Independent of your perspective on the immigration debate, statistics are showing that the illegal immigration situation may be much worse than we may initially imagine, not to mention much more diverse.
According to ProCon.org, a website that collects “Pros and Cons of Controversial Issues”, illegal immigrants comprise a whopping 5% of the entire US workforce. Of that number, they comprise 40% of the entire bricklaying workforce, 37% of the drywall installing workforce, and 30% of the “miscellaneous agricultural” workforce (i.e. fruit pickers, farmhands, etc). North Carolina is #9 on the list of states with the highest percentage of illegals, with 380,000 illegals spread across the state. Interestingly enough, the stereotype that all illegals are Mexican isn’t true: while over 60% are indeed Mexican and 14% come from other South American countries, 25% come from countries like Korea (I’m presuming North Korea), the Philippines, China, and India. Total, the population of immigrants in the US total approximately 11.6 million, with 51% in the service and construction industries, as opposed to the 21% of legal US nationals.
What this may indicate in a casual reading is that there may be some legitimacy to the ever-parodied “I lost my job due to illegals” argument. Consequently, it also shows us that the entire issue is not merely “fixing Mexico”, as many pundits may argue: though Mexico is over half the problem, the remaining half of the problem is spread all over the world.
To be honest, however, what is most important in my mind is that this means that there are 11.6 million or more (I’m guessing much more- I doubt many illegals are stupid enough to respond to surveys) people in the US right now who are working, living, and doing other things, implicitly using government resources (even things like roads), and not paying taxes. In terms of our good state, 380,000 people are living and breathing in North Carolina right now who are placing a drain on the system without placing a single dime into it, outside of sales tax and other unavoidable taxes. Furthermore, because illegal immigrants work under the table, their ability to work for cheaper than legitimate U.S. workers unfairly “taxes” Americans and North Carolinians in another way- by taking their jobs by not playing by the rules. If this means that illegals should be simply deported or integrated and forced to pay taxes, or any combination thereof, is up to you. Regardless, one thing is very clear: something needs to be done.
