Posted on 04/02/2006 10:30:41 PM PDT by kellynla
Imagine that you came home tomorrow and found a stranger living in your home. Would you pay $148 to have him removed, or would you instead just legally adopt him and give him the run of the place to save the $148? The Center for American Progress, a liberal think tank in Washington, D.C., thinks the “practical” thing to do would be adopt the “undocumented family member” that broke into your home.
At least, that is what I can extrapolate from the report they released last week purporting to document the true cost of deporting –rather than amnestying-- the 10 million illegal aliens that have smuggled themselves into our homeland over the past two decades. According to the study, which was dutifully reported by the Washington Post and others, it would cost the Federal Government $41 billion per year over the next five years to take the “draconian” step of actually enforcing our immigration laws.
Let’s pretend, for just a moment, that the ghost of the bloody Greek King Dracon is not laughing hysterically at the idea that being deported home in an air-conditioned bus is now considered “draconian.” And while we’re in fantasyland, let us also pretend that the $41 billion per year figure is even remotely accurate. The Federal Government has an annual budget of $2.34 trillion per year. Our Gross Domestic Product is a staggering $12 trillion per year. $41 billion would be just 1.7% of the Federal budget, and a miniscule 0.34% of our GDP.
(Excerpt) Read more at humaneventsonline.com ...
I'd be there in a flash.
double yep!
It wouldnt cost a dime if we took away all the benefits including healthcare and education and fined employers for hiring illegals. They would leave on their own. All the politicians know this but wont admit it - they act like we're helpless - all we have to do is take away the incentives to come here in the first place and not a single bus would be required to ship em back.
"What Would It Cost to Deport Illegal Aliens?"
Nothing. Fine the employers of illegals heavily, with jail time for repeat offenders. No welfare for illegals. No free education or emergency room treatment for illegals.
When all these things dry up, they'll go home on their own.
" I'm afraid we'd be kidding ourselves if we thought these people would go back to Mexico after living here."
Hmmm, why would they stay here? They would get no benefits and wouldnt be able to work. How would they survive on handouts? Stealing? So what we put em in prison and ship em back when their time is done.
Why are you and so many other afraid of doing whats right? Its past time to worry about what they would do and start to take the offensive and proactive approach of what is the proper thing for the future of America.
I don't get why you wouldn't mind if someone entered your house illegally. But putting that aside.....
If you think your city needs more workers and different cultures - why not import legal workers? You'll likely get better educated workers that would want to assimilate, learn the language, love the country, and become good citizens. And getting legal workers from different countries would ensure you get a real mix of cultures, not just one. What we have now is biculturalism, not multiculturalism. (And biculturalism is what tears countries apart - ie., Canada.)
"Why are you and so many other afraid of doing whats right?"
Maybe you should read my post again. I said that we should deport them all, secure the borders and fine employers who hire them.
Well, from the Mexican government's point of view, there isn't a problem. The remittances Mexicans send back to their country help prop up the economy, and they don't have jobs for these people anyway.
I have an interest in this because, as I have mentioned, I plan to move to the Philippines, which also has a corrupt government. And they have the same situation, with the exception that overseas Filipino workers go to countries where there is huge demand for their services, and they are legal in those countries.
However, at the same time their work is desperately needed, they are discriminated against and treated with contempt, just as Mexicans are.
I don't like this kind of discrimination. To me, Mexicans and Filipinos are human, and deserve to be treated like people, not some kind of vermin.
The fact that many people here just want to buy a big can of Alien-Be-Gone and spray it on any illegal who crosses their path sickens and appalls me.
I think it denies their essential humanity and our tradition of welcoming immigrants, which gives our country vitality and helps it grow.
We seem to have some weaknesses in our laws, and it seems to me those should be addressed. For instance, maybe we should change our health care policies so that illegals who can't pay are given stabilizing treatment and then deported. And maybe we should change our citizenship policies so that if someone is born on our soil to people who are not legally here, the child stays a citizen of their home country. Those two changes would dramatically reduce the burden on our resources, which seems to be a big argument you folks have.
If I were in the Philippines and participated prominently in demonstrations against their government, I would be deported and my file would be marked as an undesirable so I'd have a tough time getting back in. Perhaps we should apply this to demonstrators here and just round 'em up and send them back. After all, they're expressing a desire for the US to be like Mexico; if they want that, they should, indeed, live in Mexico.
