MYTH #1: Undocumented immigrants are criminals
This is an old xenophobic refrain, you can look at the archives of the New York Times and major U.S. newspapers and see the same rhetoric used to describe Irish immigrants, Italian immigrants, and those that were labeled foreigners. In reality, immigrants commit crimes at a lower rate than native born Americans.
MYTH #2: Undocumented immigrants should be called “illegal” because they broke the law
Crossing the U.S. border without authorization is a civil offense, not a criminal offense; you cannot be jailed or charged with a crime for entering the U.S. without authorization. No human being is “illegal,” and history informs us on the manner in which dehumanizing labels and rhetoric have been used to justify atrocities.
MYTH #3: Undocumented immigrants don’t pay taxes and drain public resources
Undocumented Immigrants pay more than $15 billion a year in taxes, more than President-Elect Donald Trump and major multinational corporations like GE. A study conducted in California found undocumented immigrants contributed $1 billion more to the state than they received in benefits. Further, undocumented immigrants do no qualify for social security or medicare, however they contribute towards both systems, meaning they subsidize these serves for U.S. citizens.
MYTH #4: Unlike previous generations of immigrants, today’s immigrants do not want to learn English or assimilate to the U.S.
In reality, today’s immigrants, particularly Latino immigrants, are acquiring English and losing their native tongue at a faster rate than previous generations of immigrants. America has historically been known as a “melting pot,” and today’s immigrants are no different than previous generations of immigrants.
MYTH #5: Undocumented immigrants “cut the line” and should not be “rewarded” for breaking the law when others have “waited in line” to enter the U.S. with authorization
There is no “line,” immigration to the U.S. is extremely regulated and there are limited opportunities to enter the U.S. legally for the vast majority of people across the globe. Previous generations of immigrants benefited from extremely lax immigration laws structured to attract mass migration from western Europe, and as a result generations of European immigrants entered the U.S. with little to no regulation of their entry. U.S immigration law has historically viewed some immigrants as desirable and other immigrants as undesirable, examples include the Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882, the 1987 ban on HIV positive immigrants, and the Immigrant Quota Act of 1921 and the National Origins Act of 1924 (discriminatory laws that effectively ended immigration from southern and eastern Europe, and most of the world). Today, the wealthy and “high-skill” workers can attain entry to the US, while “low-skill” workers are excluded and presented no option to cross the U.S. border with government authorization.
Additional Resources:
- The Nation: How US Policies Fueled Mexico’s Great Migration
- Political Research: Globalization and NAFTA Cause Migration From Mexico
- Leo R. Chavez: “The Latino Threat: Constructing Immigrants, Citizens, and the Nation”
This list of myths and truths was presented by Ald. Carlos Rosa at the 11/19 meeting of UN35, for more information on the meeting, visit this Recap.