Reply #53: My great-grandparents came here legally, too, [View All]

[Tansy_Gold]

and because they were Jews, they weren't allowed to join unions. Other relatives couldn't rent apartments because the for-rent signs all said "White only, no Irish."

Immigrants, documented or not, pay taxes. In many respects, they pay more taxes than some other folks, as a percentage of their income. They don't buy on the internet or via mail-order, so they pay all applicable sales taxes -- except, of course, when they buy cheap used stuff at yard sales because they can't afford anything else. (Something the middle class NEVER does.)

In the small fringe "suburb" where I live, the people at the bottom of the wage scale, legal or not, have no transportation (especially at today's gas prices) and so must shop locally in a seriously deteriorated "downtown." It's a small town, with outrageous prices. A gallon of milk that costs $2.59 at the chain supermarket in the next town is $4.59 at the single local mom-n-pop (except it's a chain, too.) There are no store brands, and few coupons. Those food stamps don't go very far. And the higher the price, the more sales tax is paid.

And I'm so glad you are able to begrudge them sending a few bucks back to the family in "the old country." Is that any different from, say, a trip to the South Pacific and U.S. dollars being spent in Papaeete? or is it only okay when it's an "American" sending money to the folks in another country? Maybe we should pass laws requiring all affluent Americans to spend their vacations in the U.S. and not put U.S. hotel workers out of jobs.