Hat difference does it make?

Question

whats the difference between a LEGAL immigrant that pays taxes,is a good hard-working citizen and and illegal immigrant who pays taxes and is also a good hard working citizen.yes,the key words are legal and illegal,but whats the difference?

Answer 1

How is an illegal immigrant paying taxes?  Illegal immigrants don't have SSN's, so how do they pay taxes?  The key word here is "ILLEGAL"  which means not legal!  That's the difference!

Answer 2

Illegal immigrants commonly do NOT pay taxes, as they can't provide verifiable identification, and are usually employed by people that aren't taking taxes out of their pay.

Get educated, then ask questions

Answer 3

One is a criminal hence the word illegal,one is not. Most illegals don't pay taxes and if they do,they are likely using a stolen social security number.

Answer 4

There are a number of differences, and they'll take a while to explain. Please bear with me.

A "legal" immigrant is a person who has decided to come to the U.S. with the idea of making a life here. They have applied, they have had their background checked by U.S. Immigration Office, they've agreed to follow United States laws and to work toward citizenship by trying to make the United States a better place. In most cases, the U.S. also has the chance to find out whether or not they might be sick with some contagious disease - and can get them help or medical attention before introducing them to everyone else. They are accounted for; the U.S. knows they are there, and when your city or county government is designing roads and parks and other nice things, they know how many people are going to use the roads and parks because they know how many legal immigrants and citizens are living in the area.

An illegal immigrant breaks U.S. law the first time he sets foot onto United States soil. Then he flips the bird to the literally hundreds of thousands of people in India, El Salvador, China, Cambodia, Zimbabwe, et cetera who are waiting patiently for the U.S. Immigration Office to review their case. He works hard at low-paying jobs because those are the ones he can get, but the money he pays from taxes is not enough to offset the cost of having more maintenence on the highways and having more people using the emergency rooms at the hospitals. (In California, illegal immigrants tend to wait until there is an emergency before going to the doctor, at which point they use the emergency room. Since most can't pay, U.S. citizens do. Some hospitals have had to close down emergency rooms because too many freeloaders were coming in.)

Also, many illegal immigrants do not speak English very well when they come over. They often are working so many hours per day that they cannot learn English, and their children often have a hard time learning English as well. Many children of illegal immigrants end up dropping out of high school - in the U.S. only a third of them graduate. I am not making this up. Some places it's better, and some places it is worse - and in my hometown, at least, the problems are made worse by the gangs in the area. Dropouts sometimes join gangs and get into trouble, which makes it worse for everyone.

Also, Mexico generally doesn't want its criminals back. According to a news article in 2006 (just search for "illegal immigrant prison" in your favorite search engine), half of California's criminal population (that is, people doing time for their crimes) was illegally here.

Basically, there are a lot of differences. It doesn't help that many illegal immigrants send their pay checks "home" to Mexico or elsewhere and never really develop strong feelings of patriotism for the United States. The U.S.A. is a melting pot - everyone has an equal chance if they come in legally, and in return everyone adopts the U.S. as their home, including in the patriotic sense. Illegal immigrants do not do any of these things.

And then, sadly, some people say it's "wrong" or "mean" to ENFORCE the laws we already have. Ironically, Mexico has far harsher anti-illegal-immigration laws in place; their government really dislikes the people from El Salvador and Guatemala who sneak across Mexico's southern border illegally.

Incidentally, "citizen" by definition means someone who is here legally and who has sworn an oath of citizenship, meaning they are no longer Mexican or English or Kenyan, but American. An illegal immigrant cannot be a citizen.

Answer 5

Good question, BUT, When they are illegal, They shouldnt be working and taking up the LEGAL one's jobs!

Answer 6

One respects laws, is hard working and is willing to work hard, save money and do things the right way. Legal immigration.

The other is disrespectful, doesn't obey or have respect for other nations laws by illegal immigrating and takes the easy lazy route by breaking the law. Illegal immigrant.

The two are very different.

Answer 7

First to respond to many of the people upstairs: illegal immigrants AT LEAST pay sales tax. Some DO file tax returns or have more tax taken out of their check than they would otherwise have to pay. And IF we could compromise on a reasonable and fair amnesty plan, more would come forward and pay taxes.

Now to answer your question: of course other than the fact that someone is not legally here there is no difference.

Answer 8

They haven't been 'approved' by the government, so therefore, are not allowed to be in the country.

Answer 9

The difference is quite evident, one is a lazy criminal who broke the law to get to the nation or country they immigrated to instead of doing things the right way.

The other is a law abiding person who did things the right legal way and worked for what they wanted instead of breaking the law to get it.

Most criminals pay taxes, but they still are criminals.

Answer 10

Because illegals are breaking laws and Americans break laws it isn't fair to anyone so why should it be okay for them to do it? It's not. It's not all about paying taxes it's about breaking laws.

Answer 11

It's highly disrespectful to legal immigrants to put illegal aliens, who are criminals. in the same category as them.