Title: Myths and facts about immigration to the United States - RationalWiki
Headings: Myths and facts about immigration to the United States
Myths and facts about immigration to the United States
Contents
The myths
"Illegal immigrants do not pay taxes"
"Immigrants come here to get 'welfare'"
"Immigrants send all their money back to their home countries"
"Immigrants take jobs and opportunities away from Americans"
"Immigrants are a drain on the U.S. economy"
"Immigrants don’t want to learn English or become Americans"
"Most immigrants cross the border illegally"
"Weak U.S. border enforcement has led to high levels of illegal immigration"
Illegal immigrants are the source of many communicable diseases
"Illegal immigrants cause crime"
"The government is not enforcing existing immigration laws"
Problems that arise when blanket deportation is attempted
In a nutshell
See also
External links
References

Content: Some of their complaints may be true on a very small scale, but by and large, most of their assertions do not reflect the actual trends in illegal immigration into the U.S.
Further, those who oppose illegal immigration tend to focus their rhetoric on appeals to emotion with scant evidence, such as claiming illegal immigrants are " taking our jobs" and "threatening our security". Their only "solution" seems to be, "kick out the wetbacks and build a wall" (which would actually cause major damage to the U.S. economy). Contents
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1 The myths
1.1 "Illegal immigrants do not pay taxes"
1.2 "Immigrants come here to get 'welfare'"
1.3 "Immigrants send all their money back to their home countries"
1.4 "Immigrants take jobs and opportunities away from Americans"
1.5 "Immigrants are a drain on the U.S. economy"
1.6 "Immigrants don’t want to learn English or become Americans"
1.7 "Most immigrants cross the border illegally"
1.8 "Weak U.S. border enforcement has led to high levels of illegal immigration"
1.9 Illegal immigrants are the source of many communicable diseases
1.10 "Illegal immigrants cause crime"
1.11 "The government is not enforcing existing immigration laws"
2 Problems that arise when blanket deportation is attempted
3 In a nutshell
4 See also
5 External links
6 References
The myths
"Illegal immigrants do not pay taxes"
Immigrants pay property taxes either via home ownership or rental, as well as sales tax when purchasing goods in the U.S. Depending on their employers, the immigrants also pay federal, state, and local income taxes. Analysts told VICE News the population will contribute at least $12 billion to the federal government in 2015, and at least $10.6 billion to state and local governments via income and payroll taxes. Studies in New York state and Los Angeles County from the 1990s found that the majority of taxes paid by undocumented immigrants went to the federal government rather than state or local. Undocumented workers pay their part despite the fact that they are explicitly banned from taxpayer-funded programs such as Social Security, Medicare, welfare, and food stamps. Undocumented immigrants contributed about $12 billion to the Social Security Trust Fund in 2010, according to the Social Security Administration. Since illegal immigrants cannot legally be employed, they are often employed "off the books" in casual or seasonal work and are paid in cash, without taxes deducted and often below minimum wage. Employers often threaten to report immigrant workers to Immigration and Customs Enforcement if the worker complains about wages or working conditions. Since illegal immigrants often have fake or stolen documents (especially Social Security numbers), they often cannot benefit from Social Security taxes withheld from wages.