Donald Trump, did you know? Contrary to recent statements...here are the facts!
FICTION: Undocumented immigrants give birth to so-called "anchor babies" to avoid deportation.

FACTS:  U.S. citizen children cannot petition for their parents to get legal status until they turn 21, and even this is not a guarantee of legal status for the parent.  
 
FICTION: Most immigrants, especially Mexicans, come here and commit crimes.

FACTS: Immigrants are less likely to commit crimes or to be incarcerated than native-born Americans. [1]  Hispanic immigrants from Mexico, Guatemala and El Salvador, especially young men, are imprisoned at lower rates than native born Americans. [2]

FICTION: Undocumented immigrants don't pay taxes and are a drain on our economy.

FACTS: Undocumented immigrants paid $11.8 billion in state and local taxes in 2012.  [3]  Enacting the 2013 bipartisan Senate immigration reform bill would reduce the federal budget deficit by nearly $850 billion over the next 20 years and add nearly $300 billion to the Social Security Trust Fund over the next decade. [4]
 
FICTION:  We have neglected our border, and we need to build a 1,954 mile wall along the border with Mexico.
 
FACTS: The border is more secure than it's been in years and net immigration from Mexico is negative-more people are returning there than coming to the U.S. [5]  The U.S. spends more money on enforcing the border than on all other federal criminal law enforcement efforts combined. Spending on immigration enforcement exceeded $18 billion in 2014, almost double the amount a decade ago.
[6] The U.S. Border Patrol estimates that the U.S. has secured approximately 80% of the border and Michael Chertoff, former DHS Secretary, recently said that demanding 100% security is an unrealistic goal.
   
 
FICTION:  Deporting 11.2 million undocumented immigrants would be easy and beneficial to our economy.

FACTS: Mass deportations would cost anywhere from $400-600 billion and would reduce economic growth by $1.6 trillion. [7]
 

[1]  A 2007 study by the Immigration Policy Center found that the incarceration rate for immigrant men ages 18 to 39 in 2000 was 0.7 percent, while the incarceration rate for native-born men of the same age group was 3.5 percent. While the foreign-born share of the U.S. population grew from 8 percent to 13 percent between 1990 and 2010, FBI data indicate that violent crime rates across the country fell by about 45 percent, while property crime rates fell by 42 percent.
[2 ]  A 2007 study by the Immigration Policy Center.
[3] Walter Ewing, "How Much Do Undocumented Immigrants Pay in State and Local taxes?" American Immigration Council, Immigration Impact, April 21, 2015.
[4] Congressional Budget Office (CBO).
[5] The Migration Policy Institute, an independent research organization.
[6] Doris Meissner, Donald Kerwin, Migration Policy Institute, January 2013.
[7]  American Action Forum, March 2015.

Americans for Immigrant Justice
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