Posted on 05/12/2006 6:25:43 AM PDT by John Jorsett
On May 1st, Stanford students and employees rallied to support immigrant rights in the face of Senate Bill H.R. 4437, legislation aimed at cracking down on the United States’ 12 million illegal aliens. On this “Day Without Immigrants,” the supposition that xenophobia is at the root of anti-illegal-immigration legislation mutated bill H.R. 4437 into an attack on basic human rights of immigrants everywhere. Cries of “no human is illegal” smothered the truth: that the fiscal consequences of a massive undocumented population necessitate an immediate response to illegal immigration in the United States.
The notion that the “Day Without Immigrants” was a defense of human rights is founded upon a false presumption that xenophobia is the only possible explanation for anti-illegal-immigration sentiment in the United States. Protestors justified the “Day Without Immigrants” as a human rights initiative by asserting that the native-born American population is incapable of drawing the line between illegal and legal immigration, but rather views each with equal animosity. This is simply wrong. According to a national poll conducted in March by The Pew Research Center, only 22% of Americans say that legal and illegal immigration are equally problematic, while 60% say that illegal immigration is a bigger problem than legal immigration. A whopping 80% of Americans believe immigrants from Latin America work very hard, and 80% believe immigrants from Latin America have strong family values. These figures are up from 63% and 75%, respectively, in 1997. It would be an understatement to say that the United States is tolerant of its immigrant population. Anti-illegal-immigration opinion is rooted in legitimate fiscal considerations, not xenophobia.
The United States government simply cannot afford a population of 12 million illegal aliens. The IRS’s Individual Tax Identification Number program does allow some undocumented residents to pay some taxes. However, this limited tax collection does not nearly cover education, healthcare, and welfare services. In August 2004, the Center for Immigration Studies released a landmark study on the tax behavior of illegal immigrants. The study revealed that, in 2002, households headed by illegal aliens received $26.3 billion in government services, while paying a total of $16 billion in taxes. It doesn’t take a budget analyst to comprehend the significance of a $10 billion loss over one year. And with the rate of illegal immigration increasing from 2002 to 2005 to virtually no change in government policy, federal losses are inflating rapidly.
Fiscal disaster deriving from the inherence of tax evasion to illegal immigration is not confined to the federal level. In 2004, the Washington Times reported that California’s 3 million illegal immigrants sap the state government of $10.5 billion annually. The largest contributor to this sum is the $7.7 billion cost of educating the children of illegal immigrants, who make up 15% of California’s total student population. Undocumented aliens pose a greater budgetary threat to state governments, which do not employ expansive methods of illegitimate resident tax collection such as the Individual Tax Identification Number system.
It is clear that the burden of providing education, healthcare, and welfare services to undocumented aliens is a serious impediment to our state and federal governments. To this, the pro-illegal-immigrant bloc would retort that the tax burden is easily outweighed by the strength that undocumented aliens grant to our overall economy. The bloc would probably employ the old standby, “Illegal immigrants do the jobs that we are not willing to do.” This ubiquitous catch phrase, the illegal immigration debate’s most popular fall-back, is also its most blatant fallacy.
The fact is that “we,” America’s legal immigrants and native-born workers, are indeed willing to do the jobs that illegal immigrants do. Proof of this requires looking no further than the simplest of economic statistics, unemployment. According to analysis the Center for Immigration Studies released in March, in 2005 there were an average of 4,568,000 unemployed legal residents with a high school degree or less, including 723,000 legal immigrants. This statistic doesn’t jibe with the superstition that the illegal alien population has single-handedly adopted the burden of unskilled labor in the United States. Four and a half million legitimate residents of the United States, including many legal immigrants who joined in the May 1 protest, are competing with illegal immigrants for work, and losing. In short, illegal immigrants are doing the jobs we are willing to do.
At this point, the only way to claim an economic boon due to illegal immigrant labor is to contend that illegal immigrants, because they are undocumented, are not necessarily subject to the minimum wage and can therefore work for less than legitimate residents. However, this is an impossible outlet for defenders of illegal immigration with a human rights credo. It is preposterously self-contradictory to promote illegal immigrant rights because the lack of illegal immigrant labor rights fuels the economy.
Undocumented resident labor can offer no significant economic compensation for the disastrous toll illegal immigration wreaks on federal and state budgets each year. Given this conclusion, debating legislation such as H.R. 4437 as a matter of human rights is unsatisfying. Regardless of whether a human can be illegal, undocumented immigrants cost American taxpayers billions of dollars annually. Holding illegal immigrants accountable for this deficit is a matter of fiscal responsibility, not human rights.
You excel at making false claims. Reread what I initially wrote and you will be forced to admit you've just made yet another.
Si, Se Puede... Reform ImmigrationI was ALWAYS taught that as soon as someone says "BUT", you ignore the excuse which follows, REVERSE the statement which proceeded BUT, and you'll know their actual position.03/28/2006
I do not condone breaking the law, but let’s face it—many of our state’s top economic producers rely on immigrant labor to turn a profit and keep consumer prices low. After all, the market dictates the economy, and if Americans were willing to take these jobs, they would have done so already, rather than creating an opportunity for immigrant labor.
