7/31/08
"A Meaningful Look At The Real Cost To Our Nation Caused By Illegal Immigration"
Why do you suppose that a relatively large group of politicians have favored not enforcing our immigration laws and allowing millions of illegal aliens from Mexico and other countries to herd over our porous borders? And then after they have broken our immigration laws and entered our land, why would they be against herding them back across the border and out of our society? Why in the world would a politician think this was a good idea?
Well, the solution is simple. This group of politicians derives their political strength from their exploitation of the uneducated, poor and deprived segment of our society. Thus, the larger this group becomes, the more job security they enjoy. If these illegals do not somehow manage to vote….their children soon will. These politicians are thus using billions and billions of our tax dollars for the selfish, self serving purpose of buying future votes for their job security.
At this time it is estimated that over 20,000,000 illegal immigrants are living inside the USA at a total cost to the American taxpayers of over $180,000,000,000 ($180 Billion!) per year. This is more than the cost of the Iraq War. These costs include the billions in increased Medicaid payments, unfunded costs borne by hospitals, welfare and entitlement payments, the cost of language specialists in thousands of government offices and courts, the court costs for crimes committed by illegal aliens, the cost of incarceration of these felons, the costs born by their thousands of victims, the costs created in our schools, added costs in providing law enforcement and security, and the American workers that are displaced as these illegal immigrants take their jobs. Higher property taxes, higher general taxation, and larger deficits are the net result of these huge costs.
There have been 51,000 Americans killed by illegal aliens during the past seven years. Approximately half of these deaths occurred as a result of drunk drivers, and the other half were felony acts of murder.
The existing national policy grants automatic citizenship to any baby born on U.S. soil. This acts as a magnet and thus draws more illegal intruders across our borders. It is a foolish and constitutionally questionable policy.
The arguments favoring granting newborns citizenship argue that British common law provides the basis for this policy. British common law did not even recognize the concept of citizenship, citing "subjectship" and master/servant relationships as the basis for legal representation before governments. One of our nations founders and signer of the Constitution, James Wilson, stated that citizenship is based on consent of the governed, not by the accident of birth. Citizenship is created by law.
The 14th Amendment gave more definition to the concept of citizenship. It states, "All persons born or naturalized in the U.S. and subject to the Jurisdiction of US laws are deemed to be citizens." This amendment specifically excluded Indians from citizenship, since they were born on US soil, but were under the Jurisdiction of their tribal laws. Also, children born in the US from foreign Ambassadors and ministers are not granted citizenship. It is clear that the intent was not to automatically grant this privilege to any baby born here.
In 1998 the Supreme Court ruled in the case of US vs Wong Kim that a baby born in the US of legal residents’ aliens is a citizen. Please note the term "LEGAL". The current practice of automatically granting all newborns US citizenship is merely based on policy.
The government of Mexico is protesting any efforts here to curtail illegal immigration, to deport them, or to reduce their assumed rights here. It is easier for Mexico to export their poverty than it would be for them to reform their political and economic systems.
Several of the 9-1-1 hijackers purchased false passports and documents from an illegal immigrant from El Salvador. Lax enforcement of our immigration laws greatly decreases our level of homeland security.
The existing US population is estimated to be 301 million. If the existing level of immigration continues, the US population will be over 435 million by 2050. Over 300,000 births from illegal alien parents are currently occurring each year. Just imagine the added strain on our resources such as water, food, and energy this astounding growth will create.
Remember, all of these costs and dangers exist because many of our politicians see the future votes coming to them from this new, illegal segment of our society….regardless of the damage and cost to our nation. Currently there are two bills in Congress that will move us towards granting amnesty and citizenship to the 20 million illegal immigrants that are already here. They are HR 1645 and HR 5515, please tell your legislators and legislative candidates that you do not want these bills to pass. Become concerned about this important national problem and you will be "Getting It Right".
I want thank my dear friend and fellow conservative, Bob Cowan, for inspiring me to write a column on this subject, and for providing much of the statistical documentation I used.
Rudiments- Odds and Ends Worth Mentioning:
♦ The new steeple at the Methodist Church in Marianna is very attractive. Marianna has a very beautiful and unique arrangement relating to the location of four major churches in close proximity on essentially the same street. I see it as a shame that the four block portion of the street has to be called "Clinton Street", when something like "Baptismal Boulevard", "Revival Road", "Salvation Street", or even "Proper Pathway" would be much more appropriate and would add attention to the town feature. Do you suppose we could get the name changed for that part of the street?
♦ I realize that the folks in Bascom have been working for several years to get a grant to preserve their old schoolhouse. However, with escalating costs to citizens and the potential revenue losses and budget cuts our bureaucracy is facing, and with all of the uncertainties that exist…it seems foolish for our State government to continue to spew out grants for "nice to have…but not essential" projects. In my opinion the $135,600 grant for a playground in Bascom is inappropriate and wasteful at this time.
♦ In my opinion, the same degree of inappropriateness and wastefulness is represented by the two similar grants of $135,600 each awarded to Marianna by the State as they shovel out $24,000,000 for park projects to communities all over the state. These grants are for improvements to the park at the end of Madison Street and for the addition of a bicycle trail and renovations to the M.E.R.E. Park. "Nice, but not essential". I do not applaud our legislators and others who apparently approve of this expenditure. Another of these grants was given to Sneads. They plan to build a skateboard park with their funds.
♦ At almost the same moment the legislature was spewing away this $24 million dollars in parks grants, they passed a mandate that forces school boards across the state to raise their millage. In Jackson County this 3.4% increase in school taxes will cause county property owners to pay approximatley $306,000 in added taxes.......so who is really paying for those park grants?
♦ While families are struggling to keep their electricity turned on, pay their mortgages, buy gasoline to get to work, and trying to buy milk and food for their children, our legislators and bureaucracies are continuing to play the same old "tax and spend" games. How much longer will the public tolerate this approach?
♦ Still nothing but stonewalling from the County Commissioners on consideration of the Wal-Mart Building (it is still available but about to slip away).
Author’s Note: The opinions expressed in this column are my own and do not necessarily express those of Hatcher Publishing.
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