Costs of illegal immigration should show Americans the need for reform

Our great opposition to illegal immigration should not stem from economics, but from national security. But a quick review of the monetary costs of the ultra-porous U.S.-Mexico border is indispensable.

The Federation for American Immigration Reform (FAIR) reports that the state of California--just one border-state--spends more than $10 billion on illegal aliens every year. Golden State taxpayers spend $7.7 billion on K-12 education for illegal immigrant children and their U.S.-born siblings. This can be added to the $1.4 billion spent on healthcare for illegals, and another $1.4 billion for the incarceration of illegals.

If the cash aspect isn't enough for you, FAIR also points out that the 9/11 Commission was fairly unequivocal on the matter of illegal immigration. "We know that in the 1990's, terrorists exploited the U.S. immigration system to enter and stay in the United States," the Commission said. "Americans should not be exempt from enabling their identities to be securely verified when they enter the United States; nor should Canadians or Mexicans." Meanwhile, on Capitol Hill, Republicans are bracing for a showdown with the White House over this very issue. (The real fight has yet to begin.) Representative Tom Tancredo (R-CO), long the most vocal opponent of illegal immigration, says that "gloves are off" on the subject. Representative Sensenbrenner obviously concurs. Even Ken Mehlman, who ran the Bush-Cheney campaign and is now the new leader of the RNC, has said that the GOP is split between the Tancredo wing of immigration, and the Bush wing.

The latter is not as horrendous as many conservatives say, but it's pretty bad. President Bush's "temporary worker program," na•ve as it is, does not amount to amnesty. But it's still wrongheaded, since it doesn't have a thing to do with fixing the problem, which is the unending and undocumented flow of immigrants -- some of whom, someday, will aspire to take out Lower Manhattan.

In reforming immigration, we must not cower in the face of entities like the U.N. and the International Court of Justice. Like Israel with its tremendously successful security fence, we must do what it takes, no matter how it looks to Tom Friedman, Barbra Streisand, or Kofi Annan. If putting troops on the border is what it takes, so be it. To hear liberals tell it, we've been a police state since the PATRIOT Act, so another dash of fascism won't hurt.

While I'm all for placing troops on the U.S.-Mexico border, it wouldn't be as rosy an endeavor as it may seem. Like marauding insurgents in Iraq, Mexicans are not friendly toward Americans protecting their homeland.

Approximately this time last year, when civilians were patrolling private property in Arizona, a squad of Mexican soldiers opened fire on the Americans.

The Mexicans sported green military fatigues and Kevlar helmets, and classily carried one AK-47 and one RPK, a lighter version of the AK. Mercifully, in the end, the invaders rushed back to Mexico, defeated. At least six shots were fired.

This was not an isolated incident. As with Clintonesque lying, it follows a pattern. The American Border Patrol has recorded about 118 separate incursions by Mexican forces onto U.S. soil, according to WorldNetDaily. In January, Chris Simcox, editor and publisher of an Arizona publication, came literally face-to-face with Mexican militants, who were armed with M-16s and FALs. One of the Mexicans told Simcox--and the other journalists with whom Simcox was traveling--that Americans were unwelcome in that part of the country. Cameras were rolling.

These men, and indeed every Mexican who defies our immigration laws, should be severely and promptly prosecuted by American authorities, or, better yet, simply tossed back to Mexico. The Constitution does not provide due process to roving foreigners who threaten Americans with rifles.

Meanwhile, as this showdown was taking place, another Mexican -- or two, or three, or four came into the U.S. illegally. Maybe a Saudi national came, too. Or maybe an Egyptian. It could have been anyone. I don't know, and neither does President George Bush. That's the problem.

