339
submitted 9 months ago by MicroWave@lemmy.world to c/politics@lemmy.world

The White House statement comes after a week of frantic negotiations in the Senate.

President Joe Biden on Friday urged Congress to pass a bipartisan bill to address the immigration crisis at the nation’s southern border, saying he would shut down the border the day the bill became law.

“What’s been negotiated would — if passed into law — be the toughest and fairest set of reforms to secure the border we’ve ever had in our country,” Biden said in a statement. “It would give me, as President, a new emergency authority to shut down the border when it becomes overwhelmed. And if given that authority, I would use it the day I sign the bill into law.”

Biden’s Friday evening statement resembles a ramping up in rhetoric for the administration, placing the president philosophically in the camp arguing that the border may hit a point where closure is needed. The White House’s decision to have Biden weigh in also speaks to the delicate nature of the dealmaking, and the urgency facing his administration to take action on the border — particularly during an election year, when Republicans have used the issue to rally their base.

The president is also daring Republicans to reject the deal as it faces a make-or-break moment amid GOP fissures.

you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments
[-] Willie@kbin.social -3 points 9 months ago* (last edited 9 months ago)

You're assuming they receive paychecks at all, though. All undocumented immigrants I've known the situations of in my time (which is very few mind you, so it's possible that this is not the norm) got paid in cash for the work they did, instead of getting a check. And I find it unlikely that the business or person paying them in cash under the table would have gone and paid their income tax for them and announced "These are the taxes the illegal immigrants I hire are paying!" and I even more doubt that the folks who received the funds paid their income tax on their own, since their employers were already playing on their fears of being discovered by the government to pay them lower wages than the market would normally accept (I want to say it was below the federal minimum at the time).

While I agree that we should totally be getting more taxes from rich folks. It's not really relevant to the current discussion about the taxes paid by undocumented immigrants. That said, I'm not super concerned about undocumented immigrants paying income tax, since it's really the fellas who employ them that are the problem. I was only mentioning it because I was curious as to how true what that article was saying really was, since it did not match my experiences.

[-] FlyingSquid@lemmy.world 9 points 9 months ago

The first article I linked to shows they do indeed pay payroll taxes. So your personal anecdote does not trump the numbers.

[-] Willie@kbin.social 4 points 9 months ago

Dang bro, you're right. I mistakenly assumed the article was over at the section where they presented me with other articles to read, since it didn't make sense for them to show me that if the article I was reading continued. So from my perspective the article was basically "They pay taxes, we promise.". They even used language that seemed to close out the article to me before that section by saying "More importantly, the claims about taxes, housing costs and immunizations are false." and not elaborating further.

I wouldn't have even made my first comment had I seen the section below, since they answered exactly the questions I was asking. Haha. I was about to roll in here and ask if we had even looked at the same article, before I gave it a second look. I guess in the end, we hadn't.

This whole ITIN thing is interesting, I've seen the fields for it in the past, but never really thought about it too much since I always assumed it was for people who are in like... a transitional period of their immigration of sorts, not for fellas who aren't supposed to be working. The article that the article linked about ITINs makes it sound like you can even get your tax return with it. That's crazy, but it makes sense.

[-] ThunderWhiskers@lemmy.world 7 points 9 months ago

To add a different anecdotal perspective for you: I live in Texas and work in the construction industry. I work alongside undocumented workers every single day. Jump in the truck "Home Depot Handymen" exist but they are not nearly as prevalent as you seem to believe.

What most of the guys are doing is getting their hands on some form of fake documentation. Employers are obliged to look the other way until it becomes a problem and so the worker is pretty much employed the same as anyone else. They receive benefits, they pay taxes, they work longer hours than anyone else.

[-] Willie@kbin.social 3 points 9 months ago

Like I said in my comment, I've met very few undocumented immigrants. And realistically, if they can perform a job as a normal person, and pay taxes like a normal person, then even if I have met more, I likely never knew, because why would you go around telling folks about your situation in that case. That'd be a good way to blow your cover. And it's not like I'm going to ask about their experience immigrating, since that's not really a subject that's appropriate to approach with people you don't know.

I live in the middle of nowhere, so my experience is likely vastly different from all y'all's. So it's nice to hear your perspectives. Thanks for sharing.

[-] SaltySalamander@kbin.social 5 points 9 months ago

The vast, overwhelming majority, of undocumented immigrants I know, and I know a lot in my trade, receive a paycheck just like everyone else. And yes, payroll taxes are deducted from that check, just like everyone else's.

[-] Willie@kbin.social 2 points 9 months ago

Yeah, I learned all about ITINs and other ways that these folks can get real jobs and pay taxes a few hours ago. It was quite an interesting read.

this post was submitted on 27 Jan 2024
339 points (96.4% liked)

politics

19103 readers
3450 users here now

Welcome to the discussion of US Politics!

Rules:

  1. Post only links to articles, Title must fairly describe link contents. If your title differs from the site’s, it should only be to add context or be more descriptive. Do not post entire articles in the body or in the comments.

Links must be to the original source, not an aggregator like Google Amp, MSN, or Yahoo.

Example:

  1. Articles must be relevant to politics. Links must be to quality and original content. Articles should be worth reading. Clickbait, stub articles, and rehosted or stolen content are not allowed. Check your source for Reliability and Bias here.
  2. Be civil, No violations of TOS. It’s OK to say the subject of an article is behaving like a (pejorative, pejorative). It’s NOT OK to say another USER is (pejorative). Strong language is fine, just not directed at other members. Engage in good-faith and with respect! This includes accusing another user of being a bot or paid actor. Trolling is uncivil and is grounds for removal and/or a community ban.
  3. No memes, trolling, or low-effort comments. Reposts, misinformation, off-topic, trolling, or offensive. Similarly, if you see posts along these lines, do not engage. Report them, block them, and live a happier life than they do. We see too many slapfights that boil down to "Mom! He's bugging me!" and "I'm not touching you!" Going forward, slapfights will result in removed comments and temp bans to cool off.
  4. Vote based on comment quality, not agreement. This community aims to foster discussion; please reward people for putting effort into articulating their viewpoint, even if you disagree with it.
  5. No hate speech, slurs, celebrating death, advocating violence, or abusive language. This will result in a ban. Usernames containing racist, or inappropriate slurs will be banned without warning

We ask that the users report any comment or post that violate the rules, to use critical thinking when reading, posting or commenting. Users that post off-topic spam, advocate violence, have multiple comments or posts removed, weaponize reports or violate the code of conduct will be banned.

All posts and comments will be reviewed on a case-by-case basis. This means that some content that violates the rules may be allowed, while other content that does not violate the rules may be removed. The moderators retain the right to remove any content and ban users.

That's all the rules!

Civic Links

Register To Vote

Citizenship Resource Center

Congressional Awards Program

Federal Government Agencies

Library of Congress Legislative Resources

The White House

U.S. House of Representatives

U.S. Senate

Partnered Communities:

News

World News

Business News

Political Discussion

Ask Politics

Military News

Global Politics

Moderate Politics

Progressive Politics

UK Politics

Canadian Politics

Australian Politics

New Zealand Politics

founded 1 year ago
MODERATORS