Is immigration bad for the U.S.?

Copyright The Filipino Express Apr 3-Apr 9, 2006

[Headnote]

EDITORIAL

ACROSS America, there is still a lingering resentment and fear of immigrants. Much of these sentiments can actually be traced to long-standing myths about immigrants and their negative impact on the US economy.

The most pervading misconception about immigrants is that they are a drain on the economy. On the contrary, immigrants actually contribute a lot to the nation%26#039;s economy, which, according to the National Research Council (NRC), could be as high as $10 billion per year.

The average immigrant actually pays $1,800 more in taxes than the cost of the public benefits, such as health care and education, that he or she receives. A study by the University of Florida in 2001 showed that the average immigrant actually paid 25 percent more taxes than do a citizen: $5,485, compared to $4,180.

Undocumented immigrants are actually subsidizing the US social security. The Social Security Administration has an Economic Suspense File - contributions that cannot be matched to workers%26#039; names and social security numbers - that had accumulated $463 billion as of 2002. This is due largely to undocumented immigrants who pay their dues but cannot claim benefits.

Another erroneous belief about immigrants is that they are stealing away jobs from Americans. The reality is that the American workforce is aging and the population is not growing fast enough to fill the jobs. From 2002 to 2012, the number of Americans 55 years and over is projected to increase by nearly 50 percent; those aged 25 to 54 will rise by only 5.1 percent.

Without the infusion of immigrants into the labor force, many industries would not have enough manpower to sustain their operations. A labor shortage could force companies to shut down, which in turn could adversely affect the US economy.

If indeed foreign workers are crowding out Americans for jobs, then the number of out-of-work Americans ought to be high. But the Pew Hispanic Center reported in late March that even though undocumented immigrants hold about seven million jobs, the US unemployment rate was at a low 5.4 percent.

Unfortunately, lawmakers in both Houses of Congress hostile to immigration have done an excellent job of perpetuating the myths and obscuring the realities about-immigrants in the United States.

Is immigration bad for the U.S.?

NO THEY DO MORE GOOD THAN HARM!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

VIVA MEXICO Y LA RAZA MEXICANA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Is immigration bad for the U.S.?

loan

immigration is not bad for the u.s., people have the right to live wherever they want to live, immigration was unlimited before the early 1900%26#039;s a large amount of europeans immigrated to the united states from europe, new immigrants enter this country every single day, anybody is welcome to the u.s. no matter what race they are|||not mexicans. but asians? YES.|||I call B.S..........I live around them and I know better.....Political propaganda because big business is making money from there low wages and guess what.....big business runs the USA........lobbyist anyone???

The rich are getting richer and the poor have no jobs because illegals are working for 1/2 price and living 2-3 families per household here........there goes the american dream..............|||Illegal or legal? Ya know what either way we have too many so yeah enough immigrants already! Can we be citizens in any other country that we chose? No! There is a reason why! The country wants to preserve what they have already and why should we be any different!|||You need to stop believing the liberal lie. Very few are against IMMIGRATION. The HUGE MAJORITY are against ILLEGAL IMMIGRATION!

Now to answer your question:

Is immigration bad for the US? Not unless unchecked.

Is ILLEGAL immigration bad for the US? ABSOLUTELY!!! NO QUESTION ABOUT IT!!|||Immigration is good. Illegal immigration is bad. Check back with me when your reading comprehension advances to the level where you understand the difference between immigrating legally and sneaking across the border.|||no; not at all, only illegal immigration is bad for us because it we pay for it not them, and all the jobs they claim to fill were once filled by Americans or legal immigrants and when you speak on an aging American work force that would only be in the professional market not the labor market this country has more than enough laborers to do the job with-out them being illegally here. in-fact we offer incentives to professionals to come here legally because we are looking for skilled professionals. really anyone can pick fruits and vegetables, flip burgers and cut lawns and before the influx of illegals there were Americans and legals who did the job just fine. believe me no-one here is against immigration; just the illegal type.|||There is a difference between legal immigration and illegal aliens coming into a country.....legal immigrates pay their own way..illegal aliens ..well, you take a look at these numbers and decide..... http://www.immigrationcounters.com/ by the way, the money being wired out does not go back into the economy...so, you have to look at this as a loss.....|||Meanwhile wages in the middle class and lower-middle class are stagnant. The only ones growing currently are in the upper range ie the top 20%. Would this have anything to do with a mass influx of labor?

Makes one wonder why the 50%26#039;s were described as a tight labor market with ever increasing wages. But government dependency is not an issue, is it? Illegals don%26#039;t take as much as their children....ohh....

Do you literally think that in places like Calfornia where they%26#039;re suggested to spend upwards of 8k-11k per child in education...that illegal immigrants are contributing enough!? That must be some good propaganda crack...because there%26#039;s no chance of that.

Most of our schools are primarily funded by property tax and then state income...not federal income. An average illegal immigrant is not going to afford the house which pays that sort of money in yearly taxes, nor is he going to contribute that much in state income. Any assertion to that, is an outright lie.

Perhaps you should post your links to your stories....|||Everything has it%26#039;s good and bad. People will say it%26#039;s bad, it really depends on how good it is. Immigration is great (good) for us, but we do need to fix the things that are not good about it.

So, immigration is not bad for the US.