I received the following e-mail from a friend who is, like many Americans, appropriately concerned about the impact of illegal immigration on American jobs. Unfortunately, this type of correspondence plays right into the hands of the corporate interests that make millions employing illegal immigrants for less than minimum wage under sub-human working conditions.
From the L. A. Times
1. 40% of all workers in L. A. County ( L. A. County has 10.2 million people) are working for cash and not paying taxes. This is because they are predominantly illegal immigrants working without a green card.
2. 95% of warrants for murder in Los Angeles are for illegal aliens.
3. 75% of people on the most wanted list in Los Angeles are illegal aliens.
4. Over 2/3 of all births in Los Angeles County are to illegal alien Mexicans on Medi-Cal, whose births were paid for by taxpayers.
5. Nearly 35% of all inmates in California & pre-detention centers are Mexican nationals here illegally.
6. Over 300,000 illegal aliens in Los Angeles County are living in garages.
7. The FBI reports half of all gang members in Los Angeles are most likely illegal aliens from south of the border.
8. Nearly 60% of all occupants of HUD properties are illegal.
9. 21 radio stations in L. A. are Spanish speaking.
10. In L. A. County 5.1 million people speak English, 3.9 million speak Spanish. (There are 10.2 million people in L. A. County)
11. The average illegal alien sends 4 times as much money out of the country as he spends in the country.
(All 11 of the above are from the Los Angeles Times)
Less than 4% of illegal aliens are picking our crops, but 29% are on welfare. Over 70% of the United States ‘ annual population growth (and over 90% of California, Florida, and New York ) results from immigration. 29% of inmates in federal prisons are illegal aliens.
We are a bunch of fools for letting this continue!
I checked out the accuracy on snopes (see for yourself at the snopes site http://www.snopes.com/politics/immigration/taxes.asp ) and, as expected, it is a combination of truths, half-truths, exaggerations, and outright lies.
This type of chain e-mail is disconcerting to me on a number of levels. Primarily, this type of correspondence exploits our natural fears (unemployment, xenophobia, security, overtaxation, etc.) and elicits a gut reaction that plays right into the hands of the oppressors of the middle class. By eliciting this gut response, the real cause of illegal immigration, illegal employment, is overlooked. Enforcing current law that requires employers to confirm the legal status of their workers and enacting living wage laws would immediately solve our illegal immigration problem. These simple measures would remove all incentive for our neighbors south of the border to cross illegally in search of work. Instituting a legal pathway for the immigrant workers we really need to obtain work visas would then easily relieve the inevitable worker shortage.
On a more personal level, as a second generation Italian-American, it’s offensive to me that immigrants are slandered in this manner. My grandfather was the recipient of similar xenophobic treatment in the early part of the 20th century. In that era, everyone “knew” that all Italian immigrants were in the mafia, the evil labor unions were formed for the benefit of the mob, and these immigrants were taking the jobs of “real Americans”. Americans of all European lineages have been subjected to similar treatment at some time in our history. I won’t even get into the African American issue, as the treatment of these involuntary immigrants and their progeny has been far worse.
A few statements warrant special consideration.
· The millions of undocumented workers allegedly working for cash is exaggerated. Even if this were true, the lost revenue to the US Treasury is a drop in the bucket compared to the hundreds of billions in taxes avoided legally by the corporations that move offshore and use loopholes and tax credits (Exxon-Mobil) to largely avoid all taxes.
· The law enforcement issues are largely cherry-picked, without any reference to mitigating factors (poverty and residence in East LA or south central LA). In fact, the vast majority of immigrants are law-abiding, hard-working humans.
· Over 300,000 illegal immigrants in LA are living in garages, obviously living in luxury at our expense.
· Less than 4% of illegal immigrants are picking our crops, but 29% are on welfare. This is grossly untrue. As a matter of fact, the vast majority of illegal immigrants are paying payroll taxes, and, if legal documentation of these workers was pursued, they could be the very group of workers that save social security for us boomers who have begun to retire. Furthermore, while nobody likes paying taxes to support those who choose not to work, the entire welfare system in this country costs less than the amount paid out to private contractors (many of which are no-bid) in Iraq.
In closing, every human is at his/her core somewhat xenophobic. We tend to identify with those most like us, and subconsciously, at least, harbor some mistrust of those who are different. It is only our self-awareness that assists us in rising above these basic tendencies, and recognizing the means of oppression used by those who have the most to gain by preserving the status quo.
The military-industrial complex (a.k.a. corporatocracy) has the money, influence, and power to continue to dominate the politics of our country, and are the major beneficiaries of our corporate welfare system. The amount of income redistributed to the rich in this country far exceeds that “trickling down.” It’s time the working class quits carrying their water for them.
Posted by kchubris 
Today in the New York Times an article “AIG sues US government for over 300 million dollars” illustrates there is a severe crisis of confidence in the financial system, federal legislature, executive, and judicial branches. How is that after AIG received over 150 billion dollars of our money they are able to sue us? AIG is an outrageous entity from the risks it has taken, the negative results thereof, 
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZWVmlxhk-tU
