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Illegal immigration myth buster: A lawyer sets the record straight on taxes and benefits.

Some people believe that undocumented immigrants exploit our system and get loads of free benefits. It's not true.

There's a lot of confusion about immigration, which is understandable. It's a complex issue, with a lot of gray area. But there are many myths being perpetuated about undocumented immigrants that create an unnecessarily murky picture of the reality.

One of those myths is that people migrate to the U.S. and cross the border illegally so they can receive public benefits without contributing anything to our system. But that's not true.


[rebelmouse-image 19534106 dam="1" original_size="594x395" caption="Unauthorized immigrants make up 5% of the U.S. workforce, but account for more than a quarter of our agriculture workforce. Photo via David McNew/Getty Images." expand=1]Unauthorized immigrants make up 5% of the U.S. workforce, but account for more than a quarter of our agriculture workforce. Photo via David McNew/Getty Images.

An immigration lawyer set the record straight in a viral Facebook post.

Eric Pavri is an immigration lawyer and the director of Family Immigration Services at Catholic Charities of Central Colorado. Responding to people's comments and questions about illegal immigration, Pavri penned a detailed explanation of what undocumented immigrants can and cannot do within our system.

I'm an immigration lawyer. I know that many of my Facebook friends, who are good and intelligent people, honestly have...

Posted by Eric Pavri on Sunday, February 11, 2018

First, he explained how undocumented immigrants pay taxes without being able to tap into federal benefits.

Pavri explained that "only a U.S. citizen or a Lawful Permanent Resident (green card holder) can receive almost all types of public benefit — including Medicaid, Medicare, SSI disability, social security payments for seniors, TANF, and food stamps."

But undocumented immigrants still pay into the tax system that funds those benefits — even though they aren't eligible to receive them. "The irony: most undocumented immigrants work under made-up social security numbers," wrote Pavri, "and so receive a paycheck from which social security, federal income taxes, and state income taxes are withheld, and of course they pay the same local sales and property taxes as anyone else through retail purchases, pass-through costs of apartment leases, etc."

Photo via Justin Sullivan/Getty Images.

"But none of those employees," he continued, "despite paying IN to the system, will ever receive those public benefits listed above, that are paid for by the money withheld from their paychecks. So they are propping up our federal and state government entitlement programs because they pay in but won’t ever take out."

According to the nonprofit, nonpartian Institute on Taxation & Economic Policy, undocumented workers pay nearly $12 billion in state and local taxes and pay a higher effective tax rate than America's top-earners do. And because they don't qualify for most benefits, that tax revenue is gravy for the government.

Then Pavri described the few benefits undocumented immigrants do receive. (Hint: They're good for the nation as a whole.)

Undocumented immigrants do receive a handful of "benefits" for what they contribute to the tax system. But they are either provided for the common good or out of basic human decency. Pavri wrote:

"The following are the public benefits that undocumented immigrants can receive in the United States:
1) Public education for children in grades K-12. This was definitively established by a 1982 Supreme Court case, Plyler v. Doe. The Supreme Court in its reasoning explicitly stated that it would not serve the overall public good of the U.S. to leave many thousands of children uneducated.
2) Emergency room services, but only to the point where the patient is considered “medically stable,” at which point he/she is released. These services are not free, however, as in my job I meet hundreds of immigrant families who sacrifice over years to slowly pay off high emergency room medical bills.
3) WIC assistance. This is for milk, food, etc, and available only to pregnant mothers. The rationale is that the children in the womb will be U.S. citizens when born, and therefore it is in the long-term economic best interests of the nation to ensure that they receive adequate prenatal nutrition to improve their chances of being productive citizens in the decades to come.
4) Assistance from police if they are the victim of a crime and call for help. To their credit, the vast majority of our Colorado Springs law enforcement officers take their duty to protect all people seriously. Chief Carey of the CSPD and Sheriff Elder of the EPCSO have made clear that their officers can’t do their most important job – keeping us safe by getting dangerous criminals off our streets – if a whole class of people (undocumented immigrants) is afraid to call 911 to report crimes that they witness or are victim to.
5) Assistance from a fire department. Rationale, besides the obvious moral one: If your house was next to that of an undocumented immigrant family, would you want the firefighters to let that house continue to burn, putting yours at risk of catching on fire too?
And that’s it. Those, to the best of my knowledge, are the only public benefits that an undocumented immigrant can receive in just about any part of the United States."





