More Misinformation from the Media:
Another set of figures comes from a big survey by The Washington Post, which finds that most Americans simply aren’t that worked up about [immigration]. The ordered list of issues the public cares most about reads: jobs and the economy; health care; terrorism; the environment, immigration; and foreign policy. Immigration might touch on some of those (e.g., jobs and terrorism), but in the grand scheme of things, it ranks low on Americans’ list of worries. . . . Most Americans are not perturbed about immigration, probably because they know immigrants are twice as likely to start a business as native-born residents, and even undocumented immigrants from Mexico . . . tend to be more law-abiding than native-born Americans. – Editorial – Immigration, Shmimmigration, Richmond Times-Dispatch, 9/10/16.
Fact Check: Immigration does far more than “touch on” jobs and terrorism. It plays a significant role in taking jobs from Americans and suppressing wages, particularly those of our most disadvantaged citizens. As for terrorism, it’s hard not to notice that many perpetrators of terrorist acts in recent decades were either Muslim immigrants or their children.
As for the environment, the connection to immigration could not be more direct. If the present level of immigration continues, immigrants and their descendants will account for 88 percent of the population increase of 117 million during the next fifty years. Can anyone honestly claim that such massive growth in so relatively short a period of time will not have a significant negative impact on the environment?
Unfortunately, it is true that many Americans don’t connect massive immigration to the economy, terrorism, and the environment. The reason to a large extent is that the pro-immigration corporate media refuse to make these connections, and ignore or try to discredit anyone who tries to make them.
Typically too, they repeat falsehoods, such as the one that immigrants, on average, are vastly more talented than Americans as entrepreneurs and business owners. According to statistics from the Census Bureau, native-born Americans and immigrants are self-employed at almost exactly the same rate. Also, they repeat patent absurdities such as the one stated by the Times-Dispatch, that “undocumented” people tend to be more law-abiding than Americans.
And just why do they lack lawful documents? It’s because they are here in violation of our immigration law—which means that 100 percent of them are not law-abiding. In addition, they commonly break a number of other laws in order to remain and live in the U.S., such as using false IDs to obtain benefits and taking jobs they are now entitled to have. Also, as many as half are paid under the table at work and are therefore guilty of tax evasion. Others who pay federal and state taxes, engage in tax fraud by claiming more dependents than they have.
The editors of the Times-Dispatch try to mock legitimate concern about immigration by using the term “Shmimigration.” But it will take far more than mockery and repeated falsehoods with make those concerns go away.