Immigration Facts

Many of us have misconceptions about immigration. I took a quiz recently on immigrants and was surprised at my failure to answer these questions correctly:

I did not know that immigrants contribute more than $400 billion to the U.S. economy every year.
I did not know that undocumented immigrants pay more than $300 million in federal taxes.
I did not know that immigrants are three times as likely as U.S.-born residents to start small businesses and small businesses account for up to 80% of new jobs in the U.S.
I did not know that the U.S. takes in only 1% of the world's immigrants.
I did not know that documented and undocumented immigrants are entitled to constitutional rights under the law.

Our misconceptions often cause prejudice, resentment, bigotry, and alienation in our society. Some people feel like immigrants are freeloading or taking our jobs or draining our economy. Many are unaware of how much immigrants contribute to our economy and help fill labor shortages in essential areas of our society.

Often people in the U.S. do not understand the reasons immigrants are coming to our borders from Central America, Asia, and Africa. They are not informed about the violence and  persecution in these countries. Families are fleeing because of gangs threatening their lives, lack of employment, and insurmountable obstacles to their security. Many of them are seeking asylum and want their children to have a chance for a normal life instead of living in fear.

 It is not true that the U.S. has no room or that it is only murderers and rapists coming to our borders. Most immigrants want to contribute to our society, to work for what they receive, and to live peacefully. 

We need live up to what is written on our Statue of Liberty: 
Give me your tired, your poor, 
Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free, 
The wretched refuse of your teeming shore. 
Send these, the homeless, tempest-tossed to me, 
I lift my lamp beside the golden door!