Let's just lay the cards on the table. I'm getting a little tired of
the 'myths' that politicians are throwing out concerning immigration,
like 'they are taking jobs Americans won't'; 'you can't send back 11
million illegals'; 'it's impossible to control the borders'; 'they are
just here to work'; or 'the only way to deal with illegals is a guest
worker program'. None of those statements are true.
1) How many illegal aliens are there in the United States? Since
they're not here legally, there's no way to do a precise count. Most
estimates are in the 10-12 million range, but some people believe as
few as 8 million illegal immigrants are here and others think the count
may go as high as 20 million plus.
2) How do the American people feel about illegal immigration?
Time and time again, across numerous polls, the American people have
expressed displeasure with our lax border security and illegal
immigration. Here's some info on some of the more recent polling data
from a column written yesterday by Tony Blankley:
(A) Gallup Poll (March 27) finds 80 percent of the public
wants the federal government to get tougher on illegal immigration. A
Quinnipiac University Poll (March 3) finds 62 percent oppose making it
easier for illegals to become citizens (72 percent in that poll don't
even want illegals to be permitted to have driver's licenses). Time
Magazine's recent poll (Jan. 24-26) found 75 percent favor "major
penalties" on employers of illegals, 70 percent believe illegals
increase the likelihood of terrorism and 57 percent would use military
force at the Mexican-American border.
An NBC/Wall Street Journal poll (March 10-13) found 59 percent opposing
a guest-worker proposal, and 71 percent would more likely vote for a
congressional candidate who would tighten immigration controls.
An IQ Research poll (March 10) found 92 percent saying that securing
the U.S. border should be a top priority of the White House and
Congress.
Unquestionably, the American people see illegal immigration as a problem and want the borders to be secured.
3) So, if the American people oppose illegal immigration, why does Congress seem so reluctant to do anything about it?
The Democrats look at illegal aliens as an easy way to pad their vote
totals. Because Hispanics tend to vote for Democrats in
disproportionate numbers, 10 million illegal immigrants could translate
into a net gain of 2-3 million potential voters for the Democrats once
they become US citizens.
Republicans tend to be hesitant to crack down on illegal immigration
because they fear alienating Hispanic immigrants and because the
members of the business community who make money by hiring illegal
aliens, funnel part their ill gotten gains into Republican (and to a
lesser extent, Democratic) coffers.
This leads to a situation where many Democrats and Republicans on
Capitol Hill talk tough about illegal immigration and border security
in order to placate the voters, but in actuality, they work hard to
keep the flow of illegal aliens from being cut off.
Here's Mark Krikorian giving some examples of how our lawmakers often work behind-the-scenes to thwart our immigration laws:
In ninety eight, the border patrol noticed that the work
force picking onions in the vidalia onion fields of Georgia appeared
increasingly to be illegals, so they did some raids, arrested a few
dozen illegal aliens, and all the rest of them ran off. So the farmers
were there stuck with onions in the ground and no one to pull them out.
It was all their own fault, they knew what they were doing, but
nonetheless, they were outraged. They called their Congressmen, and by
the end of the week, three of Georgia's Congressmen and both Senators,
Republicans and Democrats, wrote a joint letter to the Attorney General
demanding that the Immigration Service stop enforcing the law. Because
they said the INS does not understand the needs of American farmers.
Which in ordinary English means, "let them pick the onions, then arrest
them. Preferably before we have to pay them". Well, the INS got slapped
down and stopped.
So what they tried as an alternative to raids, was something called
Operation Vanguard in Nebraska. It was sort of the first effort at
something like this to see if it worked. They didn't do raids anywhere,
all they did was subpoena personnel records. And they didn't just pick
one or two employers, they did all the meatpacking plants in all of
Nebraska, so that no one of them would be inconvenienced while the
others benefitted. They took the personnel records back to the office,
checked the Social Security numbers, and came back with a list of
people who seemed to be illegal, who did not have authorization to
work. They said "we know some of these people are legit and the records
are wrong. We want to fix those people's records and the ones that are
illegal, have to leave of course". They came back with four thousand
names. One thousand people showed up and got their records fixed and
three thousand were never heard from again. They were illegal aliens.
