Myth vs Fact

Not a day goes by that we don't hear from some misguided individual making the claim that the numbers of illegal immigrants in America is actually a good thing. And to debate these points would take more space than we want to devote to it at this time.
But we do want to dispel 2 of the biggest myths.

Myth:
“Illegal aliens only take jobs that Americans won’t do.”
Fact:
First off, just what are these jobs that Americans won’t do? And who was doing them before the massive influx of illegal immigrants?
The fact is they take jobs that Americans CANT do, because of employers who hire the illegals at rock-bottom, below minimum wage rates of pay.
The illegal immigrants can take these jobs because in most cases they are paid in cash and pay no taxes on their income.
A perfect example of this was made clear by a man who called into the Rush Limbaugh radio show.
This African-American gentleman said he was the head of a large labor union in California. And his statement was that African-American men were having trouble finding jobs, and even that one construction company spokesperson told him that he can hire two “undocumented aliens” for what he would have to pay one American worker.


Myth:
“If we deport all these people, we would be paying $10.00 for a head of lettuce.”
Fact:
What is that head of lettuce REALLY costing you?
According to a study done in 2002, the small percentage of illegals that DO pay taxes revealed that households headed by illegal aliens paid a total of 16 billion dollars in taxes.
On the face of it, this sounds reasonable.
Until you read a little further and see that in the same time period they received a total of $26.3 billion in government services such as food stamps, free medical care, etc.
You don’t have to be an economist to understand that a net loss of $10.3 billion dollars a year in reality makes that head of lettuce just a little more expensive for the American taxpayer.
And keep in mind this study was done five years ago. The hidden costs of illegal immigration have grown considerably since then.