Editor’s note: In the May issue, Part 1 in this Immigration series looked at who the immigrant is in America. Part II here takes a closer look at the perceptions and the reality of undocumented immigration. Part III will end the series in July with an examination of solutions being presented by politicians and candidates in this year’s elections.

 

According to statistics from three Washington, D.C.-based organizations, the Pew Hispanic Center, the Central Intelligence Agency and the Department of Homeland Security, foreign-born residents – documented or otherwise – make up approximately 1 percent to 2 percent of the total U.S. population. These immigrants, especially the undocumented ones, present various challenges and issues.

The primary reason undocumented immigrants cross American borders illegally or simply stay here beyond the expiration of their temporary visas is to obtain a better life for themselves and their families. This better life is achieved through earning American wages mostly as unskilled laborers.

In the U.S., 62.8 percent of the immigrant population is of workforce age, 18 to 64, and fill approximately one out of every 20 jobs according to Pew. The vast majority of undocumented immigrants are employed in a few industries: agriculture, construction, food processing, textile mills, the hospitality industries, landscaping, and janitorial services.

If every undocumented worker was detained and deported today, what would happen to our economy? The United States has 700,000 jobs requiring unskilled labor according to U.S. Census Bureau statistics. With a total 100,000 people allowed to emigrate from all countries, does this country have another 600,000 people ready, and willing, to fill the gap? 

Fidel “Butch” Montoya, former Manager of Public Safety under the Wellington Webb administration and current director of H.S. Power & Light, a faith-based activist group, says that without documentation, immigrants are often hired by unscrupulous employers who at best, treat the workers very poorly and may or may not pay for the work at all, knowing the employee has no recourse through legal channels due to the lack of documentation.

 

False Documents Lead To Illegal Employment

Employers attempting to hire legally will require the standard paperwork, and can check a social security number against the Verification System provided by the Social Security Administration. However, there are drawbacks. The verification may not be done prior to hiring due to privacy laws and possible discrimination. Also, once hired, a mismatched designation on a social security number does not necessarily mean the person in question is an undocumented alien. The Social Security Administration Web site contains a disclaimer: “…a mismatch does not make any statement about an employees’ immigration status and is not a basis, in and of itself, for taking any adverse action against an employee. Doing so could subject you [the employer] to anti-discrimination or labor law sanctions.”

The online check allows for the name, social security number, date of birth and gender of the person submitting the information at the time of hire; however, the only information required for the check is the name and the social security number. Even when the employer adds all of the information, as long as the gender is correct, the birth date is believable and the name used matches the social security number, the verification clears and the illegal immigrant can enter the workforce. In this event, social security and income taxes are deducted from each paycheck as usual and the money sits, unclaimed and often unnoticed until the time comes to file income taxes and the real owner of the social security number raises a flag.

The Social Security Administration office estimates 75 percent of illegal immigrants are paying taxes with their contributions allowing the overall solvency of both Social Security and Medicare. It is also estimated that for 2005, the last year for which figures are available, about $9 billion in taxes was paid by people who filed W2 forms with incorrect or mismatched data. This would include illegal immigrants who earned their pay under fake names and Social Security numbers.

Regarding income taxes, the Social Security Administration apparently does not communicate with the Internal Revenue Service, which instituted the Individual Taxpayer Identification Number (ITIN) in 1996, specifically for those people ineligible for a social security number. According to the IRS, billions of dollars are paid each year in payroll taxes via the ITIN, by the 8 to 11 million people living and working illegally in the U.S. While the taxes are paid, many do not file each year, choosing to ignore any refund that may be due for fear of exposure and deportation. Others file annually, hoping to prove themselves to be good citizens over time and choosing not to take any refund due. Still others file using the ITIN and either pay taxes owed or collect on refunds, just like the rest of the citizen population.

Montoya says of the myth that undocumented immigrants don’t pay taxes, “I missed that line at Sam’s Club – the one labeled ‘Immigrants Only’ – the line where no sales taxes are charged.”

Montoya reiterates that all immigrants, legal or otherwise, pay the same taxes as any other consumer. Consequently, if all of those purchases were negated by immigration status, Colorado and the nation would lose billions of dollars paid into the system with every purchase made by immigrants.

 

Public Funds Medical Care, Education

The perception among many is that immigrants are utilizing public services (primarily welfare and Medicaid) from the state and federal governments. Legal immigrants arriving after 1996 are ineligible for Medicaid services for five years and then their sponsors’ income and assets are used to determine eligibility. Even if the immigrants are eligible, they utilize less than half of what U.S. citizens do, according to Bell Policy Center, a think tank located in Denver.  

