IMMIGRATION

In recent years, the debate of whether or not we should build a wall on the U.S.-Mexico border has become a widely discussed topic. Since 2010, only one out of three new undocumented residents have arrived by crossing the US-Mexico border. Visa overstays have outnumbered people who enter the country illegally at the Southern border every year since 2007, according to a report by the Center for Migration Studies. In fact, nearly half of those who are in the country unlawfully actually entered with permission. According to a 2017 report, about 4.5 million of the 11 million undocumented immigrants in the United States overstayed visas, which is equivalent to 42% of the total undocumented population. Additionally, more overstayers arrived from India than from any other country—including Mexico—from 2010 to 2017. By race and ethnicity, more Asian immigrants than Hispanic immigrants have arrived in the U.S. in most years since 2009 (Budiman, 2020). So it may be wise to consider using our border enforcement resources in another manner.

Undocumented immigrants, temporary residents, and even newly-arrived permanent residents are not eligible for federal public benefits such as Social Security, Medicaid, Medicare and food stamps with very few exceptions (such as access to medical care for victims of human trafficking). In fact, most legal immigrants do not have legal access to means-tested welfare for their first five years in the U.S. Overall, immigrants are less likely to consume welfare benefits and, when they do, they generally consume a lower dollar value of benefits than native‐​born Americans (Nowrasteh & Orr, 2018). In fact, if native-born Americans used government benefits at the same rate and consumed the same value of benefits as immigrants, the welfare state would shrink by 43%, or by more than $1.3 trillion (Nowrasteh, 2018). Immigrants also make large net contributions to Medicare and Social Security, the largest portions of the welfare state, because of their ages, ineligibility, and their greater likelihood of retiring in other countries.

In 2019, immigrants collectively paid more than $492 billion in taxes, including more than $30 billion in taxes paid by undocumented immigrants. For starters, everyone pays sales taxes on goods they purchase and property taxes on the homes they buy. In addition, more than half of all undocumented immigrant households file income tax returns using Individual Tax Identification Numbers. The Individual Taxpayer Identification Number (ITIN) is a tax-processing number issued by the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) to ensure that people—including undocumented immigrants—pay taxes even if they do not have a Social Security number (SSN) and regardless of their immigration status (2022).​ ITIN holders are not eligible for all of the tax benefits and public benefits that U.S. citizens and other taxpayers can receive. For example, an ITIN holder is not eligible for Social Security benefits or the Earned Income Tax Credit. However, if that person becomes eligible for Social Security in the future (i.e., by becoming a lawful permanent resident), the earnings reported with an ITIN may be counted toward the amount they are eligible to receive. An example of ITIN holders would be participants of the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program (DACA) who pay an estimated $1.6 billion in state and local taxes (Kosten, 2018).

A report by the U.S. Chamber of Commerce shared the following, "Employment is not a 'zero-sum' game. The U.S. economy does not contain a fixed number of jobs for which immigrants and native-born workers compete. For instance, if the 8.1 million undocumented immigrant workers now in the United States were removed from the country, there would not be 8.1 million job openings for unemployed Americans. The reason for this is two-fold. First, removing 8.1 million undocumented workers from the economy would also remove 8.1 million entrepreneurs, consumers, and taxpayers. This would cause the U.S. economy to lose jobs. Secondly, native-born workers and immigrant workers tend to possess different skills that often complement one another, and are therefore not interchangeable. One of the principal ways in which immigrants create jobs is through the businesses they establish. Immigrants to our country join native-born Americans in being risk takers. According to the Kauffman Index of Entrepreneurial Activity, in 2014 immigrants continued to be 'almost twice as likely as the native-born to become entrepreneurs.' Using census data, the Partnership for a New American Economy estimates that immigrant-owned businesses 'generate more than $775 billion in revenue, $125 billion in payroll, and $100 billion in income, employing one out of every 10 workers along the way.' Moreover, immigrants made up 28% of all new entrepreneurs in 2014—up from 13.3% in 1996. Immigrants also create jobs as consumers. Immigrant workers spend their wages buying food, clothes, appliances, cars, and other products and services from U.S. businesses" (2016).

Of course, there are undocumented immigrants in every country around the world, especially a popular destination like the United States. According to data from Pew Research, 45% of immigrants were naturalized citizens and 27% were lawful permanent residents. The remaining percentage of immigrants are refugees or asylum seekers, individuals on temporary visas or undocumented immigrants. It is estimated that 23% of all immigrants were unauthorized immigrants in 2017 (Budiman, 2020). While this is a meaningful percentage in relation to the  immigrant population, it only represents 3.3% of the U.S. population according to the 2019 U.S. Census Bureau data. 