Pavri then expressed, as someone who works closely with this hardworking and economically challenged population, he wishes he could help them gain access to more of the benefits their taxes technically pay for.

Photo via Robyn Beck/Getty Images.

The notion that undocumented immigrants are coming here and stealing from our benefits system is simply false.

And it's not the only myth being perpetuated. President Donald Trump has repeatedly pushed rhetoric about illegal immigration and crime, going so far as to establish a hotline specifically to report crimes committed by suspected illegal immigrants and parading around victims of crimes committed by illegal immigrants (and bizarrely autographing the dead victims' photographs, but that's another story).

Study after study shows that illegal immigration does not increase crime and there is no clear evidence that illegal immigrants are statistically more likely to commit more or worse crime than native-born Americans. (Simple logic would also dictate that people living some place illegally would try to avoid breaking the law so they wouldn't be deported.)

The facts simply don't support the idea that undocumented immigrants are a drain on the system or that they increase crime. While there may be legitimate arguments to be made for revamping our border policies, the arguments many people use for cracking down on illegal immigration simply don't hold up against the facts.

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Easy (and free!) ways to save the ocean

The ocean is the heart of our planet. It needs our help to be healthy.

Ocean Wise

Volunteers at a local shoreline cleanup

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The ocean covers over 71% of the Earth’s surface and serves as our planet’s heart. Ocean currents circulate vital heat, moisture, and nutrients around the globe to influence and regulate our climate, similar to the human circulatory system. Cool, right?

Our ocean systems provide us with everything from fresh oxygen to fresh food. We need it to survive and thrive—and when the ocean struggles to function healthfully, the whole world is affected.

Pollution, overfishing, and climate change are the three biggest challenges preventing the ocean from doing its job, and it needs our help now more than ever. Humans created the problem; now humans are responsible for solving it.

#BeOceanWise is a global rallying cry to do what you can for the ocean, because we need the ocean and the ocean needs us. If you’re wondering how—or if—you can make a difference, the answer is a resounding YES. There are a myriad of ways you can help, even if you don’t live near a body of water. For example, you can focus on reducing the amount of plastic you purchase for yourself or your family.

Another easy way to help clean up our oceans is to be aware of what’s known as the “dirty dozen.” Every year, scientists release an updated list of the most-found litter scattered along shorelines. The biggest culprit? Single-use beverage and food items such as foam cups, straws, bottle caps, and cigarette butts. If you can’t cut single-use plastic out of your life completely, we understand. Just make sure to correctly recycle plastic when you are finished using it. A staggering 3 million tons of plastic ends up in our oceans annually. Imagine the difference we could make if everyone recycled!

The 2022 "Dirty Dozen" ListOcean Wise

If you live near a shoreline, help clean it up! Organize or join an effort to take action and make a positive impact in your community alongside your friends, family, or colleagues. You can also tag @oceanwise on social if you spot a beach that needs some love. The location will be added to Ocean Wise’s system so you can submit data on the litter found during future Shoreline Cleanups. This data helps Ocean Wise work with businesses and governments to stop plastic pollution at its source. In Canada, Ocean Wise data helped inform a federal ban on unnecessary single-use plastics. Small but important actions like these greatly help reduce the litter that ends up in our ocean.

Ocean Wise, a conservation organization on a mission to restore and protect our oceans, is focused on empowering and educating everyone from individuals to governments on how to protect our waters. They are making conservation happen through five big initiatives: monitoring and protecting whales, fighting climate change and restoring biodiversity, innovating for a plastic-free ocean, protecting and restoring fish stocks, and finally, educating and empowering youth. The non-profit believes that in order to rebuild a resilient and vibrant ocean within the next ten years, everyone needs to take action.

Become an Ocean Wise ally and share your knowledge with others. The more people who know how badly the ocean needs our help, the better! Now is a great time to commit to being a part of something bigger and get our oceans healthy again.

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