The political rhetoric leading up to this year’s election is typical: lots of soundbites and half-truths designed largely to malign the opposition, scare voters and blame scapegoats for the very real challenges that millions of Americans have been grappling with as they continue to face high prices, limited options and polarized politics.
Researchers have linked politics with increased rates of depression over the last few years and the American Psychological Association cautions that politics–not just elections, but the overall political conditions, news, and debates–can significantly increase stress in individuals’ lives. The increasingly acrid tone and content of American politics may be the reason millions are opting out of following the news or engaging in civic life except for occasionally voting in an election.
But there are consequences to tuning out and one of the biggest ones is misinformation.
The tremendous vitriol against immigrants, particularly undocumented immigrants this year is one example. Loud and repeated claims about “migrant crime” may scare voters into supporting one candidate over another, but those claims have little basis in fact. There’s no evidence that connects increased immigration, documented or undocumented, with increased crime or less safety for average Americans. Indeed, facts show the opposite.
While it’s hard to get data that distinguishes between documented and undocumented immigrants, a recent study from the Department of Justice using state data from Texas–a state that does track this information–shows that undocumented immigrants commit crimes at much lower rates than native born people. For instance, between 2012 and 2018, undocumented immigrants had the lowest rates of felony crimes and violent crimes in particular. This reinforces decades of studies that similarly show no relationship between increases in illegal immigration and crime and no evidence that immigrants, documented or undocumented commit crimes at higher rates than native born Americans. Although “migrant crime” is fictional, it still generates high rates of stress and distrust in the United States. It’s a narrative that hurts everyone.
Similarly, claims we’ve long encountered for a long time that the high cost of healthcare is caused by immigrants flooding the health care system are also false. In fact, research shows the opposite: immigrants use less healthcare and have lower health expenditures than the native born population. Moreover, undocumented immigrants are even less likely to use the health care system than other immigrants and native born Americans. This makes a lot of sense given that both undocumented and documented immigrants are more likely to be uninsured. Immigrants cannot afford doctor’s visits and routine care since they are often paying for it out of pocket. The unaffordable cost of healthcare keeps their utilization low. Moreover, there are other disincentives: the healthcare system is intimidating and hard to navigate for immigrants who don’t speak English; many immigrants are low wage workers who have no sick time or paid leave–they can’t afford time off work.
Contrary to claims that immigrants are depleting the health care system or driving up costs for the rest of us, the reality is that most often immigrants are making big contributions to healthcare that are increasing access for the rest of us. The role of immigrants in providing healthcare and services, for instance, is tremendous: almost 3 million immigrants work in the healthcare field, comprising about 1 in 5 healthcare workers today. In 2021, approximately 1.6 million immigrants were working as doctors, registered nurses, dentists, pharmacists, or dental hygienists.
Anyone who has ever complained about having to wait for an appointment, found themselves unable to find a provider nearby or having to spend time in a hospital or clinic should be thanking immigrants. Without their participation in our healthcare system, things would be much worse.
As the demand for healthcare workers grows, immigrants will continue to play a key role in the healthcare system and hopefully will contribute to critical improvements in the system, including creating a healthcare workforce that looks more like our general population–one that is diverse in terms of race, gender, age and skill. The diversification of our health care workforce could help improve health outcomes and reduce racial health disparities in the system by supporting more culturally and linguistically competent approaches to care, for instance, and addressing shortages of providers and care in underserved communities.
Immigrants could also help to solve the staffing shortage crisis that increasingly plagues the system. The American Hospital Association predicts a shortage of 100,000 “critical health care workers” by 2028. This shortage coincides with a growing demand for healthcare services as the American population ages, the number of people with disabilities grows and families find themselves overwhelmed with caring for children and elders.
Just like in so many other sectors, immigrants are a boon to American healthcare–the largest industry in the country–and are on the leading edge of making improvements in the healthcare system that will leave us all better off while at the same time supporting a new generation of Americans to opportunity and prosperity.