It worked really well and it was intended to be repeated every two to
three months so as to wean the whole industry off of the use of illegal
aliens.
After one effort like this, the political and business elite in
Nebraska went insane. The ranchers and the meat packers teamed up with
the governor. The governor's predecessor, now Senator Nelson, was hired
as a lobbyist to put an end to this initiative. Senator Chuck Hagel
made it essentially his mission in life to see that this was never
repeated and it wasn't. And the Senior INS official who thought it up
in the first place was invited to retire early -- and he did. If you're
a bureaucrat and you have kids in college, you're going to take the
hint: Congress doesn't want you to enforce the law. So the Immigration
Service essentially gave up enforcing the immigration laws inside the
country. They focused on the important, but narrow, issues of criminal
aliens and smugglers. I'm all for that, criminal aliens and alien
smugglers are the scum of the earth, but there's a lot more to the
issue than just that. But, going after those parts of the issue doesn't
get you in trouble politically. So that's what they did, they gave up
because Congress told them to stop doing their jobs. They really
haven't changed that much (since) 9/11.
4) What about Pete Wilson, the former governor of California? Didn't
he try to crack down on illegal immigration and wasn't there a backlash
against Republicans because of it? This is a myth that has been seized upon by pro-illegal immigrant forces, but it doesn't bear up under scrutiny.
In 1994, Pete Wilson supported Prop 187, a bill that cut off government
services to illegal aliens. Prop 187 passed with the support of 59% of
the voters (including 31% of the Hispanic vote). So, did Wilson get buried by the "backlash?" No, instead he won a 15 point landslide victory.
Fast forward to 2006. The current Governor of California, Arnold Schwarzenegger
voted for Prop 187, had Pete Wilson as the co-chair of his campaign,
said he would not approve driver's licenses for illegal immigrants, and
was still elected in a very liberal state that's 34% Hispanic.
The idea that being tough on illegal immigrants is guaranteed to cause
a massive backlash for Republicans at the polls simply isn't true.
5) Well, what about an Amnesty for illegals? Didn't we have one of those before?
Back in 1986, during the Reagan administration, illegal aliens who were
already here were allowed to become American citizens. Basically, it
was supposed to be a one time amnesty for illegals and in return,
security measures would be beefed up to take care of the illegal
immigrant problem once and for all.
However, in practice what happened was that once the illegal immigrants
were made citizens, the enforcement provisions weren't treated
seriously, and even more illegal aliens poured across the border hoping
to get in on the next amnesty.
Today? We're talking about essentially the same sort of proposal in the
Senate. Allowing illegal aliens to become citizens in return for
security measures, in practice, may or may not actually ever be put
into place.
6) If illegals weren't allowed to become citizens, what would be the
problem with allowing illegal aliens who are already here to stay as
guest workers? There are at least three major problems with allowing illegal aliens to stay here as guest workers.
Number one, many Americans don't realize this, but there are countless
millions of foreigners waiting patiently to enter the United States the
right way. To allow the illegals who are already here to stay rewards
lawbreakers and makes the people who respected our laws look like
chumps.
Number two, when you reward illegal behavior and treat people who obey
the law like chumps, you can expect more lawbreaking. In other words,
if we allow the illegals who are already here to stay here, we can
expect another massive onslaught of illegals to enter our country
because we'll have shown them that breaking our laws pays.
Number three, if we give the illegal aliens who are already here free
passes that allow them to continue working and create a guest worker
program, there's a very real danger that what we'll end up with is a
guest worker program AND massive numbers of illegals pouring into the
country. As was mentioned earlier in this FAQ, the politicians in
Washington have a heavy incentive to keep the flow of illegals going
and they've lied before about crack downs on illegal immigration. So,
you can't simply take the Federal government's word for it when they
say they're going to toughen up security in return for a guest worker
program. Americans will only be able to believe it when it happens.
7) Isn't it practically impossible to deport all the illegal aliens?
There is no bigger straw man in the whole debate over illegal
immigration than the idea that you have to round the illegals up, one
by one. There's actually a much easier way to do it.
