An immigrant and former domestic worker, Carmel Maria Foster is sharing her experience as an immigrant in the United States of America through her latest book, The Awakening – Story of a South African American 9781078780742. In the book, Foster writes about the racism and discrimination she faced in the US when she first arrived. Her experience did not get better with time, Foster went through a nasty divorce that left her homeless. She discusses the injustice she faced in the American family court. To get back on her feet, she started working as a domestic worker in California. Over there, Foster faced worse treatment and abuse. She struggled a lot, but still managed to take her employer to court. In court, she witnessed abuse of power and money, there was no justice served to her. Now, she is speaking out about the reality for many immigrants and domestic workers in the US.
Many Americans tend to hold a certain view on immigrants and have expressed their discontent towards the immigration system of the US. They think that immigrants are coming to “their” country to “steal” their jobs. But this is far from the truth. According to ADL, here a few myths about immigrants and immigration that Americans prefer to believe and facts to debunk these myths to stop prejudice against immigrants:
- Myth: Immigrants are overrunning our country, and most are here illegally.
The facts:It is true that there are more immigrants living in the U.S. than ever before. However, the percentage of immigrants in the overall population is not much different than many other times throughout our history. Today immigrants make up approximately 13.5% of the total U.S. population. More than sixty percent of immigrants in the United States today have lived here for at least 15 years, and the large majority (76%) of immigrants have lawful status. Of the approximately 43.7 million immigrants in the U.S. in 2016, 20.2 million (approximately 44.7 percent) were naturalized citizens. Together, lawful permanent residents (sometimes referred to as green card holders), people in the United States on temporary visas including student and work visas, refugees and people seeking asylum, and undocumented immigrants made up the remaining 55.3 percent of immigrants.
- Myth: Immigrants bring crime and violence to our cities and towns.
The facts: Recently, public figures have claimed that immigrants are “killers” and “rapists,” bringing crime to the U.S. Study after study has shown, however, that immigrants—regardless of where they are from, what immigration status they hold, and how much education they have completed—are less likely than native-born citizens to commit crimes or become incarcerated. According to the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, while the overall percentage of immigrants and the number of undocumented immigrants in the U.S. both increased sharply between 1990 and 2010, the violent crime rate in the U.S. during that time plummeted 45 percent and the property crime rate dropped by 42 percent.
- Myth: Immigrants hurt our country financially by taking jobs and services without paying taxes.
The facts: Though some people claim that immigrants are taking job opportunities away from people born in the U.S., immigrants actually help to create new jobs. In addition to buying U.S. and local products, which helps create jobs, immigrants often start their own businesses. In fact, immigrants are twice as likely to start businesses as citizens born in the U.S., and companies owned by immigrants are more likely to hire employees than companies owned by native-born citizens. States with large numbers of immigrants report lower unemployment rates for everyone.
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