Taiwanese are certainly not illegal immigrants — especially the ones who live in Irvine. The Taiwanese I know buy homes for their children to live in while they go to high-school (university-high) and college in California. They can afford (make sacrifices) for their children to get a good education.
It’s perfectly legal to buy a home in USA even if you’re not a permanent resident. For school, you just need to get a student visa. As long as you can pay the tuition, you can stay and study in America.
My guess is that immigrants, legal and otherwise, contribute a lot to escalating home prices. A good example is Miami where well-to-do latinos buy homes to shelter their money. San Diego has plenty of part-time Mexicans who own homes here. Without Mexican money (legal and illegal), San Diego would not be what it is today.
I feel this whole issue of immigration and English is such a red-herring. Rather than being afraid if immigrants, we should embrace them for enriching our culture.
