☠️🤮UNDER NEW MISMANAGEMENT: Trump’s “New American Gulag” (“NAG”) Now Being Run By Biden, Harris, & Mayorkas, With Garland’s Embedded “Star Chambers” — Coercion, Denial Of Right To Counsel Endemic In Illegal, Immoral, Secretive Biden “Civil” Prison System! — “[W]ithout having knowledge, we’ll go directly to the slaughterhouse!” ⚰️ — That’s The Goal Of “Detention & Deterrence!”

Slaughterhouse
“[W]ithout having knowledge, we’ll go directly to the slaughterhouse!”
Creative Commons License
Star Chamber Justice
“Do you still want to talk to a lawyer, or are you ready to take a final order?” “Justice” Star Chamber Style
Emma Winger
Emma Winger
Staff Attorney
American Immigration Council
PHOTO: Immigration Impact

https://immigrationimpact.com/2021/10/29/ice-detention-contact-lawyer/

Emma Winger writes on Immigration Impact:

“Ben G.” is a 35-year-old veterinarian from Nicaragua who fled to the United States after he was beaten and tortured by police. When he crossed the border into the United States, he requested asylum. U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) eventually transferred Ben to the Winn County Correctional Center, an ICE detention facility in rural Louisiana located four hours away from the nearest metropolitan area. It is also the facility with the fewest immigration attorneys available in the entire country.

Despite passing the government’s initial screening and having  a credible fear of persecution, Ben was still unable to find a lawyer. As a fellow detained person noted, “without having knowledge, we’ll go directly to the slaughterhouse.”

Ben’s story illustrates the monumental barriers that detained immigrants face in finding lawyers to represent them. As described in a letter sent October 29 by the American Immigration Council, the ACLU, and 88 legal service provider organizations to Department of Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas, ICE detention facilities have systematically restricted the most basic modes of communication that detained people need to connect with their lawyers and the rest of the outside world, including phones, mail, and email access.

This must change. The immigration detention system is inherently flawed, unjust, and unnecessary. The best way to eliminate these barriers to justice is to release people from detention.

Although immigrants have the right to be represented by lawyers in immigration proceedings, they must pay for their own lawyers or find free counsel, unlike people in criminal custody who have the right to government-appointed counsel. In many cases, detained immigrants cannot find lawyers because ICE facilities make it so difficult to even get in touch and communicate with attorneys in the first place.

The importance of legal representation for people in immigration proceedings cannot be overstated. Detained people with counsel are 10 times more likely to win their immigration cases than those without representation. Yet  the vast majority of detained people — over 70% — faced immigration courts without a lawyer this year.

ICE has set the stage for this problem by locating most immigration detention facilities far from cities where lawyers are accessible. Each year, ICE locks up hundreds of thousands of people in a network of over 200 county jails, private prisons, and other carceral facilities, most often in geographically isolated locations, far from immigration attorneys.

Even when attorneys are available and willing to represent detained people, ICE detention facilities make it prohibitively difficult for lawyers to communicate with their detained clients, refusing to make even the most basic of accommodations. For example, many ICE facilities routinely refuse to allow attorneys to schedule calls with their clients.

As described in the letter, the El Paso Immigration Collaborative reported that staff at the Torrance County Detention Facility in New Mexico have told their lawyers that they simply don’t have the capacity to schedule calls in a timely manner, delaying requests for more than one week or more.

The University of Texas Law School’s Immigration Law Clinic attempted to schedule a video teleconferencing call with a client at the South Texas ICE Processing Center. An employee of the GEO Group, Inc., which runs the facility, told them that no calls were available for two weeks.

. . . .

***********************

A “Jim Crow Mentality” of never being held accountable for abuses of law or human morality permeates the politicos, legislators, and Federal Judges of both parties responsible for enabling and upholding this toxic system. 

