 13, 2006). Many economists
disagree with the notion that immigration is the reason
black unemployment is high. Instead, shrinking budgets for
job training and creation, industry downsizing and manufacturing
flight to foreign countries are the real reasons for job
loss for American workers.
Reality
8: Immigrants and African Americans alike face a volatile
job market controlled by employers.
Myth
9: Immigrants drive down wages.
This
is a commonly held belief among the American public, but
it is a fear that is often times rooted in xenophobia. Studies
have shown that immigrants have minimal effect on wages.
A 2005 study by Harvard economists George Borjas and Lawrence
Katz, that concluded undocumented Mexican immigrants undercut
wages for U.S.-born high school dropouts only by 8.2 percent
over 20 years from 1980 through 2000.
According to David Card, an economics professor from UC
Berkeley, “That’s 40 cents an hour (less) as
a result of 20 years of Mexican migration. In the several
studies that I’ve done over almost 20 years, if there
are effects (of lowering wages), they are very, very small.”
His studies compared cities with large immigrant populations
to those with few or no immigrants. He found that wage differentials
between high school dropouts and more educated workers were
the same in cities, regardless of the size of the immigrant
population. (source: San Francisco Chronicle, May 21, 2006)
Reality
9: Immigrants have had little to no effect on the wages
of U.S. workers.
Myth
10: People choose to be undocumented.
If given
a choice between living in the margins of society or participating
as equals in
society, undocumented immigrants would choose to be treated
with dignity and respect – as equals. However, because
the legal channels of migration as so few, people are not
given meaningful options to be able to come to the US legally.
Being an undocumented immigrant is not a choice; it is a
status forced upon millions of people all over the country
because of flaws in our current legal system. Furthermore,
we need to acknowledge that U.S. policies towards other
countries, such as Mexico, create conditions that force
people to migrate in order to survive.
Reality
10: Immigrants are driven out of their countries and are
denied access to legal immigration status when they come
to the U.S.
Myth
11: People choose to leave the Philippines.
The
reality is that the Philippine economy is in a shambles.
People leave because there are very few jobs that pay wages
substantive enough to support themselves and their families.
The Philippine government, rather than investing in the
development of the domestic economy, chooses to permit foreign
corporations to gain control of local industries and even
public utilities, which destroys good jobs, exploits natural
resources, and drives up the cost of living.
Filipinos are not choosing to leave. They are forced to
leave in order to be able to create greater opportunities
for their future.
Reality 11: Impoverished conditions in the Philippines have
forced the migration of Filipinos worldwide.
Myth
12: The Philippine Consulate reports undocumented people
to the Department of Homeland Security.
This is not true. Several recognized immigration attorneys
in the Bay Area have refuted this claim.
Reality
12: The Philippine Consulate does not report undocumented
Filipino nationals to the Department of Homeland Security.
Myth 13: Department of Homeland Security provides cash rewards
to people who report undocumented.
The
Department of Homeland Security is not paying cash rewards
to individuals who report the presence of undocumented immigrants
in their neighborhoods or workplaces.
Reality
13: The Department of Homeland Security does not pay rewards
to people who “turn in” the undocumented.
Myth
14: A wall between U.S. and Mexico will decrease unauthorized
migration to this country.
Since President Bush took office in 2000, policing along
the U.S.-Mexico border has dramatically increased. Bush
has approved a 30 percent rise in the number of border agents,
from 9,500 to 12,500 today. This amounts to $139 million
worth of upgrades and new technology and $70 million in
physical barriers at the border. Moreover, from 1986 to
2002, the border patrol budget increased tenfold (from $151
million to $1.6 billion) and the number of hours border
agents spent patrolling increased eightfold. Yet, the number
of undocumented immigrants from 1993 to 2004 doubled, from
4.5 million to 9.3 million.
In a July 2002 report entitled, “Holding the Line?
The Effect of Recent Border Build-up on Unauthorized Immigration,”
the Public Policy Institute of California concluded that
increased border enforcement did not decrease migration
across the U.S.-Mexico border. The report brief states,
“[There was no] statistically significant relationship
between the build-up and the probability of migration. Economic
opportunities in the United States and Mexico have a stronger
effect on migration than does heightened enforcement.”
(Source: www.ppic.org) The report also found that increased
border enforcement has actually led to a lengthening of
the period of time that undocumented immigrants stay in
the United States because it is now more difficult leave
the country.
Now, because of the already-existing wall, immigrants are
forced to cross in the U.S. in more dangerous areas, like
the desert in Arizona. The PPIC study found that the number
of people who die while attempting to cross the border has
increased in recent years because of increased enforcement.
Reality
14: A wall will not diminish the flow of migrants to the
U.S. and has only led to a growing human rights crisis at
the border.