You see, the majority of illegal aliens are coming here to get jobs. If
you crack down on the employers who are hiring them, then the jobs will
disappear, and the majority of illegal aliens will self-deport.
Will every illegal alien go home if they can't get a job? No, but the
vast majority of them will and having, let's say, a a few hundred
thousand illegals in the US, as opposed to 8-20 million, would be a
vast improvement.
8) But, aren't these illegal aliens doing jobs Americans won't do?
To begin with, in many of the industries most associated with illegal
immigrant labor, you find that the majority of workers in those fields
are not illegals. As Rich Lowry pointed out in National Review:
"According to a new survey by the Pew Hispanic Center,
illegals make up 24 percent of workers in agriculture, 17 percent in
cleaning, 14 percent in construction, and 12 percent in food
production. So 86 percent of construction workers, for instance, are
either legal immigrants or Americans, despite the fact that this is one
of the alleged categories of untouchable jobs."
Moreover, it needs to be pointed out that there's no such thing as a
job, "Americans won't do." There are only jobs Americans won't do at a
certain price. Consider your job. Would you still do it if the pay were
50% less? For most people, the answer to that question is, "no."
Well, since illegal immigrants generally come from poor countries with
mediocre economies, they're willing to work for much lower wages than
the going market rate because they're still making substantially more
than what they can make at home. So, if there's a large influx of
illegal aliens into an America industry, it depresses wages so much
that Americans simply won't do those jobs any more for the going pay
rate.
This harms poor Americans the most, because they're the group that
generally ends up competing with illegal aliens for jobs on the low end
of the pay scale.
9) If these illegal aliens were to leave the United States, wouldn't there be a major impact on the American economy? There's disagreement about that, but it's highly doubtful. As Rich Lowry at National Review has pointed out:
"Phillip Martin, an economist at the University of
California, Davis, has demolished the argument that a crackdown on
illegals would ruin it, or be a hardship to consumers. Most farming —
livestock, grains, etc. — doesn't heavily rely on hired workers. Only
about 20 percent of the farm sector does, chiefly those areas involving
fresh fruit and vegetables.
The average "consumer unit" in the U.S. spends $7 a week on fresh fruit
and vegetables, less than is spent on alcohol, according to Martin. On
a $1 head of lettuce, the farm worker gets about 6 or 7 cents, roughly
1/15th of the retail price. Even a big run-up in the cost of labor
can't hit the consumer very hard.
Martin recalls that the end of the bracero guest-worker program in the
mid-1960s caused a one-year 40 percent wage increase for the United
Farm Workers Union. A similar wage increase for legal farm workers
today would work out to about a 10-dollar-a-year increase in the
average family's bill for fruit and vegetables. Another thing happened
with the end of the bracero program: The processed-tomato industry,
which was heavily dependent on guest workers and was supposed to be
devastated by their absence, learned how to mechanize and became more
productive."
If every illegal alien here today currently left America, the immediate
economic impact would be insignificant and over the long haul, the
impact would likely be negligible.
10) What about other costs to society? On the whole, are illegals a net benefit or net liability to the American economy?
This is one of those questions that can vary wildly depending on what's
included as an asset and what's not included as a liability. For
example, liberal economist and popular New York Times columnist Paul Krugman says that overall, illegals are an insignificant, positive asset to the economy, although their presence harms poor Americans:
"First, the net benefits to the U.S. economy from
immigration, aside from the large gains to the immigrants themselves,
are small. Realistic estimates suggest that immigration since 1980 has
raised the total income of native-born Americans by no more than a
fraction of 1 percent.
Second, while immigration may have raised overall income slightly, many
of the worst-off native-born Americans are hurt by immigration -
especially immigration from Mexico. Because Mexican immigrants have
much less education than the average U.S. worker, they increase the
supply of less-skilled labor, driving down the wages of the worst- paid
Americans.
The most authoritative recent study of this effect, by George Borjas
and Lawrence Katz of Harvard, estimates that U.S. high school dropouts
would earn as much as 8 percent more if it weren't for Mexican
immigration."
