MYTHS & FACTS OF IMMIGRATION IN THE U.S.

Presented by Sara Dady, AttorneyDady Law Office

2222 E. State St, Ste 101ARockford IL 61104

IMMIGRATION MYTHS

• It’s easy to immigrate to the U.S.• It’s a federal crime to be unlawfully present in

the U.S.• Immigrants are burdens to US medical/social

services• Immigrants- especially undocumented

immigrants- are more likely to commit crimes• Immigrants these days don’t want to

assimilate to our culture• Mass deportation is easy and cheap

Immigrant Demographics - US• Immigrants make up 12% of US population- was 15% a

century ago (3.5% of total US population are undocumented) and account for 14.5% of workforce

• Estimated 31 million foreign-born residents in the U.S. 63% documented/37% undocumented (estimated 11 million).

• 1995-2005 more than half of Silicon Valley start-ups had founder who was foreign born

• Immigrants make up 50% of all engineers & scientists with Ph.Ds in US

• Immigrants are 30% more likely to start small businesses/16.7% of all business owners are immigrants (contribute $67 billion of $577 billion in US business income)

Immigrant Demographics IL

• Foreign born are 13.8% of IL population and make up 17.8% of IL workforce

• 43.5% of immigrants in IL are naturalized citizens (10% voters in IL)

• Estimated 4% of IL population is undocumented (500,000)

• Estimated 10,000 undocumented in Winnebago, Boone and Ogle Counties

• Fact sheets for each state can be found at www.immigrationpolicy.org

Obstacles to Lawful Immigration

• Complex, multi-step process• Long Waits for visas• Inadmissibility issues– False Claims to US citizenship– Prior removals– Criminal Convictions– 3/10 Bar– Permanent Bar

US Immigration AgenciesDepartment of Homeland Security (DHS)U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS)U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP)U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE)Administrative Appeals Office (AAO)Department of State (DOS)Department of Justice (DOJ)Executive Office for Immigration Review (EOIR)Board of Immigration Appeals (BIA)Office of Special CounselOffice of the Chief Administrative Hearing Officer (OCAHO)Department of Labor (DOL)Board of Alien Labor Certification Appeals (BALCA)

Visa Priority Dates

• Unlimited visas for immediate relative of US citizens (Parents, Spouses and unmarried children under age 21)

Preference Categories Priority Date - Mexico

1st: Adult Unmarried Children of US Citizens

October 15, 1992 (17+ years)

2A: Spouses & Minor Children of LPRs

June 1, 2005 (4+ years)

2B: Adult Unmarried Children of LPRs

June 15, 1992 (17+ years)

3rd: Adult Married Children of US Citizens

October 22, 1992 (17+ years)

4th: Siblings of US Citizens December 8, 1995 (14+ years)

Family Problems• Juan entered the US without inspection when he was 14,

he is now 26 and married to a US citizen and has 2 US citizen children. (10 year bar- waiver)

• Veronica’s LPR father filed a petition for her in 1997 when she was 16. Two months before her visa interview, her father died. Veronica’s petition was automatically revoked. (No petition = no visa)

• Cristina entered on a valid 6 month visitors visa in June 1998. She stayed until 2002 when she went to Mexico to visit her dying grandmother and re-entered the US without inspection two months later. She is married to a US citizen and has 2 US citizen children. (Permanent bar)

Criminal AliensRemoval is a Civil Process

• Mandatory Detention for Aliens convicted of aggravated felonies and crimes involving moral turpitude

• Bond ($1,500-$25,000)• Immigration Judges hear over 1,000 cases per

year/proceedings can take years• Limited Due Process Rights• No right to a free attorney• Relief from Removal

But I’m a US Citizen!• “U.S. citizen's near-deportation not a rarity: A zeal to nab

illegal immigrants ensnares many innocent people, including a Minnesota native.” Minneapolis Star Tribune 01/26/2008

• “US Kidnaps Mark Lyttle, Leaves him stateless in Mexico, Honduras, Nicaragua and Guatemala” www.stateswithoutnations.blogspot.com

• US citizens by operation of law: automatically acquired citizenship under US law

• Thousands of US citizens are ordered deported every year due to overzealous enforcement of immigration laws and lack of legal representation

Cost of Mass Deportations

• Cost per apprehension FY 2008 $18,310* • Estimated Detention & Removal of 11 million

undocumented over 5 year period $285 billion**

• DHS total budget for FY 2009 $41 billion• Consequential costs to national, state, local

economies and communities * Department of Homeland Security, Enforcment Actions 2008, www.dhs.gov**www.americanprogress.org/issues/2010/03/deportation_cost.html

Removals (Deportations)

2008 358,886 ? (Alien Parents)2009 319,382 18, 2372010 280,974 19,3602011 246,431 20,9392012 240,665 21,9652013 211,098 20,8642014 165,168 16,528Department of Homeland Security, Enforcement Actions 2008/“Removals involving illegal alien parents of US citizen children” Jan. 2009, www. Dhs.gov

Immigrants & Crime

• FACT: Immigrants are five times LESS likely than the native-born to be in prison.