Don't tell me that the Los Angeles Area Chamber of Commerce doesn't have a bias. Any information you may have gotten from them, I would want to know their sources accepted and rejected. I would want to know if they pressed the issue to find out why monies were lost. Did they ask individual businesses if they were THREATENED with violence if they remained open during the protest? There's a sundry other types of questions which would provide accurate data. I would be surprised if anything like that was done.
nic, of course they have a bias, as do most of the politicians here in the L.A. area. Due to the huge hispanic population that lives here now, thanks to unchecked illegal immigration, the bias gets stronger every day as the numbers increase.
We're being colonized, and the political system here is following that trend.
His record on FR puts him clearly in the pro-illegal alien camp. With every post, he sinks deeper into the illegal alien muck.
" You're making one of their points right here on this conservative forum."
It's what he does, nearly 24/7. Makes you wonder when he has time for work.
Cute, but the next 20 million are already here. Twelve million is way low, 30 million is more like it, according to my sources.
cl3, you address yourself to the example, not the comment. The comment was "I'd say illegal aliens violate the 8th (stealing), 9th (bearing false witness), and 10th (coveting thy neighbor's house)."
The act of walking across the border illegally with the INTENT of staying violates at LEAST these 3.
So there goes your 10 Commandments "argument" to protect your law-breaking pets.
By the way, I am still waiting for that check you need to write. I hope you have $10 billion -- for THIS YEAR ALONE. NET. You love them so much, YOU pay for them.
I don't have $262 million for a fighter jet either - doesn't mean those don't get built - especially when the federal AND California State government find themselves with more tax revenues than projected. I believe I have answered the example AND comment - while there are illegals who steal, bear false witness, etc., so do citizens - there are some illegal aliens who do not commit another single illegal act too. Maybe I'm missing your point?
Yes, and doing so ON PURPOSE. The question was NOT about Criminality -- it was about which Commandments had been broken.
But since we are talking about Criminality, the moment an illegal alien WALKS ON a road maintained by our taxes,it is theft. The moment they go to a hospital, it is theft. If they cross the border with their children, it is a compound crime.
Every moment they breathe air in the US, IT IS A CRIME. The crime is continuous from the moment they enter until the moment they leave.
So it is both against the laws of God and against the laws of Man to be illegal. Not counting additional acts they perform WHILE they are illegally here.
LOL - please cite the specific statute allegedly violated for breathing air.
As log as they are in the US they are coninuing the crime.
If you are no longer breathing after being here illegally, you are no longer "here" illegally.
Would you please quit being obtuse on purpose? LIke I said, it is not crossing that is the offense. As long as an illegal is here his/her existance here is a crime.
And, as I said, I must be missing something - sorry you think I am the one being obtuse - I just checked again and there's no criminal statute for breathing air.
And as I pointed out COVETING happened before the crossing and continues to happen. THEFT happens once they cross. And crossing the border is not a single item crime. All the time they are in the US they are committing a crime. Why don't you acknowledge that? Because it blows a hole in your "they committed one crime" nonsense.
You are being obtuse on purpose. Being here illegally is a crime. 24 hours a day, 7 days a week these people are committing a crime. The crime is continous.
The "breathing air" part was dramatic license to demonstrate how their existence here is a crime.
And you know it.
Currently, being in the country illegally is a federal CIVIL offense no worse than a traffic ticket - H.R. 4437 was trying to change that into a felony - is that what you are talking about "crime"? There are plenty of illegal aliens in the country who did NOT cross the border illegally but stayed after a visa expired, worked without the proper documentation, etc. That being said, I still maintain there are border crossers who have not violated another single law - didn't even have the intent to commit another crime or covet anything - illegal aliens school children for instance.
A deporting offense that is occurring continually from the time they cross the border. Yes, it is a "crime." You should know that.
H.R. 4437 was trying to change that into a felony - is that what you are talking about "crime"?
That would add prison time and oter sanctions to the exising crime. And propery make it identified as a more severe crime. You do know the difference between misdemeanors, infractions, civil offenses and the like? And you do know they are all crimes, right?
There are plenty of illegal aliens in the country who did NOT cross the border illegally but stayed after a visa expired, worked without the proper documentation, etc.
The moment their visa expired or they began working without proper documentation, thet committed an ongoing crime.
That being said,
Forensically, "that being said" means "ignore what I just said."
I still maintain there are border crossers who have not violated another single law - didn't even have the intent to commit another crime or covet anything - illegal aliens school children for instance.
They coveted our way of life, our jobs, our social services. They stole the moment they touched our infrastructure.
And as I have told you over and over. Crossing is not "a" crime. It is a continuous crime. Those who crossed (or overstayed their visas) didn't just commit a single crime. They continue to commit that same crime.
Yes, dear - I fully understand what "crimes" are - I was asking YOU questions because it seems you do not. I will try one last time: there is a specific crime for crossing the border and not presenting yourself to immigration officials within 48 hours - I can get you that cite if you don't believe me. H.R. 4437 was trying to make the mere presence in the country illegally a felony, and I was opposed to that. But those are examples of specific crimes.
Now, see of you can follow this: there are plenty of illegal aliens in the U.S. today who have not committed ANY other crime - I have given you examples above - illegal alien school children are probably the single largest examples. Get it? If not, I doubt I can explain it any simpler for you.
And I am telling YOU that using our infrastructure is STEALING. Illegal children in school IS a crime, but there is a "don't ask, don't tell" policy in place that we MUST remove as soon as possible.
And once someone has become an illegal, they CONTINUE to be illegal, thus CONTINUE committing a crime 24x7. Or do I need to be any simpler for you?
You trot it out every time you lose an argument.
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