We need facts in immigration debate

In William Swearingen's Feb. 21 letter, he suggests various differences between legal and illegal immigrants. He incorrectly implies that only legal immigrants make their living, pay their taxes, provide for their children's education and health care, and help the economy.

However, illegal immigrants do make a living here and do pay taxes. We know that everyone in this country pays sales tax and property taxes regardless of legal status. (Renters of course pay property tax implicitly as it is factored into the cost of their rent.)

Secondly, many, many illegal immigrants pay income tax as well. It is only those who work "off-the-books," who may not pay income tax -- something which, I may add, U.S. citizens and legal immigrants can also be guilty of. When you hear of undocumented immigrants who use false social security numbers, you know that these undocumented immigrants work "on-the-books" and therefore, pay income tax like everyone else.

Illegal immigrants do provide for their children's education. Public education is largely funded by property taxes, which as I mentioned earlier, everyone pays. The rest is paid for by a combination of sales and income taxes.

As for health care, America has a widespread problem with U.S. citizens, legal and illegal immigrants who don't or can't provide for their own health care. The problem is not with just one segment of our population.

While it is true that illegal immigrants are more often uninsured, they still end up costing the medical system less per person than do other residents. In Los Angeles County in 2000, undocumented immigrants accounted for only 6 percent of the county's total medical costs, though they accounted for 12 percent of the local population.

Lastly, most economists believe that illegal immigration helps our economy, rather than hurts it. In a survey from a Wall Street Journal article on April 13, 2006, 44 of the 46 economists surveyed said that they believed that illegal immigration was a net gain for our economy. This is largely because it has kept our demand for labor filled during recent years.

Unfortunately, emotion and anger often sell better than facts in the immigration debate and inaccurate partisan-funded studies further confuse the debate.

That is why we need newspapers and other unbiased sources to provide us with accurate information. Illegal immigration is a complex issue. There is no "one valid opinion." However, for us, the public, to form solid opinions about illegal immigration, we need real facts and real information.

Megan E. Johnson

Waukegan