May 2, 2017. An editorial discusses the deportation case of Martin Martinez, an undocumented immigrant who has lived in the U.S. for 30 years, has a working permit, but also has two drunken driving convictions from over a decade ago. The author discusses sanctuary cities and argues how they try to distinguish between serious and minor crimes, and that new deportation policies make it difficult to fight crime. In the article, the author also argues that there are human and fiscal costs, and cites FPI’s and ITEP’s co-released report on DACA recipients tax contributions.
That’s why police in Newburgh and other cities that have embraced the notion of offering sanctuary have tried to make a distinction between serious crimes and dangerous criminals on the one hand and those like Martinez on the other. But no matter how well they explain their approach, they know that each deportation makes it that much harder for them to get the kind of information they need to solve and prevent crimes, information that can only come from the immigrant community which now has one less reason to trust any authorities.
And if that is not enough, consider another cost, not a human one but a financial one.
Just this week the Fiscal Policy Institute and the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy, two nonpartisan organizations that regularly analyze the fiscal implications of public policies, calculated something that often goes unnoticed — the economic contribution of these facing deportation.
Those undocumented immigrants who were brought to the United States as youngsters and have been shielded thus far from deportation pay $140 million in state and local taxes in New York. Add all those across the nation and the figures rises to $2 billion.
Here is the link to the Times Herald-Record.