Nowhere is this more obvious than at the DOJ Civil Rights Division. While pontificating on racially abusive local police policies and actions, these folks go to great lengths to overlook the DOJ-run “Star Chamber Courts” embedded in DHS’s “New American Gulag” that disproportionally harm persons of color and deny them basic legal, civil, and human rights every day. 

This system is thoroughly rotten! Yet, Garland’s DOJ “defends the indefensible” in Federal Court almost every day.

🇺🇸⚖️ Due Process Forever!

PWS

10-30-21

REBEKAH WOLF @ AMERICAN IMMIGRATION COUNCIL ECHOES MY CRITICISM OF GARLAND’S INEXCUSABLE FAILURE TO PROMOTE DIVERSITY, SELECT PROGRESSIVE EXPERTS IN INITIAL IJ PICKS — A Wasted Opportunity That Neither Progressives Nor The Biden Administration Can Afford!

Rebekah Wolf
Rebekah Wolf
Senior Attorney,
Immigration Justice Campaign
American Immigration Council
PHOTO: Linkedin

https://immigrationimpact.com/2021/05/13/immigration-judges-under-biden/

First Round of Biden Immigration Judges Fails to Increase Diversity

Posted by Rebekah Wolf | May 13, 2021 | Due Process & the Courts, Immigration Courts

The Biden administration announced its first round of immigration judge appointments on May 6. Unfortunately, the immigration court appointments do not show the commitment to diversity that President Biden has demonstrated in his federal court appointments.

All of the new judges had received conditional offers from the Trump administration. The current administration was under no obligation to continue with the appointments, however. Advocates expressed disappointment in the hires and lack of balanced perspectives and backgrounds. Most of the 17 new immigration judges have experience as prosecutors and/or working for U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE)—and no experience defending immigrants.

Of the 17 new immigration judges, seven have worked for ICE and five have worked as prosecutors. Only two have worked as immigration defense attorneys, both of whom have also worked for ICE. The perceived bias of having worked for years on one side is concerning enough. But many of the appointees also do not have the substantive knowledge some believe is necessary for the position.

Former Immigration Judge Paul Schmidt commented on the appointments, saying:

“No one on that list is among the top 100 asylum authorities in the country, and that’s the kind of people they should be hiring.”

The appointments include one Assistant Chief Immigration Judge (ACIJ) and six supervisory Unit Chief Immigration Judges (UCIJs), a newly invented position. The UCIJs, only one of whom has a background in immigration law, will be working from a new Immigration Adjudication Center (IAC) in Richmond, Virginia. Like at the two existing IACs, these new immigration judges will hear cases by video-teleconference in office buildings that are closed to the public. Litigation is pending over the government’s failure to provide public information on IACs.

Immigration judge appointments strongly affect immigration court decisions. The Trump administration appointed approximately two-thirds of the 520 current immigration judges. With these new judges and along with significant court policy changes, the asylum denial rate increased from 54.6% in fiscal year 2016 to 71.6% in fiscal year 2020.

The number of immigration judges Biden appoints will also affect the immigration court backlog, currently at 1.3 million cases. Biden’s proposed budget calls for hiring 100 new immigration judges, which many experts say is insufficient. Still, the need for expediency in hiring additional judges cannot outweigh the need for a balance of experience on the bench.

Over a million people are involved in an immigration court system that is inconsistent and unfair. The Biden administration should apply its commitment to judicial diversity to immigration judge appointments, especially a diversity in perspectives and experience.

Ultimately, immigration courts will not be free of the bias inherent to being part of the same branch responsible for prosecution. As advocates have longed called for, Congress must establish Article I immigration courts for immigration proceedings to be truly fair and independent.

FILED UNDER: immigration judges

*************

To date, Garland’s lousy performance @ DOJ gets an “F.” Simply not acceptable with lives on the line!

Miller Lite
“Miller Lite” – Garland’s Vision of “Justice @ Justice” for Communities of Color, Women, & Asylum Seekers.”

