Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource "Voices That Must Be Heard" Articles Description An account of the resource The Independent Press Association (IPA) translates articles from the ethnic press (when necessary) and distributes them via web and fax newsletter to mainstream and ethnic press, government offices, nonprofits, and interested individuals. Voices That Must be Heard was designed by the Independent Press Association staff in New York City in response to the horrifying events of September 11. After Sept. 11th, Voices focused on the South Asian, Arab and Middle Eastern communities in New York. Since February 2002, the project has expanded, selecting articles from the broad range of ethnic and community newspapers throughout the city. Here, the Archive has preserved the Voices collection from its inception until November 2002. VTMBH Article VTMBH Article: Edition 46 VTMBH Article: Article Order 1 VTMBH Article: Title Study: undocumented workers in U.S. pay $7 billion in annual taxes VTMBH Article: Author Emelyn Tapaoan VTMBH Article: Publication Filipino Express VTMBH Article: Original Language English VTMBH Article: Translator VTMBH Article: Section briefs VTMBH Article: Blurb VTMBH Article: Keywords VTMBH Article: Body The presence of undocumented immigrants in the United States makes a net positive contribution to the U.S. economy. That is the finding of a study conducted by the National Immigration Forum, a not-for-profit organization protecting immigrants rights. The study found out that undocumented immigrants pay about $7 billion annually in taxes. Some taxes paid by the undocumented, including $2.7 billion annually to Social Security, and $168 million into state employment benefit funds, are direct subsidies to these systems, since undocumented workers cannot by law collect any benefits for their contributions. To empower the finding, the Asian American and Legal Defense and Education Fund (AALDEF) in New York said that undocumented immigrants are the source of enormous profit in industries dependent on the labor of workers without papers. Undocumented workers fill in the gap of the labor force on jobs that most U.S. citizens would never take, said Sin Yen Ling, a staff attorney at the AALDEF. She was referring to industries such as: agriculture, food service, residential construction, building services, tourism (including the hotel and restaurant industries), garment production, retail, health care and domestic services. In this light, it is clear that the labor of undocumented workers not only pumps tens of billions of dollars into the nations economy, but that the workers themselves receive only a small percentage of it, a much smaller percentage of the value that they produce than is received by workers who are either citizens or legal residents, the female lawyer said. Despite some tremendous contributions, many advocates of immigrants rights argue that U.S. anti-immigrant legislation, such as the Immigration Reform and Control Act of 1986 (IRCA) and the U.S.A. Patriot Act, has been directed at undocumented immigrants. At the heart of the IRCA is employer sanctions which requires them to keep records of workers immigration status, and impose fines on those who hire the undocumented. The real impact of the law is on workers, making it a crime for those without documents to hold a job, wrote David Bacon, a West Coast journalist, who conducted an investigative report on the political economy of undocumented workers. In his report, Bacon said this watershed action has had widespread ramifications. It has influenced the wage levels and vulnerability of immigrant labor. It has spawned other proposals for the denial of their rights, such as the right to education or medical care. The original premise that undocumented immigrants have no right to work or earn a living has been broadened to include the denial of their rights to most basic elements of normal life, including the right to be part of a community. It has led to the demonizing and dehumanizing of undocumented immigrants in public debate and political life. But when the September 11th attack on World Trade Center occurred, life for immigrants became more unpleasant. The U.S. Patriot Act has imposed stricter controls on immigrant labor… oftentimes blaming them for what happened, Yen Ling said. Still, many argue that while immigration has beneficial effects, the entry of undocumented immigrants also has a negative effect on society. The Urban Institute, in its May 1994 study, Immigration and Immigrants, Setting the Record Straight, estimated that the undocumented population of the U.S. stood between 2.5 and 3.5 million people in 1980, and increased to 3 to 5 million just before the passage of the IRCA. After IRCAs amnesty program, which helped undocumented immigrants to normalize their immigration status, the population fell to 1.8 to 3 million, and had risen to 2.7 to 3.7 million by 1992. VTMBH Article: Line Breaks 1 VTMBH Article: Date 2002-12-15 VTMBH Article: Thumb VTMBH Article: Article File VTMBH Article: Hit Count 125 Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Study: undocumented workers in U.S. pay $7 billion in annual taxes 911DA Item Elements describing a September 11 Digital Archive item. Status The process status of this item. approved Consent Whether September 11 Digital Archive has permission to possess this item. unknown Posting Whether the contributor gave permission to post this item. yes Copyright Whether the contributor holds copyright to this item. yes Source The source of this item. born-digital Media Type The media type of this item. article Created by Author Whether the author created this item. yes Described by Author Whether the description of this item was submitted by the author. no Date Entered The date this item was entered into the archive. 2002-12-15