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NAM Round Table
The NAM Round Table consists of news, insights, visions, ramblings and rants from the writers at New America Media.
[ filed under: immigration politics ] Viewed through the lens of the immigration issue, the overall results of yesterday’s elections might be called a mixed bag. Republican gubernatorial candidates who promised more hardline immigration stances won races in Virginia and New Jersey. But two vacant seats in the U.S. House of Representatives (in New York’s 23rd district and California’s 10th district) were picked up by Democrats. As I explain below, these pick-ups should make it just a bit easier for House Democrats to marshal the votes needed to advance on comprehensive immigration reform, which they have promised to do before the end of this year. The gains couldn’t come at a better time for Democrats eager to move on immigration. Earlier this autumn, 100 House Democrats sent a letter to President Obama reaffirming their commitment to push immigration reform legislation forward. Rep. Luis Gutierrez, Ill.-D, has said he will introduce an immigration bill as early as this month. Rep. Joseph Crowley, N.Y.-D, has warned immigration reform needs to happen early next year (well ahead of Nov. 2010 mid-term elections) if it is to succeed. Below are brief sketches of election results and how they may impact immigration policy, at the state or federal level. In upstate New York’s 23rd district, retired Air Force Capt. Bill Owens, a Democrat, beat the upstart conservative candidate Doug Hoffman, who had attracted the support of right-wing talk radio and cable news hosts and managed to push the Republican Party candidate out of the race. These two Democratic victories subtly shift the balance of power in the U.S. House of Representatives, according to Matthew Yglesias: ”... it’s a modest shift to the left of the balance of power in the House. Nancy Pelosi now has an easier time rounding up 218 votes for a health care bill, for example, and each and every Blue Dog [conservative Democrat] has his or her individual leverage over the process reduced.What Yglesias writes also applies for an immigration bill. Blue Dogs will have less leverage over the shape of any immigration bill, and Pelosi, as House Majority leader, will have a marginally easier time culling the 218 votes needed for any immigration legislation to pass. If McDonnell pushes ahead with foisting new immigration responsibilities on Virginia state troopers, the move will come with its portion of political risk. The 287g program is popular with many voters who argue it helps speed the deportation of undocumented immigrants who commit crimes. But critics of the program say it diverts law enforcement resources away from primary crime-fighting tasks and sows distrust between Latino communities and law officers. Immigrant and Latino activists also say 287g leads to racial profiling. Despite his tough stance on illegal immigration, McDonnell went out of his way to attract Latino votes. McDonnell faced an uphill battle, since two-thirds of Virginia Latino voters helped President Obama to his surprise win in the state last year, according to Jennifer Rubin writing in Commentary. Still, while campaigning, McDonnell strove to appear “anti-illegal immigration” instead of “anti-immigrant.” Sergio Rodriguera Jr., a Latino Republican activist, was quoted in Rubin’s article, saying: McDonnell has been a good listener, and his Hispanic-outreach events have not been token events with chips and salsa. He understands that Hispanics, like other minorities, want to live the American dream of building a small business and owning their own home.It will be interesting to look at Virginia’s election returns and see how many Latinos voted for McDonnell. If many did, then McDonnell might indeed be regarded as an example to conservative Republicans who want to attract Latino support in 2010 and beyond (as Rubin argues in her article). But, if McDonnell pushes ahead with his plan to extend 287g statewide and appear tough-as-nails on illegal immigration, he will have to walk a fine line or risk alienating any Latino voters he managed to attract to his candidacy. comments |
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Great news. The issue cannot wait any longer. I look forward to Congress passing a comprehensive immigration bill in early 2010.
By Ivan · Posted on Nov 4, 09:00 AMThe simple truth is that every Politician should ask themselves, what would happen if they lose 8 to 10% of Income from the undocumented , how would their budget look like ??
http://www.immigrationpolicy.org/Because the Undocumented immigrants paying more taxes than you think!!
http://www.immigrationpolicy.org/images/File/factcheck//EconomicsofCIRFullDoc.pdf
Eight million Undocumented immigrants pay Social Security, Medicare and income taxes. Denying public services to people who pay their taxes is an affront to America’s bedrock belief in fairness. But many “pull-up-the-drawbridge” politicians want to do just that when it comes to Undocumented immigrants.
The fact that Undocumented immigrants pay taxes at all will come as news to many Americans. A stunning two thirds of Undocumented immigrants pay Medicare, Social Security and personal income taxes.
Yet, nativists like Congressman Tom Tancredo, R-Colo., have popularized the notion that illegal aliens are a colossal drain on the nation’s hospitals, schools and welfare programs — consuming services that they don’t pay for.
In reality, the 1996 welfare reform bill disqualified Undocumented immigrants from nearly all means tested government programs including food stamps, housing assistance, Medicaid and Medicare-funded hospitalization.
