Beliefs about immigrants may be false

?Many of us hold assumptions about things for which we don’t have all the facts. I hear something from a trusted source, and I assume it is fact.

That seems to be true about our local immigrant community. I decided to check into some beliefs about immigrants that get bantered about, and borrowed an information sheet I received from Centro Latino, a local nonprofit organization whose mission is to respond to critical needs of Latinos and to bridge the cultural gap between Spanish-speaking and non-Spanish-speaking members of our community.

I addressed issues with more current data I found online.

Undocumented immigrants don’t pay taxes.

“Immigrants pay billions in taxes every year,” according to the American Immigration Council. “Everyone in the United States pays taxes, regardless of legal status. All unauthorized immigrants pay sales taxes. They also pay property taxes — even if they rent.”

Unauthorized immigrant households paid $11.2 billion in state and local taxes, including $1.2 billion — that’s billion — in personal income taxes in 2010, according to the website. Unauthorized Latinos in the state paid close to $318 million in state and local taxes in 2010, according to the Institute for Taxation and Economic Policy.

Paying taxes is looked at favorably by the government when determining things like eligibility for legal status, according to Marie Connelly de Palacios, executive director of Centro Latino. Therefore paying taxes, even when wages are paid in cash, is very important to an immigrant.

Immigrants come here to take welfare.

There are two separate concerns here. First, why do immigrants come to the U.S.? Most information suggests that immigrants come to the U.S. to reunite with family already in the U.S. and also because they feel there is more opportunity for them and their children.

Second, the use of welfare by immigrants with children, legal and illegal, was 57 percent in 2009 according to the Center for Immigration Studies (CIS). That compares to 39 percent of native households with children. A large portion of immigrant welfare usage was on the behalf of their U.S. born children, who are American citizens.

Immigrants send all their money back to their home countries.

A considerable amount of money is wired to relatives in home countries. The largest amounts go to Mexico, as that country has the greatest number of immigrants in the U.S. The amount sent is roughly 2.5 percent of the gross national product of Mexico, according to Jesus Montenegro, director of the Mexican edition of “Tiempo del Mundo” newspaper. Mexican immigrants wire about $300 a month, said Montenegro.

That figure has increased mainly due to banks offering money transfer services at costs lower than wire services have in the past. The increased volume has profited U.S. and foreign banks in the process.

Many consider the payments as a very effective means of foreign investment.

Immigrants take jobs and opportunity away from Americans.

In 2007, Latino-owned businesses employed 18,977 people in North Carolina, according to the U.S. Census Bureau’s Survey of Business Owners. Asian-owned businesses employed 44,288.

That’s a statistic you don’t often hear.

Immigrants are a drain on the U.S. economy.

Latino and Asian-owned businesses combined for more than $10 billion in sales in 2010. Latinos and Asians also spent more than $21 billion in consumer spending in 2010. Add the $318 million in state and local taxes to this list.

Immigrants don’t want to learn English or become citizens.

In North Carolina, 78.9 percent of children with immigrant parents were considered English proficient, said the Urban Institute.

Again, of children with immigrant parents, 85.1 percent were U.S. citizens, according to the same source.

It is very easy to make assumptions regarding others based on misinformation or a lack of information. Especially over issues that are controversial as well as emotional. Immigration — both legal and illegal — is likely not going to be resolved in the near future.

A look beyond the surface regarding our Latino community might be time well spent.

I am reminded that our nation was originally settled by immigrants at a time when true American natives imposed few, if any, immigration laws.

Could you pass a U.S. Citizenship test? Just for fun, go to the following website to see how much you know regarding the United States.

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