🇺🇸⚖️🗽🧑🏽‍⚖️Due Process Forever!

PWS

05-18-21

🇺🇸⚖️🗽TELLING IT LIKE IT IS! — Calling Out The White Nationalist Kakistocracy @ EOIR!

EYORE
“Eyore In Distress”
Once A Symbol of Fairness, Due Process, & Best Practices, Now Gone “Belly Up”
Star Chamber Justice
“Justice”
Star Chamber
Style
Woman Tortured
“She struggled madly in the torturing Ray”
Amazing StoriesArtist Unknown, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons
Kangaroos
BIA Members Unwind After Harassing Another Expert, Overruling Circuit Court, & Aiding Their “Partners” At ICE In Demeaning Justice
https://www.flickr.com/photos/rasputin243/
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Four Horsemen
BIA Asylum Panel In Action
Albrecht Dürer, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

‘White Nationalism’ In Immigration Courts Must Go: Ex-Judge
By Jennifer Doherty
Law360 (January 28, 2021, 9:48 PM EST) — A former immigration judge called on the Biden administration to reorient the mission of immigration courts on Thursday, saying that a “white nationalist program” had taken root under the Trump administration and needs to be eradicated.
Speaking on a panel about a new report showing that the vast majority of non-detained migrants appear at their immigration court hearings, retired Judge Paul Wickham Schmidt called out Trump administration officials over “big lies and bogus narratives” promoted by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security and the Executive Office of Immigration Review, including claims that detention was necessary to prevent migrants from disappearing.
Judge Schmidt, who used to be the chair of the Board of Immigration Appeals, pointed to former Attorney General Jeff Sessions’ intervention in immigration cases to relitigate cases such as whether women who suffer domestic abuse in regions with high rates of femicide qualify for asylum, as well as the former administration’s messaging to immigration judges that their role was an extension of DHS’ enforcement mechanism.
“It’s all been part, I think, of the Stephen Miller white nationalist program, that there is no such thing as a good immigrant; all the immigrants are here to take our jobs or to evade the system,” Judge Schmidt said, referring to one of former President Donald Trump’s senior advisers.
Meanwhile, Thursday’s report from the American Immigration Council, an advocacy nonprofit group, confirmed what many immigration judges have known for years, according to Judge Schmidt.
Relying on a sample of 2.8 million immigration court cases where migrants were either released or were never detained, the report found that 83% of respondents with pending or completed removal cases showed up for every hearing, a share that increased to 96% for immigrants represented by counsel.
“Represented asylum-seekers appearing before fair, knowledgeable judges show up for virtually all of their EOIR merits hearings,” Judge Schmidt said.
Based on those findings, the report recommended four policy reforms, including reducing immigration detention and ending the Migrant Protection Protocols, which have forced over 70,000 people to wait in Mexico for decisions in their asylum cases.
The report also called for additional training for immigration judges and the rollback of a law requiring judges to issue orders of removal for migrants who failed to appear, an occurrence the authors found was frequently due to faulty notices to appear.
Creating an Article I, also called a legislative court, would also give immigration judges more independence in their review of individual cases and relieve them from pressure to meet case quotas, according to the report.
UCLA School of Law professor Ingrid Eagly, co-author of the report, said that additional training would serve to reduce inconsistencies between immigration courts and ensure that judges held the
government accountable for its responsibility to notify migrants of their court dates.

. . . .

************

Those with access can read the rest of Jennifer’s article on Law360.

Jennifer Doherty
Jennifer Doherty
Reporter
Law 360
Photo: Twitter

I was talking to a lawyer/reporter this afternoon. Her comment was: “Could anybody have designed a worse system for deciding life or death cases?” She was told in “pro bono training” to observe how certain judges like the chairs arranged in the courtroom because it could affect the outcome of her client’s asylum case!

