Dean's World

Asserts the conservative Republican pundit, in response to comments by President George W. Bush: "As president, his first responsibility is protecting Americans – and let there be no doubt, there is no greater harm or injustice being perpetrated upon America today than by illegal aliens. Illegals contribute nothing, but together with verifiably deserving legal citizens they use more than 90 percent of the taxpayer-subsidized programs. Illegals are taking an ever-increasing piece of a decreasing pie. What happens when we are unable to maintain said programs? Terror by any other name is still terror, and in my mind this is a form of domestic sabotage, i.e., terror."

Mr. Massie continues: "I find it interesting that 18-20 million illegal insurgents in America are deemed worthy of special dispensation. Yet a couple thousand or less insurgents in Iraq have people wringing their hands. It is clear none of the insurgents here respect or value our sovereignty or way of life – or else they would be here legally. A fitting question for the president would be – how many of the illegals here hate our collective guts? How many are lying in wait to do us harm?"

My response: While I staunchly oppose illegal immigration, I would not put illegal immigrants on the same moral plane as jihadists. That's just over the top, and detracts from Massie's argument (with which I otherwise agree).

(link)

Jerry Kindall (www):

Most illegals are in fact paying taxes. Some ridiculously small percentage of illegals (I seem to recall 10% but could be wrong) are paid under the table because employers simply can't afford to expose themselves in that way. They need plausible deniability. So to maintain a veneer of legality, their employers require the illegals to provide a TIN (i.e. SSN), and they provide one that's either made-up or that belongs to someone else. Most of them are making so little money that they are eligble for a complete refund of all income taxes they've paid, or would be if they were legal, but since they don't want to draw attention to themselves (and have invalid TINs anyway) they can't claim their refunds from the IRS. The same applies to state and local income taxes, of course -- and everyone, legal or not, pays sales taxes, property taxes, etc. It is simply incorrect to say that these people are contributing "nothing" -- many of them are contributing much more than citizens at the same income level.

6.20.2006 2:50pm

Bryan Costin (mail) (www):

I've heard that claimed, and I'd like to know more.
I have to admit that I'm skeptical. Sales tax, sure, if you live in a state that has it then it's impossible to avoid. But income taxes? While I can see large employers like construction companies doing the CYA bit with fake SSNs, I kinda doubt that most small businesses even bother. They seem more likely to just quietly pay in cash, just like many of them do with their non-illegal employees.

6.20.2006 4:10pm