THE
4 BIG LIES ABOUT IMMIGRANTS – AND THE TRUTH
By
Robert Reich
To watch this video on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KR3JyVg7VzU
Donald
Trump has opened the floodgates to lies about immigration. Here are the
myths, and the facts
MYTH:
Immigrants take away American jobs.
Wrong. Immigrants add
to economic demand, and thereby push firms to create more jobs.
MYTH:
We don’t need any more immigrants.
Baloney.
The U.S. population is aging. Twenty-five years ago, each retiree in America
was matched by 5 workers. Now for each retiree there are only 3 workers.
Without more immigration, in 15 years the ratio will fall to 2 workers for
every retiree, not nearly enough to sustain our retiree population.
MYTH: Immigrants are
a drain on public budgets.
Bull. Immigrants pay
taxes! The Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy released a
report this year showing undocumented immigrants paid $11.8
billion in state and local taxes in 2012 and their combined nationwide
state and local tax contributions would increase by $2.2 billion under comprehensive immigration reform.
MYTH:
Legal and illegal immigration is increasing.
Wrong
again. The net rate of illegal immigration into the U.S. is less
than zero. The number of undocumented immigrants living in the U.S.
has declined from 12.2 million in 2007 to 11.3 million now, according to Pew
Research Center.
Don’t
listen to the demagogues who want to blame the economic problems of the middle
class and poor on new immigrants, whether here legally or illegally. The
real problem is the economic game is rigged in favor of a handful at the top,
who are doing the rigging.
We
need to pass comprehensive immigration reform, giving those who
are undocumented a path to citizenship.
Scapegoating
them and other immigrants is shameful.
And
it’s just plain wrong.
ROBERT B. REICH, Chancellor’s Professor of Public Policy at
the University of California at Berkeley and Senior Fellow at the Blum Center
for Developing Economies, was Secretary of Labor in the Clinton administration.
Time Magazine named him one of the ten most effective cabinet secretaries of
the twentieth century. He has written fourteen books, including the best
sellers “Aftershock, “The Work of Nations," and"Beyond Outrage."
He is also a founding editor of the American Prospect magazine and chairman of
Common Cause. His film, INEQUALITY FOR ALL is available on Netflix, iTunes,
Amazon. His new book, "SAVING CAPITALISM: For the Many, Not the Few"
is out 9/29.