Myth: Immigrants take American jobs

Truth: Corporations relocating in pursuit of cheap, vulnerable workers are the real job stealers. States with high immigrant populations have lower unemployment rates.

Myth: Immigrants are a drain on the economy

Truth: Immigrants are more likely to pay taxes than they are to use pub-lic services. The majority of immigrants, being of prime working age and ineligible for many public services, contribute more to the public sector than they use.

Myth : The country is being overrun by illegal immigrants

Truth: Only 4.3% of all workers in the US are unauthorized migrants.

Myth: The United States has a generous refugee policy

Truth: The vast majority of the 3 million refugees admitted to the US since 1945 have been from just three countries: Cuba, Vietnam and the Soviet Union. For the US, “refugee” has generally meant “refugee from Communism”.

Myth: Today’s immigrants are not learning English

Truth: Today’s Spanish-speaking immigrants are learning English just as quickly as earlier generations of European immigrants did, but they are also retaining their native language at higher levels than did Europeans.

Myth: We need to protect our borders to keep out terrorists

Truth: Most of the 9/11 hijackers were in the US on legal visas. Since 9/11, the many measures targeting immigrants in the name of national security have netted no terrorism prosecutions.