The only services that illegals can still get are emergency medical care and K-12 education. Nevertheless, Tancredo and his ilk pushed a bill through the House criminalizing all aid to illegal aliens — even private acts of charity by priests, nurses and social workers.
Potentially, any soup kitchen that offers so much as a free lunch to an illegal could face up to five years in prison and seizure of assets. The Senate bill that recently collapsed would have tempered these draconian measures against private aid.
But no one — Democrat or Republican — seems to oppose the idea of withholding public services. Earlier this year, Congress passed a law that requires everyone who gets Medicaid — the government-funded health care program for the poor — to offer proof of U.S. citizenship so we can avoid “theft of these benefits by illegal aliens,” as Rep. Charlie Norwood, R-Ga., puts it. But, immigrants aren’t flocking to the United States to mooch off the government.
According to a study by the Urban Institute, the 1996 welfare reform effort dramatically reduced the use of welfare by undocumented immigrant households, exactly as intended. And another vital thing happened in 1996: the Internal Revenue Service began issuing identification numbers to enable illegal immigrants who don’t have Social Security numbers to file taxes.
One might have imagined that those fearing deportation or confronting the prospect of paying for their safety net through their own meager wages would take a pass on the IRS’ scheme. Not so. Close to 8 million of the 12 million or so illegal aliens in the country today file personal income taxes using these numbers, contributing billions to federal coffers.
No doubt they hope that this will one day help them acquire legal status — a plaintive expression of their desire to play by the rules and come out of the shadows. What’s more, aliens who are not self-employed have Social Security and Medicare taxes automatically withheld from their paychecks.
Since undocumented workers have only fake numbers, they’ll never be able to collect the benefits these taxes are meant to pay for. Last year, the revenues from these fake numbers — that the Social Security administration stashes in the “earnings suspense file” — added up to 10 percent of the Social Security surplus.
The file is growing, on average, by more than $50 billion a year. Beyond federal taxes, all illegals automatically pay state sales taxes that contribute toward the upkeep of public facilities such as roads that they use, and property taxes through their rent that contribute toward the schooling of their children.
The non-partisan National Research Council found that when the taxes paid by the children of low-skilled immigrant families — most of whom are illegal — are factored in, they contribute on average $80,000 more to federal coffers than they consume. Yes, many illegal migrants impose a strain on border communities on whose doorstep they first arrive, broke and unemployed.
To solve this problem equitably, these communities ought to receive the surplus taxes that federal government collects from immigrants. But the real reason border communities are strained is the lack of a guest worker program.
Such a program would match willing workers with willing employers in advance so that they wouldn’t be stuck for long periods where they disembark while searching for jobs. The cost of undocumented aliens is an issue that immigrant bashers have created to whip up indignation against people they don’t want here in the first place.
With the Senate having just returned from yet another vacation and promising to revisit the stalled immigration bill, politicians ought to set the record straight: Illegals are not milking the government. If anything, it is the other way around.
The Undocumented Immigrants pay the exact same amount of taxes like you and me when they buy Things, rent a house, fill up gas, drink a beer or wine, buy appliances, play the states lottery and mega millions . Below are the links to just a few sites that will show you exactly how much tax you or the Undocumented Immigrant pays , so you see they are NOT FREELOADERS, THEY PAY TAXES AND TOLLS Exactly the same as you, Now if you take out 10% from your states /city Budget what will your city/state look like financially ?
Stop your folly thinking , you are wise USE YOUR WISDOM to see the reality. They pay more taxes than you think, Including FEDERAL INCOME TAX using a ITN Number that is given to them by the IRS, Social Security Taxes and State taxes that are withheld form their paychecks automatically.Taxes, paid by You & the Undocumented are the same in each state check your state : http://www.taxadmin(DOT)org/fta/rate/sales.html
GAS Taxes paid by you & the Undocumented are the same. Go to and check out your states tax; http://www.gaspricewatch(DOT)com/usgastaxes.asp
Cigarette Taxes paid by you & the Undocumented are the same, check this out in : http://www.taxadmin(DOT)org/fta/rate/cigarett.html
Clothing Sales Taxes, are the same paid by you & the Undocumented Immigrant; http://en.wikipedia(DOT)org/wiki/Sales_taxes_in_the_United_States
City Taxes, are the same paid by you or the Undocumented, since he pays rent and the LANDLORD pays the city : http://www.town-usa(DOTcom/statetax/statetaxlist.html
Beer Taxes, are the same paid by you or the Undocumented: http://www.taxadmin(DOT)org/fta/rate/beer.html
TAX DATA : http://www.taxfoundation(DOT)org/taxdata/show/245.html
By Truth · Posted on Nov 4, 09:09 AMI want to work online ..
There are some thin if the legitimate work as a line there. Most are sites and marketing study for the site owner rich, not you. The only thing is true legitimacy Ebay, selling things you already own
www.onlineuniversalwork.com
By charles brooks · Posted on Dec 23, 02:26 AM