I love the PATRIOT Act, I adore the wisdom behind the war in Iraq, and I positively delight in the backlash, led by the courageous Norm Coleman, against the United Nations. But the borders remain unaddressed. To neglect the borders is to neglect national security. With this war, 90% isn't good enough.

on Capitol Hill, Republicans are bracing for a showdown with the White House over this very issue. (The real fight has yet to begin.) Representative Tom Tancredo (R-CO), long the most vocal opponent of illegal immigration, says that "gloves are off" on the subject. Representative Sensenbrenner obviously concurs. Even Ken Mehlman, who ran the Bush-Cheney campaign and is now the new leader of the RNC, has said that the GOP is split between the Tancredo wing of immigration, and the Bush wing.

I support the Tancredo wing of immigration!
I hope they WIN
Tancredo for President? I can support that to!

I agree .... I feel we need to put more pressure on our politicians. I am surprised that President Bush being a border state governor hasn't seriously addressed the issue. No one want to look at the COST. of "supporting" these ILLEGAL aliens. ...if we keep letting these people come in and they are willing to do them for less .... why not.... most are paid under the table, do not make any substantial tax contributions to make a different they all know we will provide them with all the benefits many of our poor can't afford or qualify for unless you are an ILLEGAL, Free medical, free school, low college tuitions, and of course they are allowed to protest in public that they are ILLEGAL and have rights. Until our politicians get enough heat to brand these people big "I" and enforce the laws they will continue to come over until they take over. They are maggots ... keep breeding. Pregnant women cross the border, straight to the hospital - free health care, automatic welfare and we pay for it.
****Automatic citizenship needs to be abolished*** We are the only country that allows it.

PILGRIM: Tonight, grave new concerns about who is trying to sneak into this country illegally and how they are doing it. The Homeland Security Department says that stolen passports are far too often making it past immigration agents.

At the same time, new technology used by border guards has caught 23,000 suspected criminals trying to sneak through our borders in the last three months.
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CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Even when the government is on the lookout for a known stolen passport, there's a good chance its holder will still get into this country.

A government review of five years of immigration and customs data found 136 entries with stolen passports. Seventy-nine were with passports that were not yet flagged as stolen, but 57 were with passports the government knew were stolen.

*****And, unbelievably, after September 11, 33 people used stolen passports that this government was looking for and still made it into the country. This review covered only passports from six European countries. There's no telling how many more passports from other countries made it through.*******

The inspector general's review suggested that Customs and Border Patrol better scrutinize foreigners whose passports are flagged as stolen and keep better records. Officials say they are making progress.

WILLIAM HEFFELFINGER, CUSTOMS AND BORDER PROTECTION: We're doing a great deal of work to identify everyone who comes in and out of this country. So, if there's some way that someone might attempt to get in using stolen passports, we want to address that, and we have.

ROMANS: A separate Border Patrol initiative shows reason to fear many of those people illegally crossing our borders. *****New technology used by the Border Patrol detected an astonishing 23,000 dangerous criminals trying to sneak into this country, and that's just from September to November this year.*****

Using a high-tech fingerprint database, border guards identified 84 foreigners suspected of murder, 37 for kidnapping, 151 wanted for rape, 212 for robbery, 1,200 for other assaults and 2,600 for dangerous drug crimes.

All these suspected criminals tried to enter this country through our porous land borders, mainly the border we share with Mexico, but also Canada, 23,502 criminals in just 91 days this fall. Border Patrol agents arrested all of them.

ROMANS: It's impossible, Kitty, to know how many more slipped through the cracks.

PILGRIM: It's shocking about the passports. What are they doing to try to stop this?

ROMANS: A couple of things, technology, trying to automate more of this, but also an awful lot of common sense. Some of these immigration customs agents are simply asking questions, saying you're on a lookout list, I have a list here that says this is a stolen passport and then letting them through if the person has a good enough explanation. That's not going to be allowed anymore.

PILGRIM: Talking their way through. That's pretty...

ROMAN: Talking their way through in many cases.

http://www.cnn.com/CNN/Programs/lou.dobbs.tonight/

Aired 12/21/04

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