More than 1 million immigrants arrive in the U.S. each year, and there is a common and damaging stigma about most immigrants being from Mexico. It is true that Mexico is the top origin country of the collective U.S. immigrant population, but that is changing. By race and ethnicity, more Asian immigrants than Hispanic immigrants have arrived in the U.S. in most years since 2009. In 2018, more immigrants came from China and Asia than from Mexico, as we continue to see a decline in immigration from Mexico every year and a flow of Mexican immigrants back to their native country. Asians are actually projected to become the largest immigrant group in the U.S. by 2055, surpassing Hispanics (Budiman, 2020).

In an ideal world, this might be true. But it's not as easy as some might want to make it seem. 

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First of all, it is incredibly complicated. Rutgers University law professor Elizabeth Hull says that our immigration laws are “second only to the Internal Revenue Code in complexity,”and according to the American Bar Association, “To say that immigration law is vast and complex is an understatement” (Nolan Rappaport, 2020).  

According to the American Immigration Council, immigration to the United States on a temporary or permanent basis is generally limited to three different routes: employment, family reunification, or humanitarian protection. Each of these legal avenues is highly regulated and subject to numerical limitations and eligibility requirements. As a result, most undocumented immigrants do not have the necessary family or employment relationships and often cannot access humanitarian protection, such as refugee or asylum status" (2021).

Many migrants and undocumented immigrants do not have the necessary personal or professional relationships but even if they did, the demand from both family members and workers who want to immigrate to the United States is typically higher than the number of slots available each year. Most also cannot access humanitarian protection such as refugee or asylum status so, for many migrants, the diversity green card lottery is the last option. This program requires at least a high school degree, two years of work experience and being from a country that sends few immigrants to the U.S. People from Mexico, China, the Philippines, India, and other countries with higher levels of immigration to the U.S. are not eligible. But let's say you are eligible to enter the lottery. Your chances are slim. To put it in perspective, about 23 million people entered the lottery for 50,000 green cards in 2017, which is equivalent to a 0.2% chance of being selected (Connor, 2018). Unfortunately, the Diversity Visa Program is barely functioning right now due to the continued impact of immigration bans implemented during the COVID-19 pandemic and extremely slow processing by the Biden administration (2021). The hurdles just keep coming.

Aside from complexity and eligibility, you have to consider cost. According to the USCIS website as of 2023, filing fees for family-based applications range from $1200-1760. An entrepreneur would pay a minimum of $3,675. Then applying to move from temporary to permanent status is $1,670, and an application for Certificate of Citizenship is $1,170. You should also note that none of the above costs include biometric costs, medical evaluations or any other extras. Furthermore, because the process is so complicated, most insist that having an attorney to assist you through the process is imperative to your success, which is another cost ranging from $1,500 for a simple case up to $12,000 or more for a complex case. Keep in mind that many of these immigrants are not coming from wealthy nations or families because if they did, they would apply for an EB-5 visa as an investor, which is almost guaranteed a visa. So much inequity boils down to wealth. 

"This myth has been around for over a century. It wasn’t true in 1896, 1909, 1931, 1994, or more recently. Immigrants are less likely to be incarcerated for violent and property crimes and cities with more immigrants and their descendants are more peaceful. Some immigrants do commit violent and property crimes but, overall, they are less likely to do so" (Nowrasteh, 2018). Compared to undocumented immigrants, U.S. citizens were twice as likely to be arrested for violent felonies in Texas from 2012 to 2018, two-and-a-half times more likely to be arrested for felony drug crimes, and over four times more likely to be arrested for felony property crimes, according to a study published by University of Wisconsin–Madison researchers (Barncard, 2020).

The correlation of crime and immigration was also addressed in a 2015 special report by the American Immigration Council, which stated "Between 1990 and 2013, the foreign-born share of the U.S. population grew from 7.9% to 13.1% and the number of unauthorized immigrants more than tripled from 3.5 million to 11.2 million. During the same period, FBI data indicate that the violent crime rate declined 48%—which included falling rates of aggravated assault, robbery, rape, and murder. Likewise, the property crime rate fell 41%, including declining rates of motor vehicle theft, larceny/robbery, and burglary."