| Immigrants: Separating Myth from Fiction |
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| Thursday, 11 June 2009 08:57 |
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Statement 1: Non U.S. citizens are illegal immigrants. There is a tendency to equate non U.S. citizens with undocumented immigrants. Many statistics use the categories “U.S. citizen” and “non-U.S. citizen”. Remember that many groups of people, including legal immigrants, asylum seekers, refugees, visa holders (student, work, tourist, etc.) and victims of human trafficking often are not U.S. citizens.
Statement 2: Barriers prevent illegal immigration. According to Sociology Professor Douglas Massey (Princeton University), while Border Patrol’s budget increased by over 10 times between 1986 and 2002, and the number of agents tripled, the rate of apprehension decreased, the death rate of people trying to enter tripled, and the undocumented immigrant population doubled.
Statement 3: Immigrants take money out of the US economy The money immigrants send to family in their home country is an important source of income for developing nations, but a small percentage of US immigrants’ income. The Inter-American Development Bank estimated in 2006 that remittances made up 10% of Latin American immigrants’ income, meaning 90% was put back into the US economy.
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