Another attorney I spoke with who had practiced personal injury law couldn’t believe that no immigration cases ever “settled.” Even those with clear merit bounce around the system for years and then go to full hearings, sometimes with inconsistent results!

How can a system operate like this? It can’t! That’s why doubling the number of questionably qualified “judges” has resulted in at least doubling, perhaps tripling, the “backlog.”

Under pressure from White Nationalists like Miller, Sessions, Hamilton, and Barr, EOIR has generated an artificially created “backlog” consisting largely of : 1] cases that could have easily been granted in a fair, functional, practical system; 2) cases that could be granted or placed in line at USCIS (another broken and dysfunctional agency); and 3) cases that never should have been filed in a rational system!

An incompetent BIA has failed to set forth the precedents for granting asylum and other relief that are necessary to restore the rule of law and common sense to a broken system! And they have totally failed to hold biased anti-asylum and nativist-enabling judges accountable! That’s because the BIA itself has become an organ of White Nationalist restrictionist bias bearing little, if any, resemblance to a “court” within the common understanding of the term. “Judicial independence,” impartiality, expertise, due process, and rationality have become “bad jokes” at EOIR!

And, for the past four years, the folks “running” this godawful system haven’t set foot in a courtroom in years (if ever) and don’t have a clue about asylum law or representing humans (rather than “agencies” or “nativists” as clients). It’s a friggin’ inexcusable disaster. FUBAR+++++++!

Judge Garland must end it!

🇺🇸⚖️🗽🧑🏽‍⚖️👨🏻‍⚖️👍🏼Due Process Forever!

PWS

 

⚖️🗽OUTING THE BIG NATIVIST LIE: EOIR/DHS CLAIM THAT MIGRANTS DON’T SHOW UP FOR HEARINGS REFUTED BY USG’S OWN DATA — Professor Ingrid Eagly & Steven Schafer Analyzed Millions Of Records To Show How False Narratives Drive Draconian Policies — Eagley, Shafer, Reichlin-Melnick, Schmidt Set Record Straight @ Press Conference!

Professor Ingrid Eagly
Professor Ingrid Eagly
UCLA Law
PHOTO: Twitter
Steven Shafer ESQUIRE
Steven Shafter, Esquire
Managing Attorney
Esperanza Immigrant Rights Project
Los Angeles, CA
Photo: Esperanza website

 

Aaron Reichlin-Melnick
Aaron Reichlin-Melnick
Policy Counsel
American Immigration Council
Photo: Twitter
Me
Me
  • PRESS RELEASE

11 Years of Government Data Reveal That Immigrants Do Show Up for Court

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January 28, 2021

WASHINGTON—A new report released today by the American Immigration Council examines 11 years of government data on the rate at which immigrants appear for hearings in U.S. immigration court. The report, “Measuring In Absentia Removal in Immigration Court,” concludes that an overwhelming 83% of immigrants attend their immigration court hearings, and those who fail to appear in court often did not receive notice or faced hardship in getting to court.

As the new administration of President Joe Biden considers how to reform the immigration system, including the immigration courts, this report reveals how reliance on detention, access to legal representation, and immigration judges’ docket management impact immigrants’ appearance rate.

The report draws on government data from 2,797,437 immigration court removal proceedings held between 2008 to 2018. It documents how individuals who were never detained and those who were released from detention proceeded through court and what obstacles they faced in pursuing their immigration cases.

The report finds that people released from immigration detention and individuals with attorneys overwhelmingly attend their hearings. Data also show that immigration judges have a vital role in maintaining due process. The findings further demonstrate that the creation of an independent structure for the immigration courts would help reduce the prevalence of unwarranted in absentia removal orders and give immigration judges more discretion in managing their dockets and individual case decisions.

