Anti-immigrant and hate hysteria campaign towards Hispanics and immigrants has become the focal issue for the candidates campaigning for the Republican nomination for U.S. President in 2016.
By H. Nelson Goodson
Hispanic News Network U.S.A.
August 26, 2015
Washington, D.C. - More than 75% of Hispanics in the U.S. have a negative view of the leading candidate in the polls, Donald J. Trump from the Republican political party, who has gained the Pendejo/Estúpido (Stupid) label by Latinos nationwide for his outspoken anti-immigrant and hate hysteria rhetoric campaign. The Republican Party has also been labeled "El partido político de Estúpidos" by Hispanics. Trump is campaigning for mass deportations, eliminating Obama's DACA and DAPA policies, if elected and deporting DREAMers, ending birthright citizenship to children born to undocumented parents residing in the country. Trump is advocating to built 1,284 miles of border wall between the U.S. and Mexico that will cost tax payers $20B and the mass deportation of 11M of undocumented immigrants at a cost of $12.5K per person totalling up to $137B, according to U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). Today U.S. Hispanics including undocumented workers have more than $1.5T in purchasing power in the country and within several years could reach up to $2T. Unfortunately, Hispanics today haven't been able to manage their own purchasing empowerment to influence immigration reform for nearly a decade, since the first uprising and activism in the national level against anti-immigrant bashing and the attempt by U.S. Congressman Jim Sensenbrenner (R-WI) to criminalize people for providing aid to undocumented immigrants.
Hispanics nationwide need to wake up from being idle and need to fight back against immigrant bashing and racism towards Latinos targeted by Trump and the other 14 candidates for the Republican nomination for President by limiting their purchasing power to influence change and immigration reform today. This nation runs by the dollar and the dollar, if used effectively can influence change. A national campaign to stop purchasing products from those businesses and companies that don't support immigration reform would no doubt halt the anti-immigrant bashing by Trump and Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker (R-WI) who agreed with Trump in ending birthright citizenship to children born to undocumented parents in the U.S., but a political backlash and losing 50% of his support in Iowa influenced his decision to recant his support for ending birthright. Walker is known to flipflop on issues just to get votes, but if elected, he will be anti-immigrant and would attempt to end birthright to U.S. Citizens.
U.S. birthright landmark case, the United States vs. Wong Kim Ark (169 U.S. 649) set precedent in 1898 that children born in the U.S., despite having undocumented or foreign parents granted them birthright to citizenship. On March 28, 1898, Supreme Court Justice Herace Gray in a majority decision wrote, " “irresistibly lead us to these conclusions: the Fourteenth Amendment affirms the ancient and fundamental rule of citizenship by birth within the territory, in the allegiance and under the protection of the country, including all children here born of resident aliens ….The Amendment, in clear words and in manifest intent, includes the children born, within the territory of the United States, of all other persons, of whatever race or color, domiciled within the United States.”
The mass deportation alone of 11M undocumented immigrants would have a devastating effect of the U.S. economy that would plunge the country into a deep recession leading to a depression. The created job void by mass deportations to replace unauthorized workers nationwide would force restaurants, companies and businesses to shut down that would eliminate state and federal tax generating revenue.
In the last decade, unauthorized workers have contributed $100B into the Social Security Trust Fund and most won't benefit from their contribution and don't claim tax refunds.
One thing for sure, Hispanic lives do matter in the U.S. and the Hispanic vote will determine the next President elect in 2016.
Republican candidate for President Donald J. Trump's plan for mass deportation of undocumented immigrants would cost more than $137B, according to ICE. The Center for American Progress estimated a combine processing and deportation of undocumented immigrants at a cost of $570B. Trump's assumption that crime has increased by the influx of illegal crossings into the U.S. is contradicted, because between 1990 to 2013, crime decreased by 48% while the influx of immigrants increased by 8% - 13%.
● Trump's mass deportation plan to deport 11M illegals would cost $12,500 each or $137B, according to U.S. ICE
● The U.S. border between Mexico is 1,954 miles long, it has 670 miles of fence and building a wall for 1,284 miles would cost at least $16M per mile with a total projected cost of $20M, according to Univision.
