Freehold Borough resident says immigrants contribute to American work force and the economy

I am so frustrated by the lack of understanding about the "illegal immigration" problems we seem to be having here in Freehold Borough and other areas.

As a daughter of immigrants (and kudos to Janet Biddle for reminding us all that we are descendants of immigrants) to this country, I can empathize with the despair that these immigrants must feel facing the misguided righteous among us.

Most of our ancestors came here willing to do whatever it took to earn a living. If it meant living in overcrowded tenements and taking jobs no one else wanted, no matter what the pay was, they did it. The difference, those righteous among you would point out, is that they entered the county "legally." Of course they did; this nation needed their work force to help it grow.

What do we need now? Well, look around — we need this labor force to work on the construction sites to build the new McMansions that are so rapidly becoming part of the landscape in New Jersey.

We also need this labor force to landscape these homes once they are built, and of course these houses need to be cleaned and the children need to be taken care of. We don’t want/use/need this labor force? C’mon, let’s be realistic.

The "overcrowding, strained municipal services, school congestion ... noise and crime" that Marc LeVine purports his PEOPLE committee will put a halt to can be justifiably attributed to the overdevelopment of New Jersey, which is a far bigger crime than anyone seems to realize.

Many Web sites have information pointing to studies done by the Department of Labor and other reputable sources, and they conclude the following:

"[Illegal] Immigrants produce jobs in several ways:

• They expand the demand for goods and services through their own consumption;

• They bring savings with them that contribute to overall investment and productivity;

• They are more highly entrepreneurial than native-born Americans and create jobs through the businesses they start;

• They fill gaps in the low and high ends of the labor markets, producing subsidiary jobs for American workers;

• Low-wage immigrants may enable threatened American businesses to survive competition from low-wage busi­nesses abroad;

• They contribute to increased eco­nomic efficiencies through economies of scale.

"As is the case with Social Security contributions, many of the taxes paid by illegal immigrants come in the form of automatic paycheck deductions. The ma­jor difference is that many illegal immi­grants are afraid to attempt to receive a refund, because they fear being caught by the INS."

In addition to income taxes, these in­dividuals also pay the same property (through rent, as anyone who rents an apartment) and sales taxes as all Americans, further increasing the amount of taxes paid.

Let’s not waste our time with any more divisive societies and committees, but work together to lend these hard­working immigrants a helping hand.

Remember your ancestors and the cul­tural differences [and] experiences they brought to this country, as well as the misunderstandings they experienced be­cause of it. Immigrants are not our en­emy.

Debi Richter

Freehold Borough