Immigrants

You know what really grinds my gears??? Immigrants! They come into this country, most of them illegally, don’t learn the language, don’t assimilate to American culture, and they take jobs and opportunities away from Americans. Most of them are criminals that take advantage of our welfare system without paying any taxes; being a drain on the U.S economy. They are a burden on our school systems, a burden on our healthcare system, and a burden on our society as a whole. This country is at war and a weak U.S. border enforcement has led to our enemies crossing our borders illegally. The war on terrorism can be won through immigration restrictions and tougher punishments for those breaking the laws. Go back to your country, we don’t want you here, stop taking American jobs, American jobs for American workers.  As moronic as this might sound, this is exactly what a number of Americans believe; in addition, what really grinds my gears, this is just how a vast group of our politicians think as well. As illogical, idiotic, foolish, unwise, and another one hundred synonyms I can find to describe these ridiculous claims, one of the things that made this country great is freedom of speech; so let these fools say what they want; I’m going to use my first amendment right, however, combined with facts, to address those concerns and show these people how wrong they are.

For starters, (this is where I say a few words that are rated X.) Secondly, let an illegal, illiterate, unassimilated immigrant like me, who takes American jobs, explain to you how enormously wrong you are. Immigrants are the backbone of this country and if you don’t agree with that statement, this is where you should stop reading. This blog will only annoy you. Being and immigrant and being an entrepreneur are somehow connected. We come to this county for a better life and for more opportunities; thus, once those opportunities arise we take them, driving to fulfill the American dream. Let me give you some data: The Kauffman Foundation reports that immigrants are twice as likely as people born in America to start a business. “Immigrants are filing patents at a two-to-one ratio [compared to] American-born.” “Immigrants are more likely to have advanced degrees than American-born.” In Silicon Valley, half of the tech companies were founded by immigrants. In Ohio, that rate is about 14 percent. It’s 17 percent in Indiana, 27 percent in Illinois and 33 percent in Michigan. Nationwide, 40 percent of today’s Fortune 500 companies were founded by immigrants, or the children of immigrants.

Contrary to popular belief, we pay taxes too, whether income, property, sales, or other. As far as income tax payments go, sources vary in their accounts, but a range of studies find that immigrants pay between $90 and $140 billion a year in federal, state, and local taxes.  Even undocumented immigrants pay income taxes, as evidenced by the Social Security Administration’s “suspense file” (taxes that cannot be matched to workers’ names and social security numbers), which grew $40 billion between 1990 and 2012.  In study after study, the data all points in one direction: Immigrants create more jobs than they take, and bring in 20 times more revenue than they take in public benefits. (Unless the study was conducted by an anti-immigration group)

You don’t have to go far to see exactly what I am talking about. Look at me! Ten years ago my family and I came to this country with nothing but a bank account full of dreams.  My mother and father left jobs that carried both high status and pay in Albania to work low-skilled, low-paying jobs in the U.S., while enduring countless verbal abuse and societal neglect by a group previously mentioned.  Almost every immigrant I know has its own business or plans to open one; others have a bachelor, masters or even doctoral degree and have contributed to this county in more ways than one. Don’t punish us - embrace us. We don’t take American jobs, we create them.