Posted by
Patrick Henry on Friday, April 23, 2010 12:40:08 AM
Granted that common sense is not a highly prized commodity in Washington
D.C. But it's catching on like wildfire in middle America, its flames fanned by the
delirious excesses of liberal policies and runaway spending. It's coming back into
vogue to believe that one shouldn't spend more money than he has, nor should
the government. But the ultimate incredible boondoggle is lurking just beyond the
horizon. It is called amnesty for illegal aliens.
Now it's a shame that 12-20 million people have to live in the shadows because
they chose to enter the country illegally. It's a shame that they have to work scut
jobs for unscrupulous employers who illegally hire them and immorally exploit
them. It's too bad that they are victimized by drug dealers, human traffickers and
other vermin, and have to endure long separations from their families south of the
border. There are two schools of thought about that. One says that their plight is
caused by unjust immigration laws, and that the U.S. should have open borders to
receive the "tired, the hungry, the wretched refuse." The other says that while the
situation is deplorable, those who illegally entered this country have invited their
exploitation and brought the problem on themselves.
Choosing between these diametrically opposed points of view is quite beside the
point, and it is ludicrous that elected officials in Washington are squabbling over
them. The real issue here is a fiscal one, and whatever solution is finally hatched
must be driven by that understanding.
Consider the following. Popular estimates hold that there are between twelve and
twenty million aliens living in the country illegally. Some suggest the number may be
much higher, but let's go with twelve million. Under most amnesty plans being
proposed, the families of those granted amnesty would also be allowed to immigrate.
Conservatively, that would be another forty million, for a grand total of fifty-two
million newly legalized American citizens.
The implications are daunting. When, in 1986, a limited amnesty was granted, the
Immigration and Naturalization Service began to track those who took of advantage
of it, only to find that ten years later they earned an average of $9,000 annually and
had a 7th grade education. That was just 2.7 million people, and the INS reports that
the cost to American taxpayers for taking care of them was approximately seventy-
eight billion dollars, and there was no Obamacare to factor in.
But even without the healthcare subsidies, just sticking with the established figures,
the cost to the American taxpayer over the first ten years after a new amnesty would
be nearly two-and-one-half trillion dollars. Then throw in healthcare for fifty-two million
and see what you come up with.
The point is this: even in good times we could not afford to do this. In a lingering
deep recession, facing the task of supporting a massive new entitlement and fighting
two wars, granting amnesty to these illegals now is the fastest way possible to
finally and irretrievably bankrupt the country. Now I'm sure that the Obama math-
magicians will try to find a way to re-game the Congressional Budget Office to
prove otherwise. But even considering this is insanity.
What must be done, painful and costly as it may seem is (1) existing immigration
laws must be enforced and those illegals who are discovered must go home
and seek to re-enter the country by legal means. (2) The U.S. Army must be sent to
our southern borders to stop the daily flow of illegal aliens, some of whom are criminals
in their own country, their drugs and their families from compounding an already
untenable situation by crossing them. (3) The "amnesty" should be
temporarily
granted to businesses employing illegals, and those able to make the case that
those employees are crucial to their success and could not be replaced by some
of the 9.7% of unemployed people who are already citizens should be forgiven of
their violation and extended temporary permits for those workers who can then
become legal citizens.
There are those, I'm sure, who will call me a racist for this piece. But the only
reason it is a racial issue is because groups like La Raza (the race) continue to
make it one, suggesting that Mexican refugees have some mystical right, not
canonized in law, to trespass on American soil because they need jobs. All the
heat and race-baiting only serves to obscure the naked ugly truth. America can't
afford a blanket amnesty even if she wanted one. And the majority of us don't!