On the other hand, according to a conservative group, the Center for Immigration Studies:
"Based on Census Bureau data, this study finds that, when
all taxes paid (direct and indirect) and all costs are considered,
illegal households created a net fiscal deficit at the federal level of
more than $10 billion in 2002. We also estimate that, if there was an
amnesty for illegal aliens, the net fiscal deficit would grow to nearly
$29 billion."
Again, estimates vary on how much of an impact illegals have on the
economy, but most of the credible ones show the benefits are
insignificant or even in the negative range.
11) Is there a crime problem related to illegal immigrants?
Absolutely, and in areas where illegals congregate heavily, crimewaves
tend to follow. For example, illegals are responsible for much of the
serious crime in Los Angeles. Here's Heather Mac Donald on that topic from back in mid-2004:
In Los Angeles, 95% of all outstanding warrants for
homicide target illegal aliens, and over 60% of all outstanding felony
warrants. Illegal aliens, and immigrants generally, are a major, and
unacknowledged, driver of gang crime.
Moreover, according to Jim Kouri, the vice-president of the National Association of Chiefs of Police:
"It's widely been reported that illegal aliens comprise upwards of 27 percent of the US prison and jail population."
Make no mistake about it: illegal aliens are responsible for a very
significant percentage of the rape, murder, robbery, and mayhem that
occurs in the United States.
12) Do illegal immigrants put a strain on our health care system?
In some border states, illegals are straining our hospitals to the
breaking point and beyond. Here's an excerpt from Arizona Senator John Kyl:
"The estimated annual cost to hospitals and other providers
of emergency health care nationwide for illegal aliens is $1.45
billion. According to congressionally-commissioned research from the
MTG Corporation, the annual cost to just the 24 counties along the
border in Texas, New Mexico and California exceeds $200 million, and
for Arizona's four border counties alone it's $32 million per year.
These unreimbursed costs, and other health-related issues, have put
Arizona hospitals in a state of dire fiscal emergency. As a result,
some have closed, or are in danger of having to close their emergency
rooms and other services.
Copper Queen Hospital in Bisbee, for example, closed its ob/gyn
department for several months because it had to provide labor and
delivery services for illegal immigrants on an emergency basis and
received no compensation. Maricopa County Hospital incurred
uncompensated costs of over $1 million just to treat two burn victims."
Furthermore, because illegal immigrants often come from Third World
Countries with poor health care systems, diseases like Tuberculosis,
Chagas disease, Leprosy, Dengue fever, Polio, and Malaria that had
practically been wiped out in the United States are being reintroduced here by illegal aliens who were infected in their home countries.
The percentage of illegals infected is small, but when you consider,
for example, that Multi-Drug Resistant Tuberculosis can cost $250,000
to treat and American taxpayers are picking up the tab for each case
illegals bring into the US, the bills can add up in a hurry.
13) Some people say that it's impossible to secure our border? Are they right?
No, they're not. The reason why our borders are not secure today is
because the border patrol has been dramatically underfunded,
undermanned, and not given the technology they need to do their jobs.
For example, we only have 11,000 border patrol agents working on both the US and Canadian border combined. On the other hand, New York City
alone has 39,110 officers. How can anyone expect us to secure both our
Northern and Southern borders with 1/3 of the personnel used to handle
a single city?
Furthermore, we don't give our border patrol agents the technology that they need to do their job. As Congressman Tom Tancredo has pointed out, with the proper technology our borders can be locked down tightly:
"The marines did a little (exercise) just North of Idaho.
One Hundred marines with three drones and two radar stations controlled
100 miles of the most rugged border you ever saw in your life. While I
was there, just one week-end while I was there, they intercepted four
people coming across on ATVs carrying four hundred pounds of drugs, we
got a light plane trying to come in under the radar, and so it can
happen. We can control our borders, we just choose not too."
If we properly staff our border patrols, build a wall, use sensors,
remote controlled drones, and radar stations, we can slow the raging
flood of illegal aliens coming over our border down to a trickle. It's
not "impossible," in fact, it probably wouldn't even be all that
difficult, we just haven't made the effort.
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