The Quote Below—More Misinformation from the Media
“Despite rumors to the contrary, millions of undocumented immigrants pay taxes on their income. According to the nonpartisan American Immigration Council, households led by undocumented immigrants paid $11.2 billion in state and local taxes alone in 2010. In 2015, immigrants with Individual Tax Identification Numbers (ITINs), available only to noncitizens, paid $23.6 billion in total taxes.
“In an attempt to sway public opinion regarding undocumented immigrants, some try to paint them as financial leaches, bleeding the American financial system dry. Nothing could be further from the truth. After paying more than $23 billion in taxes, undocumented immigrants will never receive Social Security benefits, Medicare, or Medicaid. And when the rest of the country received financial aid during the pandemic, undocumented immigrants and their children received nothing. . . .
“Last week, as part of the COVID-19 relief plan introduced by President Joe Biden, the majority of American families began receiving monthly payments of up to $300 per child. Deemed the “largest anti-poverty program in decades,” certain undocumented immigrants and their families will be included in this round of help.
“Recipients will include children who have a Social Security number, even if their parents are not U.S. citizens. Before this, even if a child was a U.S. citizen with their own Social Security number, they were blocked from receiving assistance if their parents were undocumented.. . . .
It is estimated that the tax credit will lift more than 4 million children above the federal poverty line, offering hope in an otherwise bleak financial landscape. In total, 65 million American children are expected to benefit.
An immigrant would pay taxes for the same reasons U.S. citizens pay taxes: They have a sense of responsibility toward the country in which they live, and they want to do the right thing. In addition, immigration lawyers routinely tell their clients that paying taxes is a good way to show the U.S. government that they are serious about being responsible citizens. – How the Tax Credit Could Help Lift Undocumented Immigrants Out of Poverty, Dana George, USAToday, 7/23/21. [Link]
Fact Check of Above Quote: This article implies that we owe illegal aliens benefits simply because they pay taxes. That conclusion doesn’t follow. A theater doesn’t owe a free movie to someone who sneaks in, just because he buys some popcorn. A society has no obligation to people who flout its basic rules, in this case foreign lawbreakers who want the status and benefits of citizens.
The writer claims that illegal aliens want to be responsible and do “the right thing” by paying taxes, and prove they can be responsible citizens. This is pure speculation, to say the least. Certainly, they didn’t care about “the right thing” when they broke our immigration laws. And to remain here they have to keep on breaking laws. Examples are use of fraudulent identification, sometimes stolen from citizens, and taking jobs they’re not entitled to have. So much for their “responsibility” toward our society.
Some of the taxes illegal aliens pay, such as sales taxes, are unavoidable for anyone living in the U.S. It’s not a choice. About half of illegal aliens, however, choose not to file federal tax returns. A large number who do file cheat the system by receiving tax credit refunds for falsely claimed dependents. The new tax credits proposed by this article no doubt will provide more opportunities for such fraud.
The article is wrong when it claims that illegal aliens never benefit from Medicaid. They do so quite often when they go to emergency rooms and use hospital facilities for birthing their children. Contrary to the writer’s assurance, it is by no means certain that illegal immigrants will never receive Social Security and Medicare. Currently, the Biden Administration is pulling out all stops to grant amnesty to millions of illegals. If this push is successful, they will be able to lay claim on those programs.
As a purely practical matter, the taxes paid by illegal aliens do not cover the cost of benefits they receive. A study by the Heritage Foundation found that illegal alien households, on average, contribute $10,000 a year in federal, state, and local taxes, while receiving $24,000 in total benefits.
The title of the article suggests that it is our country’s duty to lift “undocumented” (i.e., illegal) immigrants out of poverty. Actually it is our government’s duty to help poor American citizens. Illegal alien advocates can’t seem to grasp the concept that citizen lives should matter.