That much, I agree with, because it's frightening to see people who hate us and are willing to demonstrate against us. That's crossing the line in my view.
But to deport people who just want to make an honest living, out of jobs that exist here, strikes me as a lose/lose situaiton for both Mexico and America.
D
He was anti-illegal back when he was governor. There's a pic of a letter he wrote back in the mid-90s, I don't have it though to post it. Not sure who it was written to, but he specifically said the borders should be enforced, at that time.
Once he got on the national scene though, the priorities changed. Sadly.
I would mind, but I thought that was way too harsh a metaphor for the illegals. They're sneaking into the country, but they are not wholly unwanted. If they really were, we would not give them jobs. If one of them knocked on my door I would give them a job if I had one.
I would support a guest worker program such as what President Bush is proposing, so I'm with you there. The problem is that it would cost huge amounts of money to seal our borders, and I'm not sure if it's worth the effort considering that the workers come in and are useful for our employers.
As I said in another message, I do think we need to change the laws so that illegals are not provided with signficant public services. I would rather do that than seal the borders and participate in the highly vindictive attitudes against illegals I see here.
D
"because they have now become accustomed to living in a place that is dramatically better than where they came from and if they had to resort to criminal activity which BTW many of our ancestors(Irish, Italians, Jews) did then they would. Heck we have over a HUNDRED THOUSAND GANG BANGERS IN L.A. now; so the foundation is already set."
Again, so what! This is going to happen anyway. You think when, not if, there is another recession or perhpaps depression that there wont be riots in the streets? This country is segregated whether we believe or not (thanks to the racist diversity training crap), and the proof is in how blacks vote 90% democrat and the illegals are raising the mexican flag. We are not a country united any longer and wishing it wont make it so.
Taking away the benefits will force the non-criminal illegals to leave if others take up criminal actions then they should be met with justice.
I heard a shocking number the other day, $20 billion per year is being sent back to Mexico from the US -- this is apparently the largest amount of money flowing into Mexico yearly from any source.
Granted, some of it is coming from legal citizens, but it's quite possibly split pretty evenly between legals and illegals.
Not only is the US spending -- what? -- 20 billion a year on services etc for illegals, but many billions more are flowing out of the country back to their families in Mexico.
"No, they wouldn't leave and if we rounded them up they would just come back. This isn't about picking strawberries anymore, it's about conquest."
Come back? for what? Im talking about taking away ALL benefits- no job, no education - no healthcare - no nothing. What exactly would they get here? It would be much better in their own country - they would have NO rights NO benefits.
Ya know I don't know where in CA you live but those of us who live in Southern California have seen our schools(one third of all the kids in L.A. public schools don't even speak English), hospitals(NINE HAVE CLOSED IN THE PAST YEAR) deteriorate and with a third of all incarcerated being illegals; if you are prepared to pony up the NINE BILLION DOLLARS A YEAR it is costing those of us who actually pay taxes in CA then maybe just maybe we might consider allowing illegals to stay here...but I friggin' doubt it because I'm sure you don't have the NINE BILLION and we already have over a HUNDRED THOUSAND GANG BANGERS IN L.A. already.
I've lived in Los Angeles from 1984 - November 2004, for the last five years in Woodland Hills, a Los Angeles suburb.
It's true that I've never had children and very rarely had medical care, so most of the issues you mention didn't touch me.
Instead of ejecting the illegals, why not change the law to state that illegals are not entitled to services such as medical care or schooling for their children? Why not change our citizenship policy so that only the children of at least one citizen parent would be citizens?
Why not change the policies that aren't working? I think that would have a better chance of solving the problem than building a fence or ejecting those illegals who are hard-working and productive.
D
People will still hire them under the table.
But otherwise I think that's a good idea - staunch the bleeding as it's affecting our own system by changing the laws to tilt the playing field in such a way that illegal aliens can no longer rely on our government for anything but deportation.
I have a prediction, though: Even if we did that, our schools and hospitals would be just as lousy as they were before. I think illegals are scapegoats and most people don't want to understand and try to solve our real problems, which are governmental incompetence and corruption.
D
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