1. Most immigrants are here illegally.
-about 20 million were either citizens or legal residents, and 45 percent entered the country legally and then let their papers expire.
2. It's just as easy to enter the country legally today as it was when my ancestors arrived.
-the first 100 years the United States had an open immigration system that allowed any able-bodied immigrant in.
3. There’s a way to enter the country legally for anyone who wants to get in line.
-there is no line, gaining permission to live and work in the United States is limited to people who are: highly trained in a skill, escaping political persecution, joining close family already here.
4. My ancestors learned English, but today’s immigrants refuse.
-two-thirds of those older than 5 speak English “well” or “very well”
5. Today’s immigrants don’t want to blend in and become “Americanized.”
-about 500,000 immigrants became naturalized citizens.
6. Immigrants take good jobs from Americans.
-it is easier for unscrupulous employers to exploit this labor source and pay immigrants less, not provide benefits and ignore worker-safety laws.
7. Undocumented immigrants bring crime.
- the violent crime rate has declined 34 percent and the property crime rate has fallen 26 percent, even as the number of undocumented immigrants has doubled.
8. Undocumented immigrants don’t pay taxes but still get benefits.
-The Social Security Administration estimates that half to three-quarters of undocumented immigrants pay federal, state and local taxes, including $6 billion to $7 billion in Social Security taxes for benefits they will never get.
9. The United States is being overrun by immigrants like never before.
-the historic high actually came in 1900, when the foreign-born constituted nearly 20 percent of the population.
10. Anyone who enters the country illegally is a criminal.
-Federal immigration law says that unlawful presence in the country is a civil offense and is, therefore, not a crime.
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