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A common theme of opponents of illegal immigration and efforts to legalize such undocumented immigrants is remittances. Ultra-nationalist Americans are aghast that Mexican workers come to this country and then have the temerity, those ingrates!, to send some of their earned money back to their native country to support their families.
Ostensibly free market conservatives believe that it is an affront to America that free people be allowed to spend and donate their money as they wish within and without the borders of the United States. And as if Mexicans are the only ones engaging in foreign transfers. When Americans donate to foreign charities and NGOs or buy property overseas, or even just travel, they are engaging in the same practice and choosing to not spend their money in their country, but, rather, take their pecuniary gain and donate it to foreign lands. Do xenophobes now oppose foreign travel? Because that would be consistent with their argument for attacking Mexicans for doing the same thing that affluent Americans already do.
And this is further bogus on two counts: 1) American immigrants have a long history of sending money overseas. And quite naturally. They are new arrives and still maintain contact with families in their native lands. Italian Americans used to also donate a significant portion of their income back to Italy. And that was in the day when transferring money was a lot harder and more expensive. It is no surprise that Mexicans who cross the border to work to support their families back home would also do the same thing, especially since it is easier to conduct today. And there is no wrong in doing so. 2) American nationalists say that illegal immigrants are thus a drag on America further when they opt-out of supporting the U.S. economy with their income. At least that would go someway toward making up for their "crime" of coming illegally to the country by supporting American jobs, they argue. Of course, illegal immigrants do not opt-out since they spend a majority of their income in the United States in order to attend to their basic needs. And, secondly, whatever income is opted-out it is less than the contributions they make to the United States in what they pay in taxes. According to The Economist, for all the anger over illegal immigrants in Arizona the population of undocumented there pays more in state taxes then they send in remittances back home.
There is no authentic grounds for the feigned offense that many of them send a marginal amount back home to support their families. To be hear the xenophobes tell it, it is a crime to provide for one's family.
And, lastly, illegal immigrants really transfer so little that they do not even rank amongst the top nation-to-nation transfers. The biggest source of foreign transfers from the United States isn't to Mexico but to Lebanon:
Graph Source: The Economist.
