There is no group of people in the United States about whom less is known, than the undocumented aliens who come to North America to escape the poverty of their homelands. "Without Documents" sets out to explode the innumerable myths which surround the undocumented aliens: that they go on welfare, that their children crowd into the schools, that they contribute to crime, that they send mythical amounts of money out of the country, that they have more children than United States citizens do, that they take jobs away from citizens.
But they are used: by employers, by politicians seeking to get their names in the headlines. Since most are young, unmarried males, their contributions help support not only schools and other services which they do not use, but the Social Security fund, from which they cannot collect benefits. They are abused: assaulted by the Border Patrol, unable to seek recourse for wages below the minimum, for hours which can run to as many as 60 a week.
This book sets the record straight, giving the history of immigration to the United States, and in particular the history of Mexican immigration, for it is from Mexico that the greatest percentage of immigrants come. The author shows that the solution lies not in closing the borders -- which is impossible -- but in a cure to the economic problems of Mexico.
