Immigration Myths and Realities

People often come to us looking for advice on how to respond to false information they hear about immigrants. In this series, we discuss myths and realities about immigration. If you would like to be added to our email list to receive these myths and realities, email Katie Graves-Abe.

Immigration Reality 1: Immigrants pay taxes

FACTS:

• Households led by immigrants contributed a total of $308.6 billion in federal taxes and $150 billion in combined state and local taxes in 2018.
• Undocumented immigrants are taxpayers - they pay sales and property taxes and many pay income taxes. Undocumented immigrants in the United States paid an estimated $20.1 billion in federal taxes and $11.8 billion in combined state and local taxes in 2018.
• The Social Security Administration estimates that undocumented immigrants contribute about $12 billion each year to the cash flow of the program without receiving benefits in return because of their status.
• In New York, undocumented immigrants contribute over $1.4 billion in state and local taxes annually.
• In 2015, 4.4 million people paid $23.6 billion in total taxes using an Individual Taxpayer Identification Number (ITIN). An ITIN is a tax-processing number issued by the IRS to ensure that people can pay taxes even if they do not have a Social Security number.
• DACA recipients and those who meet DACA eligibility requirements paid an estimated $1.7 billion in combined state and local taxes in 2018.

Sources: The Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy, Social Security Administration, American Immigration Council, Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy, American Immigration Council, American Immigration Council

Immigration Reality 2: Immigrants are learning English slightly faster than their predecessors

FACTS:

• Immigrants in the United States today are actually learning English slightly faster than their predecessors. Sixty-six percent of immigrants who speak a foreign language at home can also speak English "very well" or "well," according to a study by the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering and Medicine.
• In many parts of the country, the demand for English as a Second Language classes is far greater than the services available.
• The most significant determinant of whether or not immigrants learn a new language is their age at the time of entry. Immigrants who arrive as young children learn a second language quickly while adults find it much more challenging.
• Pew Research Center found that unauthorized immigrants in the United States are better at speaking English and more educated than they were a decade ago.
• 89% of native born Hispanics in the U.S. speak English well.

Sources: Pew Research Center, National Academies of Sciences, Engineering and Medicine, Migration Policy Institute, Pew Research Center

Immigration Reality 3: Immigrants generally do not take jobs from native-born residents

FACTS:

• Immigrants do not generally compete with U.S. born workers. Instead, immigrants usually compete with the migrants who came before them.
• Many immigrants with legal authorization to work here are highly skilled and sought after by U.S. companies because of shortages in the native-born skill base. Economists find that highly skilled immigrants have a significant positive impact on creating new jobs in the United States.
• Undocumented immigrants often fill the lowest rung of employment in construction, agriculture and domestic services. Studies show that low-skilled immigrant workers and low-skilled native-born workers take on very different jobs, with native-born workers taking jobs that require work authorization and English language skills.

Sources: National Academies of Sciences, Engineering and Medicine, Urban Institute, Cato Institute

Immigration Reality 4: Undocumented immigrants are not eligible to receive most public benefits

Facts:

• Undocumented immigrants do not qualify for welfare, food stamps, Medicaid or most other public benefits.
• Most government assistance programs require proof of legal immigration status and even legal immigrants cannot receive many benefits until they have been in the United States for more than five years.
• Undocumented immigrants can receive schooling and emergency medical care. A recent report by the U.S. Chamber of Commerce states that "economists view expenditures on healthcare and education for children as investments that pay off later, when those children become workers and taxpayers."
• Numerous studies have found that immigrants pay more in taxes than they receive in government services and benefits.
• Legal immigrants use federal public benefit programs at lower rates than U.S.-born citizens.

Sources: U.S. Chamber of Commerce, American Immigration Council, National Immigration Forum, Cato Institute

Immigration Reality 5: Immigrants are less likely to commit serious crimes than native-born citizens

Facts:

• Decades of research has shown that immigrants are less likely to commit serious crimes than native-born citizens.
• Research also shows that high rates of immigration are associated with lower rates of violent crime and property crime. This holds true for both documented and undocumented immigrants.
• From 1990 - 2013, immigration in the United States increased significantly, including the number of undocumented immigrants, which more than tripled. During that time, the violent crime rate in this country declined 48%.
• The reasons for lower crime rates among immigrants are not fully understood. One theory is that people who choose the intense emotional and social sacrifice that comes with migrating are less likely to engage in risky or criminal behavior that would put their new lives in danger. Another theory is that immigrants revitalize neighborhoods and generate economic growth, which helps decrease the crime rate.

Sources: American Immigration Council, Cato Institute, Cato Institute

Immigration Reality 6: ALL children, regardless of immigration status, must have access to public education

Facts:

• Children of undocumented immigrants made up nearly 8% of the U.S. school population in 2016. More than 85% of those children were born in the U.S. and are citizens. The rest are undocumented immigrants themselves. In New York, children of undocumented immigrants make up 6% of the total K-12 school population.
• The Supreme Court ruled in 1982 that children, regardless of immigration status, must have access to public elementary and secondary education. The Court found that the harm imposed on our entire society by denying undocumented children from public schools was far greater than any resources saved from excluding them.

• Our entire country benefits from well-educated children. As our population ages, it is expected that today's immigrant children in elementary school will be an important part of the workforce in the coming decades.

Sources: American Immigration Council, Pew Research Center

Immigration Reality 7: There is no "line" for most undocumented immigrants to become eligible to immigration status

FACTS (Note: The below was written before the COVID-19 pandemic. During the pandemic, there are more significantly more restrictions on U.S. Visas and Entry)

THE LAW CREATES NARROW CATEGORIES OF ELIGIBILITY
Most people immigrate to the United States through one of three routes: family relationships, job offers, or humanitarian grounds. Both family and employment-based immigration are limited to specific situations and relationships. Humanitarian protection is only available to certain categories of people. All three routes are expensive, complicated and narrow. Most immigrants do not have the necessary family or employment relationships and often cannot get humanitarian protection. Therefore, even if immigrants have family and jobs in the U.S. or are fleeing persecution back home, these three routes may not be available to them.

EVEN ELIGIBLE IMMIGRANTS FACE SIGNIFICANT OBSTACLES
Immigrants eligible for one of the three routes often face significant obstacles. Under the law, no country can receive more than seven percent of the visas available each year. Therefore, people from countries such as Mexico, China, India and the Philippines, who often have U.S. citizen family members and are most interested in immigrating to the United States, usually have a very long wait. Often this can exceed twenty years depending on their family tie and country of origin.

IMMIGRANTS ALREADY IN THE U.S. OFTEN HAVE NO LEGAL WAY TO CORRECT THEIR STATUS
Once somebody has entered the United States without authorization or has overstayed their visa, the law typically prohibits them from getting legal status within the United States. To get status, an immigrant will usually have to leave the U.S. first and return to their country of origin. When this happens, they may be banned from returning to the United States for up to ten years. This is true even if they are married to a U.S. citizen and have U.S. citizen children. The limited exceptions to this rule only apply for select groups of people.

THE RULES HAVE CHANGED DRAMATICALLY
Immigration law has changed dramatically over the past 100 years. It has become extremely complex and confusing. Most of the people who immigrated to the United States more than 75 years ago would likely not be eligible under our current laws.

Sources: American Immigration Council, United States Citizenship and Immigration Services