The main findings of the report include:

  • 83% of nondetained immigrants with completed or pending removal cases attended all of their hearings.
  • 96% of nondetained immigrants represented by a lawyer attended all of their hearings.
  • 15% of those who were ordered deported because they did not appear in court successfully reopened their cases and had their removal orders rescinded. In some years, as many as 20% of all orders of removal for missing court were later overturned.
  • Individuals who apply for relief from removal have especially high rates of appearance.
  • Appearance rates vary strongly based on the immigration court’s location.
  • The Executive Office for Immigration Review’s method for measuring the rate at which immigrants fail to appear in court presents a limited picture of the frequency of missed court appearances.

“The empirical research presented in this report debunks the myth that immigrants don’t show up for court,” said Ingrid Eagly, professor of Law at UCLA School of Law. “Relying on the government’s own immigration court data, co-author Steven Shafer and I find that, since 2008, 83% of all immigrants in nondetained deportation cases have attended all of their court hearings. In addition, over the 11 years of our study, 96% individuals represented by an attorney attended all of their court hearings.”

“Today’s report verifies what those who have worked in the immigration court system already knew: immigrants overwhelmingly show up in court. We hope that this data finally puts to rest a false narrative about immigrants’ appearance rates that past administrations used to justify restrictive and cruel immigration policies,” said Aaron Reichlin-Melnick, policy counsel at the American Immigration Council. “After previous administrations spent years funding immigration enforcement to address a small set of individuals who miss court, the Biden administration has the opportunity change course. To ensure even higher appearance rates, the new administration should focus on updating immigration court technology, providing better resources to orient immigrants, and working to ensure that all immigrants navigating our removal system are represented by counsel. As Congress debates immigration reform, this report shows that it’s time to revisit harsh and punitive laws that require judges to enter deportation orders for a single missed hearing and which limit the ability of the government to appoint counsel.”

“The findings of this timely report confirm what many of us formerly on the immigration bench have known for years: represented asylum seekers appearing before fair, knowledgeable judges show up for virtually all of their immigration court hearings,” said Paul Wickham Schmidt, former immigration judge and board member for the Board of Immigration Appeals. “The findings refute one of the many ‘big lies’ and ‘bogus narratives’ promoted by the last administration to demean and dehumanize asylum seekers and wrongfully deprive them of their legal and constitutional rights. The Biden administration should pursue changes that would provide immigration judges greater independence and discretion and support the creation of an independent structure for the immigration courts.”

 

###

For more information, contact:

Maria Frausto at the American Immigration Council, mfrausto@immcouncil.org or 202-507-7526.

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Maria Frausto, Senior Communications Manager

mfrausto@immcouncil.org

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Ingrid’s and Steven’s full report is available at the above link.

Here’s a printout of my opening remarks:

No Shows — Final

 

Lies promoted by Government officials and turned into cruel, counterproductive, and biased policies cost lives and undermine our system of justice!

A stunning 96% of represented respondents appear for all hearings! The obvious step for the Biden Administration is to “repurpose” resources squandered by the defeated kakistocracy’s cruel, expensive, ineffective “enforcement gimmicks” like detention in the “New American Gulag,” ludicrous Immigration Judge “dashboards,” walls, bogus protocols, and illegal anti-asylum rules and instead invest in public-private partnerships to achieve universal representation. Building on existing programs, it should be possible to get all respondents represented by trained and competent counsel or accredited representatives. 

Notably, Professor Michele Pistone @ Villanova already runs VIISTA, an innovative, first class asylum litigation training program for accredited representatives. Put some Federal grant money into expanding it to meet the need for representation throughout America. These are “obvious steps” ignored by a captive “court system” run by malicious incompetents implementing a White Nationalist agenda.

Professor Michele Pistone
Professor Michele Pistone
Villanova Law

Combined with a restoration of the rule of law at EOIR and rational DHS enforcement priorities, that’s the way to establish manageable Immigration Court dockets compliant with Due Process and fundamental fairness. Create a model court system that will be a source of pride, rather than a national disgrace. 

