Thread: Roach challenges myths of illegal immigration

Wednesday, Jun. 18, 2008

Roach challenges myths of illegal immigration
By Ingrid Stegemoeller, Herald staff writer

Why are there 12 million "uninvited guests" in this country?

"It's the economy, stupid," Pasco immigration attorney Tom Roach told the Tri-Cities Hispanic Chamber of Commerce on Tuesday at its monthly meeting.

"This country creates more jobs than U.S.-born people can do," he said, adding that illegal immigrants might not be so uninvited because of the many jobs they do.

"It's not complicated why these people are here," he said.

Roach, who's worked in immigration law for 30 years, addressed the group of about 75 people at TRAC in Pasco and laid out five myths about illegal aliens as well as his solutions to the issue. It's a presentation he's given about 35 times during the past couple of years, he said.

Roach's favorite myth is that illegal immigrants don't pay taxes. They do pay taxes, he said, in many forms: Sales tax when shopping and property tax when they turn in monthly rent money.

And federal income tax, Social Security tax and Medicare tax are deducted directly from their paychecks, he added.

Margarita Gonzalez, membership/ volunteer coordinator for the Girl Scouts of Eastern Washington & Northern Idaho, said she appreciated Roach's coverage of the tax issue. She added that many illegal aliens don't get tax refunds, either.

Another myth is that illegal immigrants take jobs from Americans.

Not true, Roach said, because they work mostly in jobs that people born in the U.S. won't do, such as farm work, cleaning hotel rooms and gardening labor.

"Immigrants are complementary to our society and our needs," he said, contending the country's unemployment rate has remained relatively steady as it has absorbed the work force of women after World War II as well as legal and illegal immigrants.

Roach also argued that illegal immigrants do learn English and assimilate, especially those in the second generation.

And though some believe undocumented people come to the U.S. and take advantage of the welfare system, Roach said it's impossible to use the system without a valid Social Security number.

Finally, Roach explained that many low-skill workers can't come into the U.S. legally because there aren't enough green cards available.

A three-part solution is in order to fix the situation, he said.

First, a mandatory Social Security verification system is needed, where every employer ensures every employee is documented, or faces harsh consequences.

That needs to happen simultaneously with a legalization program for the 12 million undocumented immigrants who already are in the country, Roach said.

He also proposed a fluctuating "safety valve" to allow the level of low-skilled worker green cards to change year-to-year as needed.

If people want to take a stand on immigration reform, Roach recommended contacting Rep. Doc Hastings, R-Wash., in person.

The chamber's president, Edison Valerio, responded to Roach's comments with a call to help one another.

"Who are we as humans? We need to help other people," he said. "It's not worth living without helping other people."

http://www.tri-cityherald.com/901/story/215830.html

Mostly nonsense. What do you expect from an immigration attorney?

Well, this all has been attempted before, "dispelling" the "myth" of illegal immigration.

Now here is the response I have. My mothers employer has about 5/8 of his workforce who are here in this nation illegally. Just recently, my mother was told by one of the supervisors that a man, an illegal alien, who works there was called into the office. The boss said that his SSNO came back as "invalid" due to the fact that the true owner of that SSNO here in Oregon, a legal immigrant with a Hispanic name, went to apply for unemployment after losing his job and then the unemployment office sent the boss a letter asking to confirm that the man working there was not who he said he was.

This boss told the man he had three days to clear it up or not have a job, so the illegal came back in three days, with a new SSNO, new license and a new name!!

Now he is just one drop in the illegal immigration bucket, who has fake SSNO and ID and definitely has been able to get away for some time with getting benefits, in one way or another, by using fake SSNO's. I have seen these people walking in to social service agencies, getting help and having no proper ID, and state workers and social service workers will just usher their applications through no matter.

As well, many get paid under the table and have no ID or SSNO whatsoever, so this means all too many are able to get, but not having to pay too. My teen son overheard two day laborers, in English no less, complain just yesterday because they did not have any SSNO or ID, the contractors have started getting leary to hire them now (so this means they were being paid under the table before).

All of what this lawyer is saying is not even close to the truth. He is so out of touch.

Exactly. When they're caught without documents, they go get fraudulent documents. They need to be held and arrested right then, then let ICE determine whether they are really legal or not, not after they go get false documents and then fade into the fabric of "legality" through identity theft.

Grrrr.

As to the "myth" of illegal immigration, there is no "myth" to illegal immigration. Illegal immigration is illegal migration. It doesn't matter why they do it, what they want to do here, what kind of people they claim they are, what phony round up of services they provide or jobs they perform. They aren't supposed to here, Americans don't want them here and our rule of law prohibits their presence here.

As to the consequences of illegal immigration, according to the University of North Carolina, the "immigrant wage advantage" costs North Carolina Workers almost $2 Billion a year in lost jobs and wages. What's "mythical" about that?

According to the GAO, FBI, Bureau of Prisons and the US Congress, over 9,000 Americans are killed and murdered by illegal aliens every single year. What's "mythical" about that?

Illegal immigration is costly to our legal work force and deadly to our citizens. That's not a "myth", that's the hard cold truth.

So, anyone who supports or advocates illegal aliens being in our country or remaining here is as responsible for the consequences of illegal immigration as the illegal aliens who commit the crimes, steal the jobs, deflate the wages and murder our citizens.

May the ghosts of the 71,000 Americans who have paid the ultimate price of illegal immigration since 9/11 haunt this "immigration lawyer" until he turns blue and hardens from rigor mortis.

On Tuesday I was driving through my neighborhood and I saw a crew of 8-10 young Hispanics building a retaining wall. I found out the who owned the company: evidently another 'minority' so I figure he is able to get some preferential status and then hires illegals when no one is looking. Checked his state registration online and he is not allowed to have employees--so I called the Contractors board. It took so long for them to get there that I think they finished and left before enforcement could get to the address.

But in the process I found out that one big issue the Contractors board investigates is whether a contractor is carrying workers compensation insurance. I do have to hand it to the CCB because they do a thorough job of investigating not only lack of registration but also related issues. And they levy big fines, too. But from this issue, I went further in my research---into the circumstance of "employee leasing companies" i.e temporary staffing, employment agencies and, hopefully, day laborer centers. "Employee leasing" concerns have a series of regulatory hoops to jump through, and one issue is "workers comp." But they also have to comply with tax laws. Well, here, take a look:
http://www.cbs.state.or.us/wcd/complian ... asing.html

How this works in each state I wouldn't know. But, it might be an issue that would affect day laborer centers. They are providing temporary workers and usually for a fee. But they might have some exemption as non=profits? Here, I need more research.

But I do know that Builders or Contractors licensing bureaus will crack down on illegitimate contractors, and here at least they are pretty thorough. In this area they will try to get there the same day and I have started to get to know a few of them.

so I called the Contractors board

Good for you CaptainRon!! The pressure needs to be kept on, hiring of illegal aliens is unacceptable. Minor, non-skilled jobs such as those could be going to young teens during the summer months so they can earn some money and have a reason to stay out of trouble. There are even plenty of homeless men who would gladly have a job that paid even $9.00 hourly, when some of them cannot find anything (thus the reason some are homeless).

Not true, Roach said, because they work mostly in jobs that people born in the U.S. won't do, such as farm work, cleaning hotel rooms and gardening labor.

Balony! Americans WANT to do these jobs but be paid rates that can support themselves and their families.

THERE IS NO WORK THAT AMERICANS WONT DO!

"Not true, Roach said, because they work mostly in jobs that people born in the U.S. won't do, such as farm work, cleaning hotel rooms and gardening labor"

He left off "and supporting lying lawyers".