In a 2007 study, University of California, Irvine, sociologist Rubén G. Rumbaut found that, in 2000, the 3.5 percent incarceration rate for native-born men age 18-39 was five times higher than the rate for immigrant men (0.7 percent).

Moreover, among native-born male high-school dropouts, 9.8 percent were behind bars, compared to only 1.3 percent of immigrant dropouts.

• FACT: Undocumented immigration is NOT associated with higher crime rates.

Although the undocumented immigrant population doubled from 1994 to 2005, the violent crime rate in the United States declined by 34.2 percent and the property crime rate fell by 26.4

• FACT: Violent Crime has Dropped in Arizona by 20% even as the Undocumented Population Has Grown According to a 2008 report from the conservative Americas Majority Foundation, crime rates are lowest in states with the highest immigration growth rates, such as Arizona. From 1999 to 2006, the total crime rate declined 13.6 percent in the 19 highest-immigration states (including Arizona), compared to a 7.1 percent decline in the other 32 states.

Immigrants & Social Security• FACT: Undocumented workers are not (and have never

been) eligible to claim social security benefits. Moreover, most undocumented workers will use a false social security number to prove work authorization, therefore paying money into a benefit system that they will never be eligible to use.

• According to the Social Security Administration (SSA), undocumented immigrants account for a major portion � �of the billions of dollars paid into the Social Security system under names or social security numbers that don’t match SSA records. As of October 2005, the reported earnings on “no-match”payments in the SSA’s �Earnings Suspense File (ESF) totaled $520 billion.

Immigrants & Medical ServicesKaiser Family Foundation Report 03/2008

• Non-citizens are much more likely to be uninsured than citizens, but they are not the primary factor driving the nation’s uninsured problem

• Federal law generally bars undocumented immigrants and recent legal immigrants from receiving Medicaid and SCHIP coverage.

• Non-citizens receive significantly less health care than citizens. In 2005, average annual per capita health care expenditures for non-citizens were $1,797 versus $3,702 for citizens.

• Non-citizens are significantly less likely to use the emergency room than citizens.

Immigrants & the Economy• FACT: The immigrant community is not a drain on the U.S.

economy but, in fact, proves to be a net benefit. Research reported by both the CATO Institute and the President’s �Council of Economic Advisors reveals that the average immigrant pays a net $80,000 dollars more in taxes than they collect in government services. For immigrants with college degrees the net fiscal return is $198,000.

• • FACT: The American Farm Bureau asserts that without

guest workers the U.S. economy would lose as much as $9 billion a year in agricultural production and 20 percent of current production would go overseas.

Myth: Weak Border Enforcement Causes Undocumented Immigration

• Since 1992, the annual budget of the U.S. Border Patrol has increased by 714%, and the number of Border Patrol agents stationed along the southwest border has grown by 390%.24 Since the creation of DHS in 2003, the budget of U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) has increased by 92%, and the budget of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) has increased by 82%.25 Despite all this additional spending, the number of undocumented immigrants in the United States has roughly tripled from 3.5 million in 1990 to 11.9 million in 2008.26

Immigration Policy Center, Breaking Down the Problems: What’s Wrong With Our Immigration System?(Washington, DC: Immigration Policy Center, American Immigration Council, October 2009), pp. 12-13.

Immigration Debate

– Does ‘illegal” mean criminal?– “Amnesty” When the punishment isn’t cost

effective or practical.– Competing principles: Is family reunification vs

rule of law an either/or proposition?– Immigration Reform is Key to Border Security.

Immigration Reform con’t

Policy Changes:• USCIS/ICE has nearly unlimited discretion to

administer and prioritize the immigration laws– Could allow beneficiaries of preference categories

to apply for work authorization until their priority date is reached

– Could issue orders of supervisions as a matter of policy rather than removing people

– Deferred action

Immigration Reform con’t

• Changes in the law– Increase number of visas in preference categories– Allow individuals to petition for themselves

(legalization program/Dream Act)– Eliminate the permanent bars to admissibility– Eliminate 3/10 year bars– Limit discretionary decisions by USCIS/ICE/DOS– Provide for greater due process protections in

removal proceedings/judicial review

Proposed Legislation

• Arizona Law SB 1070- makes unlawful presence a state crime, police may question legal status upon “reasonable suspicion”

• DREAM Act- failed to pass in 2006 & 2007• REPAIR- proposal for Senate bill, not

introduced as of 05/19/2010• CIR ASAP- H.R. 4321• Border Enforcement only bill, Sens. McCaine

& Kyl, not introduced as of 05/19/2010

Politics/Humanizing the Debate

“I think we should catch ’em, we should document ’em, make sure we know where they are and where they are going,” said Pat Bertroche, an Urbandale physician. “I actually support micro-chipping them. I can micro-chip my dog so I can find it. Why can’t I micro-chip an illegal?”

- Pat Bertroche, Republican primary candidate for Iowa 3rd Congressional District

ADVOCACY

• Sign up with a reform advocacy group• Email/Call/Write your

Congressmen/Senators/President• Email/Call/Write your local & state officials• Educate your communities• Family Support Networks- Illinois Coalition for

Immigrant and Refugee Rights, www.icirr.org