Of course a legislatively-enacted, independent, professionally administered expert Article I Immigration Court is absolutely necessary. But, due process and fundamental fairness can’t wait! Lives and futures, not to mention our national values, are at stake. Judge Garland must end the dysfunction and start making urgently needed improvements @ EOIR immediately!

Removing (former) Director McHenry — who promoted the kakistocracy’s anti-immigrant myths, bogus statistics, and “worst management practices” — is a great start. But, it’s certainly not the end of the urgent changes that must be made to implement Due Process and professional court administration at EOIR. In particular, the current BIA is a due process, human rights, and asylum expertise “disaster zone!”

🇺🇸⚖️🗽Due Process Forever!

PWS

1-29-21

😎JUST THE FACTS: The Reality Of Immigrants’ Essential Contributions To America Has Nothing To Do With Trump’s White Nationalist False Narratives & Racist Rants!

The Truth
The Truth

https://www.americanimmigrationcouncil.org/research/immigrants-in-the-united-states

  • FACT SHEET

Immigrants in the United States

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April 21, 2020

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The United States was built, in part, by immigrants—and the nation has long been the beneficiary of the new energy and ingenuity that immigrants bring. Today, 14 percent of the nation’s residents are foreign-born, over half of whom are naturalized citizens. Nearly 75 percent of all immigrants, who come from diverse backgrounds across the globe, report speaking English well or very well.

Immigrants make up significant shares of the U.S. workforce in a range of industries, accounting for over a third of all farming, fishing, and forestry workers—as well as nearly 25 percent of those working in computer and math sciences. The highest number of immigrants work in the health care and social service industry, with over 4 million immigrants providing these services. As workers, business owners, taxpayers, and neighbors, immigrants are an integral part of the country’s diverse and thriving communities and make extensive contributions that benefit all.

One in seven U.S. residents is an immigrant, while one in eight residents is a native-born U.S. citizen with at least one immigrant parent.

  • In 2018, 44.7 million immigrants (foreign-born individuals) comprised 14 percent of the national population.
  • The United States was home to 21.9 million women, 20.3 million men, and 2.5 million children who were immigrants.
  • The top countries of origin for immigrants were Mexico (25 percent of immigrants), India (6 percent), China (5 percent), the Philippines (4 percent), and El Salvador (3 percent).
  • In 2018, 39.4 million people in the United States (12 percent of the country’s population) were native-born Americans who had at least one immigrant parent.

Over half of all immigrants in the United States are naturalized citizens.

  • 22.6 million immigrants (51 percent) had naturalized as of 2018, and 8.4 million immigrants were eligible to become naturalized U.S. citizens in 2017.
  • The majority of immigrants (74 percent) reported speaking English “well” or “very well.”

Immigrants in the United States are concentrated at both ends of the educational spectrum.

  • Nearly a third of adult immigrants had a college degree or more education in 2018, while over a fourth had less than a high school diploma.
Education Level Share (%) of All Immigrants Share (%) of All Natives
College degree or more 32 33
Some college 19 31
High school diploma only 22 28
Less than a high-school diploma 27 8
Source: U.S. Census Bureau, 2018 American Community Survey 1-Year Estimates.

Millions of U.S. citizens live with at least one family member who is undocumented.

  • 10.7 million undocumented immigrants comprised 24 percent of the immigrant population and 3 percent of the total U.S. population in 2016.
  • 16.7 million people, including 7 million born in the United States, lived in the country with at least one undocumented family member between 2010 and 2014.
  • During the same period, 1 in 12 children in the country was a U.S. citizen living with at least one undocumented family member (5.9 million children in total).

The United States is home to over 652,000 Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) recipients.

  • Approximately 652,880 active DACA recipients lived in the United States and its territories as of 2019, while DACA has been granted to over 2.5 million people in total since 2012.
  • As of 2019, 49 percent of DACA-eligible immigrants in the United States had applied for DACA.
  • An additional 363,000 people in the United States would satisfy all but the educational requirements for DACA, and another 39,000 would be eligible as they grew older.

