Myths, facts about N.C. Hispanics

Some widely held ideas debunked

In discussions about immigration, broad assumptions are often heard. We tried to find the facts about some commonly held beliefs about Hispanic immigrants.

1. Do illegal immigrants pay taxes?

Immigrants, legal or illegal, pay the same sales and property taxes as other residents when they go shopping, buy homes or pay rent.

The majority also pay income taxes and contribute to Social Security. Researchers at UNC-Chapel Hill, who released a study in 2006 on the economic impact of Hispanics, estimated that at least 55 percent to 60 percent of illegal immigrants pay income taxes.

The federal government issues tax identification numbers to illegal immigrants, which allows them to pay taxes even without valid Social Security numbers. More than 9 million tax identification numbers have been issued since 1996. Many workers are eager to get tax identification numbers and pay taxes because that gives them a credit history, which allows them to buy cars, lease apartments and sign up for phone and utility service, among other things.

According to the UNC-CH study, Hispanics, about half of whom were in the country illegally, paid about $756 million in state and local taxes in 2004.

2. Do Hispanics drive drunk more than other residents?

In 2005, there were 37 alcohol-related crashes caused by Hispanic drivers for every 10,000 Hispanics in the state, according to the UNC-CH Highway Safety Research Center. That is more than three times the rate of alcohol-related crashes among non-Hispanics.

Sheriff Donnie Harrison said Hispanics made up about 19 percent of those arrested for driving drunk in Wake County in 2005 and 2006. Hispanics make up 8 percent of the county's population, according to the census.

3. Do illegal immigrants, or Hispanics in general, commit more crimes than other residents?

Neither the FBI nor the State Bureau of Investigation tracks crimes committed by Hispanics. There are no statistics on crime rates among illegal immigrants.

In Wake County, Harrison said, Hispanics were charged with committing four of 42 murders in 2006 and 10 of 52 murders in 2005, or about 15 percent of murders in those two years.

Harrison said he did not have any statistics on other crimes aside from drunken driving.

In Johnston County, Sheriff Steve Bizzell said he does not keep statistics on crime committed by Hispanics.

However, he conducted an inventory of jail inmates one week in mid-September. Hispanic inmates who he suspected were illegal immigrants -- a guess Bizzell said he makes based on their names and photographs -- made up about 15 percent of the 240 inmates. According to census estimates, Hispanics make up about 11 percent of the Johnston County population.

4. Do Hispanic immigrants carry diseases such as tuberculosis and leprosy?

State epidemiologist Dr. Jeffrey Engel said immigrants are bringing some relatively rare diseases to the state, but those diseases are not spreading to native North Carolinians.

Engel said North Carolina has seen one or two cases of leprosy in the past five years involving immigrants. However, the disease is still very rare.

Tuberculosis rates in the state have been on a downward slope for nearly three decades. In 2006, there were 374 cases, about a third of the number in 1980. Even so, Engel said, tuberculosis is a concern.

He said that among some immigrant populations, including Hispanics, as much as a quarter of the population has latent tuberculosis. The disease is not contagious when it is latent, and it does not stop even those going through the legal immigration system from coming to the United States.

However, about 10 percent of those with the latent form of the disease will eventually develop the contagious active form, Engel said. About half of tuberculosis cases are now among immigrants.

Engel said the state is also beginning to see an ailment common only in undeveloped countries without proper water and sewer systems. Immigrants with a tapeworm that causes brain cysts and seizures, known as cysticercosis, have been found in some North Carolina hospitals, Engel said.

5. Are Hispanic immigrants burdening schools?

According to the UNC-CH study, Hispanic children were responsible for more than 57 percent of North Carolina's school enrollment growth between 2000 and 2004.

In Wake County, Hispanic children made up nearly 27 percent of enrollment growth for the 2005-2006 school year. This year's numbers are not yet available.

(Compiled by staff writer Kristin Collins)