Should we kick out all the Mexicans? (Part 2)

Let us continue addressing additional conservative criticisms to undocumented immigration.

• "Illegal immigrants are a net deficit to the American budget because they use our social services without contributing anything."  

This view suggests that Latinos are something akin to a parasitic organism that feeds voraciously upon the American taxpayer.  "Those evil Mexican bloodsuckers!" they scream.  But this argument, I believe, is also fallacious for the following reasons.

First of all, contrary to common misperception, undocumented immigrants do pay taxes.  Surely these people buy things while in the U.S.!  Everyone needs food and a roof over his or her head, for instance.  Let's not conveniently forget that sales tax applies regardless of the form of payment used.  And recent research has shown that many undocumented workers even pay income, Social Security, and Medicare taxes.

Conservative accusations about undocumented immigrants benefiting unduly from American social services, on the other hand, appear dubious.  The only areas where I see them consuming are public education and the occassional emergency room service.  But because undocumented immigrants have no choice but to use fake ID numbers to pay taxes, they do not have access to Social Security or Medicare.  And it is no secret that the Latino community is extremely reluctant to utilize public law enforcement.  Oh, and with all the ongoing talk about cutting teachers' benefits, I'm not even sure whether they would strain the public education budget, if they ever did in the first place.  

It's hard to determine exact numbers since research results are all over the place depending on think tanks' political leaning.  But the observations outlined above strongly suggest that undocumented immigrants are a net surplus (or a break-even, at worst), not a deficit, to the national budget.

• "Illegal immigrants do not learn English and dilute American culture." 

This argument just gets on my nerves because it brings out the ugliest side of prejudiced native-born Americans.  Often uttered by a particular demographic that populates areas like Texas and the Southeast in massive numbers, this criticism paints Latinos as some sort of Spanish-speaking demon spies that covertly attempt to destroy America.

But let us take a moment and picture America in our heads.  The U.S. constitution is based on the ideas of John Locke, an English philosopher.  Spaghetti and pizza are from Italy.  Blues, jazz, and rock 'n' roll all trace their roots to West African musical heritage.  There are plenty more examples.  Need I say more?

The type of people who accuse Latinos of being un-American love dining at Mexican restaurants and dancing to salsa music.  But start talking about diversity and foreign language education and they act like their neuron-deprived heads are about to explode out of their skulls.

In regards to English proficiency, 1st generation immigrants from non-English speaking countries---including places like Germany where the ancestors of those in Texas and the Southeast came from---usually have trouble because they are too busy providing for their families. They often do not have the luxury of attending formal ESL classes, not to mention how learning a new language as an adult is extremely difficult whether you're illegal or not.  But there's hope for the xenophobes.  Research has shown that from the 2nd generation onward, descendants of immigrants speak English perfectly and assimilate fully into mainstream America.

Let me use myself as a direct example.  I noticed that I have a superior command over the English language---both written and spoken---than the vast majority of native-born Americans even though I wasn't born in the U.S.  Call me arrogant, if you will.  But just look at the comment section on websites like YouTube and you'll see what I mean if you're literate.

More to come in the next entry...