One in six U.S. workers is an immigrant, together making up a vital part of the country’s labor force in a range of industries.

  • 28.4 million immigrant workers comprised 17 percent of the U.S. labor force in 2018.
  • Immigrant workers were most numerous in the following U.S. industries:
Industry Number of Immigrant Workers
Health Care and Social Assistance 4,124,557
Manufacturing 3,437,569
Accommodation and Food Services 3,022,991
Retail Trade 2,979,800
Construction 2,858,953
Source: Analysis of the U.S. Census Bureau’s 2018 American Community Survey 1-year PUMS data by the American Immigration Council.
  • The largest shares of immigrant workers were in the following U.S. industries:
Industry Immigrant Share (%)
(of all industry workers)
Agriculture, Forestry, Fishing, and Hunting 26
Construction 23
Administrative Support and Waste Management and Remediation Services 22
Other Services (except Public Administration) 21
Accommodation and Food Services 20
Source: Analysis of the U.S. Census Bureau’s 2018 American Community Survey 1-year PUMS data by the American Immigration Council.

Immigrants are an integral part of the U.S. workforce in a range of occupations.

  • In 2018, immigrant workers were most numerous in the following occupation groups:
Occupation Category Number of Immigrant Workers
Transportation and Material Moving Occupations 2,683,238
Sales and Related Occupations 2,580,721
Management Occupations 2,529,218
Office and Administrative Support Occupations 2,494,354
Construction and Extraction Occupations 2,487,351
Source: Analysis of the U.S. Census Bureau’s 2018 American Community Survey 1-year PUMS data by the American Immigration Council.
  • The largest shares of immigrant workers were in the following occupation groups:
Occupation Category Immigrant Share (%)
(of all workers in occupation)
Farming, Fishing, and Forestry Occupations 38
Building and Grounds Cleaning and Maintenance Occupations 31
Construction and Extraction Occupations 25
Computer and Mathematical Occupations 24
Life, Physical, and Social Science Occupations 22
Source: Analysis of the U.S. Census Bureau’s 2018 American Community Survey 1-year PUMS data by the American Immigration Council.
  • Undocumented immigrants comprised 5 percent of the workforce in 2016.

Immigrants in the United States contribute billions of dollars in taxes.

  • Immigrant-led households across the United States contributed a total of $308.6 billion in federal taxes and $150 billion in combined state and local taxes in 2018.
  • Undocumented immigrants in the United States paid an estimated $20.1 billion in federal taxes and $11.8 billion in combined state and local taxes in 2018.
  • DACA recipients and those meeting the eligibility requirements for DACA paid an estimated $1.7 billion in combined state and local taxes in 2018.

As consumers, immigrants add over a trillion dollars to the U.S. economy.

  • In the United States, residents of immigrant-led households had $1.2 trillion in collective spending power (after-tax income) in 2018.

Immigrant entrepreneurs in the United States generate tens of billions of dollars in business revenue.

  • 3.6 million immigrant business owners accounted for 21 percent of all self-employed U.S. residents in 2018 and generated $84.3 billion in business income.

*****************************

Unfortunately, reality often has less “grabbing power” than the sensationalist White Nationalist BS narratives ☠️🤮👎 peddled by Trump, his toadies, and some of his backers.

The bottom line is actually pretty simple: America was built by immigrants and depends on the essential contributions of new immigrants, regardless of status, for survival and prosperity. 🇺🇸👍

That makes Trump’s dark nativist vision of America look like a “suicide pact” rather than a path to “greatness.” It’s particularly important for members of the younger generation to reject the Trump regime’s dark dishonest plans 🏴‍☠️ that write many of them, their friends, colleagues, and loved ones out of America’s future in favor of a “kakistocracy of corrupt grifters.”

This November, vote like your life depends on it. Because it does!

PWS

05-23-20