To the Editor:

I am responding to the reader who wrote regarding Fox News and illegal immigrants.  I have no TV at home, but sometimes I watch Fox News programs while at the Recreation Center. Fox News is always on, but hardly anyone pays attention. I guess the TV ratings are determined by the TV set being on, and not whether anyone is watching.

One day they were broadcasting an interview; I never knew which side of the political spectrum the guest represented, but it didn’t matter since the interviewer kept interrupting. Apparently, the Fox interviewer had more important points to make so the guest never had an opportunity to complete a single sentence. Maybe all TV interviews are like this one.

On another day, they presented news of a caravan moving through Mexico and implied that it was of great concern for the United States. Later I had to go elsewhere for some factual information. It turned out they were a group of people escaping from war and violence in Honduras. They make this pilgrimage every spring (around Easter time) and they stop along the way asking for asylum at various embassies. Some of them are granted asylum and some are not. 

So, the news was real, not fake, but it was presented in such a way as to incite fear rather than to inform. That is my experience of watching Fox News.

Regarding googling “illegal immigrants and IRS.” I did that, and learned that immigrants (both legal and illegal) pay taxes like anyone else, and if they are due a refund, the IRS sends them a refund like anyone else. In addition, they, like everyone else, pay social security taxes, which are not refunded. As everyone knows, illegal immigrants cannot be in the social security system. So, they receive no benefits from Medicare or other social security programs.

But, you do. If you are a Medicare recipient, your benefits are partially paid for by people you call illegal immigrants. But, I assume, everyone already knows that. 

Paul Strop

Waynesville