According to Bell, the high cost of publicly funded Medicaid is not because of the immigrant, documented or otherwise, but rather the high number of U.S. citizens who are without health insurance. Immigrant children (documented) account for 24 percent of the users of publicly funded health care services, versus children of U.S. citizen parents who make up 47 percent of the users.  Illegal immigrants are not and never have been eligible to receive Medicaid treatment, except in cases of emergency with life-threatening illness or injury.

CBS News in November, 2007, cited the case of a young woman, seven months pregnant, who sought emergency treatment with hypertension and convulsing. According to Dr. Jack Ludmir, Head of Obstetrics and Gynecology at Pennsylvania Hospital, her condition although rare in the United States was quickly diagnosed. With prenatal care, the condition would have been diagnosed and treated immediately at a cost of “a few hundred dollars.” Because the woman was undocumented and ineligible for publicly funded prenatal care, the three-month cost of emergency treatment for the premature baby and the mother was approximately $250,000.  

The issue of bilingual education is another hot topic in the immigration debate. The concern is the cost of bilingual classes to our financially stressed public school systems. According to Julie Neff-Encinas, former project specialist for the Bilingual Education and Hispanic Studies Department of the Tucson Unified School District in Arizona, the higher cost can be dealt with now in the classroom, or later through government services to deal with the economic and social impact of higher drop-out rates and delinquency.

As many as 50 percent to 70 percent of children who do not learn to read in their primary language first will hit a “ceiling” by 2nd or 3rd grade, according to Neff-Encinas. They will be able to read in the second language on a social level but will not have developed “literacy” – the ability to learn through reading. They will learn at a slower rate and fall farther behind as they age and move through the school system.

Neff-Encinas says if the first language is Spanish, the children also learn through general societal norms that somehow Spanish is a second class language and does not carry the societal approval of languages such as French or German. This fosters a perception of their natural Spanish language as being something undesirable or bad, which ultimately erodes the authority of Spanish-speaking parents and other adults in the family.

On the other hand, if the children learn to read in Spanish first, they understand the concept of learning by reading, and learning becomes a goal in and of itself in both the primary and secondary languages. Children learn the subjects being taught, eventually become fully bilingual in Spanish and English, and in so doing, they take the English language home to parents. Parents, in turn, maintain their authority during this huge transition and are more comfortable learning English themselves – at home, with their children. Oftentimes, as is the case of many foreign-born parents, they do speak English but lack the confidence in their ability with the newfound language to use it publicly; instead they will depend on their children to translate.

Among the issues faced by children of undocumented immigrants, who are by law U.S. citizens if they are born here, is the cost of college. These children have in the past been charged in-state tuition for colleges in the states where they have lived for the required number of years, while U.S. citizens who were from out of state paid higher rates. State governments have debated and attempted to enact laws requiring these children of undocumented immigrants to pay the out-of-state rates. Such laws have been challenged, and the issue will likely be decided in the courts.

 

Discrimination Spreads To All Hispanics

“The bigger threat these days,” says Montoya, a U.S. citizen, “is the amount of rhetoric being passed around as fact.”

As he pulls a piece of paper from his wallet, documentation proving his citizenship, he adds, “Everyone of Hispanic descent or with a Spanish accent is afraid of not having a birth certificate or some form of documentation on their person at all times, and a social security card is not enough.”

Hispanic people are being profiled like never before. Whether from Mexico or the numerous other Latin American countries, citizen or immigrant, documented or illegal, Hispanics have been stopped on the street and asked for credentials by law enforcement, as a result of the Military Commission Act of 2006. If they are unable to provide the precious documentation, they can be detained on the spot.

The National Immigration Law Center cites numerous cases in which the Supreme Court upheld the arrest and detention of people (citizen, immigrant and undocumented), deciding that the arresting officer may ask the person’s identity during an “investigative stop” but falls short of resolving the issue of whether a statute requiring presentation of a driver’s license or other identity documentation is constitutional. The reason for stopping a person is up to the individual officer and stops short of probably cause, leaving a huge gap in “reasonable suspicion” and profiling.

The Anti Defamation League has traced numerous hate groups, many inter-related through members and leaders, who instead of concentrating on the African-American community are now focusing on the Hispanic community. Ku Klux Klan activities have also risen over the past few years, using immigration issues as the new scare tactics. According to the ADL, the most frightening aspect of this activity is its growing acceptance in mainstream America.

 

Laura Anderson is a freelance writer with 20 years experience and is a regular contributor to The Denver Urban Spectrum.