Posted on 04/01/2006 11:49:55 AM PST by technomage
The latest attempt at immigration reform which is being pushed by Congress and the President, is ignoring one extremely important point and putting all of our lives at risk.
Before I get to that point:
For the sake of argument, I will not mention the costs that illegal immigration puts on all local and state governments through Welfare, our Health Care system, our school systems, etc. That will continually be debated.
I will also skim over the somewhat hidden problem of criminals coming into this country. According to the General Accounting Office (the investigative arm of Congress), at the end of the year 2004, there were 49,000 illegal aliens in federal prisons. 49,000 illegals that commited serious crimes in our country after crossing the border. This is data that cannot be debated as these are facts as reported by the GAO.
Now, Congress and open border proponents seem to accept this as a small price to pay. After all, 49,000 as compared to 12 million illegals is a very small percentage. At least that is the argument I have heard from some far left liberals I know. Well, you tell the tens of thousands of families in this country how their family member being murdered by an illegal is a small price to pay. You tell the families of daughters, wives, nieces, aunts that have been brutally raped by illegals that it is a small price to pay for helping so many improve their lives.
Sorry, but losing hundreds of lives to murder, putting thousands of others through lifelong torment because they were raped, or beaten in an aggravated assault or robbery is not a small price to pay for the families and individuals victimized.
But, the illegal proponents, the open border proponents, the Congress and the President (yup, I said it) seem to think this is a small price. In fact, I have heard ludicrous arguments like: We have thousands of murders in this country every year by citizens. What an infantile argument. Yes, we do. But the thousands of attacks, rapes, murders, robberies perpetrated by illegals affect the victims just as badly as if citizens did it and the vast majority COULD HAVE BEEN PREVENTED with very strict border control.
And I am not even mentioning the cost of incarnerating these illegals, which runs about 6-8 billion dollars a year!!
However, as bad as this is, that is not my main point. There is yet another problem with illegals crossing our border that has the potential to dwarf the problems listed above.
The even bigger problem is with OTM's. Not familiar with that term? OTM's is a term the US Border Patrol uses. It stands for Other Than Mexican's. OTM's are those illegals apprehended by the BP that are not from Mexico.
According to the US Border Patrol (USBP) the number of illegals apprehended in the fiscal year 2005 was 1.2 MILLION. This is how many were apprehended. The USBP estimates they apprehend about 1 in 4 illegals crossing the border, but many think that the number is closer to 1 in 10. Still, let us take the smaller number: The USBP catches 1 illegal for every four that come through. That means in fiscal 2005, at least 3.6 MILLION illegals were able to enter our country.
Now, of these numbers, 7% are OTM's (again, according to GAO statistics).
This is from the Congressional Research Service (CRS) Report For Congress entitled:
Border Security: "Apprehensions of "Other Than Mexican" Aliens
September 22, 2005
http://www.mipt.org/pdf/CRS_RL33097.pdf
The number of OTM apprehensions remained relatively stable from 1998 to 2002, averaging almost 37,000 a year over the six-year time period. Apprehensions increased by 33% from FY2002 to FY2003, and 52% from FY2003 to FY2004. Roughly three-quarters of the way into FY2005, OTM apprehensions have increased by 58% from FY2004. Indeed, over the last three years OTM apprehensions have more than tripled, increasing by almost 220%. This trend is in stark contrast to apprehensions of Mexican aliens, which have remained relatively stable over the same period.
Here is a breakdown of the top 25 OTM nationalities:
Country: FY2002, FY2003, FY2004, FY2005 (through July 11), %Change FY02-FY05
Honduras: 9316, 14491, 24420, 36118, 288%
Brazil: 3100, 5240, 8859, 27396, 784%
El Salvador: 7036, 9602, 16974, 27317, 288%
Guatemala: 6021, 7728, 11628, 14866, 147%
Nicaragua: 581, 765, 1460, 2498, 330%
Cuba: 1541, 1303, 1406, 2144, 39%
China: 688, 576, 1096, 1653, 140%
Ecuador: 664, 521, 679, 989, 49%
Dominican Republic: 1183, 2057, 2023, 969, -18%
Costa Rica: 233, 382, 450, 700, 200%
Canada: 1836, 1611, 1497, 697, -62%
Peru: 312, 366, 370, 388, 24%
Colombia: 347, 368, 335, 308, -11%
India: 345, 316, 378, 235, -32%
Jamaica: 287, 269, 215, 162, -44%
Bolivia: 48, 59, 140, 161, 235%
Albania: 167, 115, 117, 155, -7%
Argentina: 207, 252, 168, 138, -33%
Haiti: 295, 324, 165, 131, -56%
Poland: 228, 205, 231, 122, -46%
Romania 42, 58, 85, 103, 145%
South Korea: 143, 218, 161, 98, -31%
Pakistan: 167, 228, 164, 91, -46%
Venezuela: 69, 126, 132, 88, 28%
Israel: 103, 109, 91, 68, -34%
Source: CRS Analysis of CBP Data.
I show you these statistics to try and give you a perspective on the sheer size of the problem along our border.
The USBP also has another designation for certain illegals that are apprehended. This is: Special Interest OTM Apprehensions. Basically these are people apprehended that are from 35 countries designated by our intelligence community as countries known to support, harbor or export terrorism. I have yet to find the official list of exactly which countries these are but I am sure it is available somewhere.
Here are the latest stats on these Special Interest OTM's:
Year, # of SIOTM's Apprehended
1997, 729
1998, 721
1999, 736
2000, 676
2001, 766
2002, 849
2003, 807
2004, 626
Remember, this is the number of persons apprehended attempting to cross our border illegally that are from countries KNOWN to support, harbor or sponsor terrorism. How many others were not caught? Well, again using USBP numbers of 1 in 4 caught: The total above is: 5,910. This means that possibly as many as 24,000 illegals from countries that sponsor or support terrorism made it in!