● 40% of foreigners who overstay their Visa's in the U.S. arrive by passenger planes, according to Government Accountability Office/PEW Hispanic Center
● 75% of the Hispanic population in the U.S. consider Trump in a negative view, according to NBC News/Wall Street Journal/Telemundo poll
● In 2015, Hispanics purchasing power reached $1.5T, an increase of 50% since 2010. Hispanic women control a majority of house spending. Women spend $3.3B in foot wear, according to the Nielsen report.
● 56M Hispanics reside in the U.S. making a 17.6% of the U.S. population, the Latin Post reported. 2/3 of the reported population are Mexican-American in the U.S.
● At the age of 21, children born in the U.S. to undocumented parents can petition for their parents to be legalize, in contrary to the notion that birthright of children grants quick legalization to undocumented parents.
● By 2019, Hispanics will account for 10.6% in U.S. purchasing power.
● In 2013, more than 150,000 Hispanics were in active duty compared to 2011, which they made up 17 percent of new recruits. More than 60 Medals of Honor were awarded to Hispanics, Aljazeera reported.
● In the last decade, undocumented workers contributed $100B to the Social Security Trust Fund. An estimated 11M undocumented immigrants reside in the U.S. and about 7M are unauthorized workers and 3.1M of those worked with fake or expired Social Security numbers and paid automatic payroll taxes to the federal government. In 2010, a $13B annual net contribution was made to the Social Security Trust Fund. Most of the unauthorized workers will never benefit from their tax contributions later in life, according to Stephen Goss, Chief Actuary Secretary of the SSA.
● More than 60M U.S. Hispanics are eligible voters and could cast their vote in 2016 to determine the next President elect.
● Crime in the U.S. went down between 1990 to 2013 by 48% as 8% to 13% of the immigrant population increased (American Immigration Council)
● Actually undocumented immigrants crossing into the U.S. dropped from 12.2M in 2007 to 11.2M in 2012 and only 12% living in the U.S. were born in another country (Center for American Progress)
● Only 3.5% of undocumented immigrants make up a small segment of the total population in the U.S. and make up 5% of the labor force in the country (Pew Research Center)
● Trump and the other 14 GOP candidates for president don't realize that in 2013, 125,000 Mexican nationals crossed into the U.S. compared to 147,000 Chinese nationals that same year, according to the WSJ.
● If all undocumented immigrants were deported today, the U.S. economy would lose $2.6T over ten years and would cost $285B to deport them and an additional $285B to process them for deportation (Center for American Progress)
● The New Republic dot com reported, the American Immigration Council estimates that immigrants earn about $240 billion a year, pay about $90 billion a year in taxes, and use about $5 billion in public benefits,” a 2010 report by the Council found. “In another cut of the data, immigrant tax payments total $20 to $30 billion more than the amount of government services they use.” And a report by the U.S. Chamber of Commerce in 2013 found that “more than half of undocumented immigrants have federal and state income, Social Security, and Medicare taxes automatically deducted from their paychecks.” Those immigrants are essentially helping to underwrite the welfare system, providing an enormous subsidy to it every year without being able to reap any of the benefits.
The Chamber of Commerce report found they are more than twice as likely as native-born Americans to start a new business each month. In fact, immigrants started 28 percent of all new businesses in the United States in 2011. Immigrants pay billions in taxes to the government every year; in Texas alone, they generate $1.6 billion annually in taxes.
● Undocumented immigrants in the U.S. paid $11.84B in state and federal taxes in 2012, according to the Institute of Taxation and Economic Policy.
● 2 of 3 Americans support a pathway to U.S. Citizenship for undocumented immigrants (Gallop Poll, August 2015)
● Today, 8.8M legalized immigrants can be naturalized, 3.3M are of Mexican descent, 640K Chinese are legalized and 2.9M can become naturalized, according to USDHS (2012). 11.2M Hispanics voted in 2012, 12.1M failed to vote or 82% of registered Hispanic voters cast their vote in 2012.
Update: Candidate for President federal Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) told CNN, Trump is an idiot on Mideast policy and ill prepared to be commander in chief, shallow and engages in demagoguing immigrants. If Trumps gets the Republican nomination for President, it would be the end of the Republican Party and should lose the election in 2016.