Again, these are all government figures easily found on government web sites. These are FACTS, not theories, guesses, etc., but FACTS. And these are FACTS that the US Congress knows, or should know, as these are reported by the Congressional Research Service.
When I tell liberal 'friends' these numbers, they always give the same response:
Those numbers are so small compared to the overall numbers of illegals that they are insignificant.
Insignificant? It only took 19 terrorists to kill 3,000 Americans!! Look at the numbers again! Those are the ones that were CAPTURED. And, as the USBP tells us, they catch only about 1 in 4.
This is where the Congress, the President, the groups that advocate an open border are putting the lives of all Americans at risk. No, wait: They are putting the lives of all PEOPLE in this country, legal or illegal, at risk. The Congress is doing it merely for votes. The President is doing it because he is a globalist and does not believe in secure borders. The advocacy groups are doing it for purely selfish reasons.
When the next terrorist strike occurs, be it a nuke, chemical weapons, or something as simple as a truck bomb at a mall or sporting event, those killed will not be only legal Americans. Those killed will not be only White. Those killed will not be only Conservatives, straight, religious. This attack will kill anyone in its path, including liberals, illegals, whites, blacks, hispanics, gays, straights, ANYONE!
When this happens, and it is proven that the terrorists came across the border, we can blame Congressional members for the deaths. When this happens, we can blame those selfish, egotistical groups that pushed for open borders and no controls on immigration.
But, I fear, this will not be the worst. Yes, more Americans killed as a result of terrorism would be terrible. But the aftermath may be even worse. What would happen here in the USA could be similar to an internal war.
The saddest thing about all this is that the leaders of the greatest, strongest country in the world did not do their most basic, fundamental job: Protect the country, protect our borders.
Maybe 99.9% of all illegals are good, moral, decent, hard working people. As we know, or should know, from experience, it only takes a handful of terrorists to kill thousands. It only takes a handful of terrorists to bring the world economy to its knees.
As much as I am against amnesty and people crossing our borders illegally to work, I am much more fearful of another terrorist attack. Done right, it could not only kill hundreds or thousands, but it could bring our economy to it's knees. And when that happens, legals and illegals alike will lose their jobs and their incomes.
Congress, the President and the illegal advocates seem to think that these are good odds and are playing with OUR lives to prove it. If they are wrong, the backlash will be dramatic.
Technomage - Proud Free Republic Member, Proud Conservative Legal American
This is NOT an April Fools joke, unfortunately.
Sadly true.
Vote them all out.
Should we put a fence along the Canadian border, too?
Thank you for posting this.
Oh my gosh. I want so badly to take this to gopusa.com but we're not supposed to scam Jim's material. Do you have a link for me, or will you go over there and post it?
About 30% of all inmates in federal prisons.
You should address this to the author.
...the illegal proponents, the open border proponents, the Congress and the President (yup, I said it) seem to think this is a small price.
-----
For them, it is a small price to PAY FOR THEIR VOTES. Now that is saying it, like it really is. Votes = power and control in Washington, which tragically, for American citizens, is all that Washington cares about. Therein is the CORE PROBLEM underlying illegal immigration and why Washington has deliberately "ignored" it ...
Islam, a Religion of Peace®? ( links, blogs, quips, quotes, aggravating pictures ) is located here- click the Pic, and scroll backwards:
"Thunder on the Border," click the picture:
( PS- my personal prediction? That picture will become one of the most widely distributed, and most hated, pictures on the internet. The Illegal lobby could not have done more damage to themselves with that "Mexican Flag Superior, America in Distress" photograph if they had tried... )
Well, I'm not sure yet. But we've got to put one on the southern border right away!
If millions of illegals were flooding over that border then of course.
But they aren't.
This is just bits and pieces of various governmental and congressional reports along with my personal opinions.
Take what you wish and post it anywhere. It is important to get the word out.
Prepare to be personally insulted as posters will call you a liar, racist and whatever else they can think of while ignoring the facts.
I have to agree with that. 100%
Of course the USA and the pride and dignity of it's traditions and values will be eliminated, but hey, ain't multi-culturalism great?
My point is that if it's going to be pitched as a terrorism issue, then you have to protect all the borders, not just the southern one.
That is okay! I have been through far worse during my illustrious life. It also would mean that we have struck a nerve.
What's the point. There was somuch beating around the bush it was lost in the blur.
Thanks, you did a great job with the matieral! I just sent this to one of my senators:
I got no response from you following my last letter. I hope this means that you have been swamped with protests to the proposed Guestworker programs for illegal aliens.
Let me say again that in no way am I racist, nor am I against persons of other nationalities entering America. But, they must do so legally. The tragedy of 9-11 should make that abundantly clear to every single one of you. Failure to take proper perspective of this event, which could have been avoided, must not escape you.
You must do the right thing, regardless of pressure from any person or lobbiests. In your heart, you must know that what I say is true.
Please: DON'T SELL US OUT!
With deep respect,
When I was working in our local STATE Mental Health Forensics facility, I was glad I knew a little Spanish.
We put ourselves in a position to require large amounts of immigrants when we went to zero population growth.
Our nation will go bankrupt and our goverment fail in the next generation unless we do one of four things... end social security and Medicare benefits and let the old people die of starvation in the streets, increase the retirement age to 80, kill off old people, or import lots of workers to pay the Social security and Medicare taxes.
Both Europe and the USA have adopted the same cure.. .import lots and lots of immigrants. Europe has it worse .. since their choice of high breeding immigrants is pretty much limited to Muslims.
You don't suppose the couple that would kill their own baby by abortion would support killing you to reduce their taxes do you?
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