A friend sent me this, and I thought it was worth passing on. It's definitely food for thought. You can check out the links for verification of the statements.
You think the war in Iraq is costing us too much? Read this:
Boy, was I confused. I have been hammered with the propaganda that it is the Iraq war and the war on terror that is bankrupting us. I now find that to be ridiculous. I hope the following reasons are forwarded over and over again until they are read so many times that the reader gets sick of reading them. I also have included the URL's for verification of all the following acts.
• $11 Billion to $22 Billion is spent on welfare to illegal aliens each year by state governments.
Verify Here
• $2.2 Billion dollars a year is spent on food assistance programs such as food stamps, WIC, and free school lunches for illegal aliens.
Verify Here
• $2.5 Billion dollars a year is spent on Medicaid for illegal aliens.
Verify Here
• $12 Billion dollars a year is spent on primary and secondary school education for children here illegally who cannot speak a word of English!
Verify Here
• $17 Billion dollars a year is spent for education for the American born children of illegal aliens, known as anchor babies.
Verify Here
• $3 Million Dollars a DAY is spent to incarcerate illegal aliens.
Verify Here
• 30 percent of all Federal Prison inmates are illegal aliens.
Verify Here
• $90 Billion Dollars a year is spent on illegal aliens for Welfare & Social Services by the American taxpayers.
Verify Here
• $200 Billion dollars a year in suppressed American wages are caused by the illegal aliens.
Verify Here
• The illegal aliens in the United States have a crime rate that's two and a half times that of non-illegal aliens. In particular, their children, are likely to create a huge additional crime problem in the US.
Verify Here
• During the year of 2005 there were 4 to 10 milion illegal aliens that crossed our Southern Border also, as many as 19,500 illegal aliens from Terrorist Countries. Millions of pounds of drugs, cocaine, meth, heroin and marijuana, crossed into the U. S. from the Southern border.
Verify Here
• The National policy Institute, estimated that the total cost of mass deportation would be between $206 and $230Billion or an average cost of between $41 and $46Billion annually over a five year period.
Verify Here
• In 2006 illegal aliens sent home $45Billion in remittances to their countries of origin.
Verify Here
The total cost is a whopping $338.3 Billion Dollars a year. Talk about stimulus money — How much of our failing infrastructure could that fix every years and how many jobs would that create?
This doesn't seem particularly helpful. I read this blog hoping for local insights. This is from a fear-mongering chain mail dating back to late 2007, at least.
ReplyDeleteThe email starts with the faulty assumption that illegals pay absolutely no taxes and contribute absolutely no revenue. The email has been debunked line-by-line on other sites, and following the links leads to special interest websites and transcripts of what someone said on Lou Dobbs - not much actual fact. I visit this West Sound Politics hoping for intelligent insight into the thoughts of my more conservative friends. This isn't how productive dialogue starts.
Can you provide the links to those other sites?
ReplyDeleteIf you Google Search a large chunk of any of the bullet items, in quotes, like this: "2.2 Billion dollars a year is spent on food assistance programs such as food stamps" you can find the individual items discussed. A line by line review of this email from 2007 is available here:
ReplyDeletehttp://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2007/8/15/154116/038
Snopes.com also has an evaluation of a similar (Los Angeles County) email here:
http://www.snopes.com/politics/immigration/taxes.asp
I'm not pointing this out just to be snarky. I know that illegal immigration is a huge problem that has many components. I'm not an expert on it, but I believe there has to be more to the dialogue than just claiming that Lazy Mexicans are coming to the US to commit crimes and mooch government benefits.
It seems to me that most of the illegals come here for the right reasons - the pursuit of a better job and a better life - the same reason Irish, Italians, Chinese, and countless others came here in the past. As a nation, we just need to get control of who is coming here. I would favor allowing more immigrants here legally in exchange for tight control of the border, and economic safeguards for US workers. What do you think?
Well said. IT's not a simple problem; and foaming rhetoric (sorry, couldn't resist) doesn't help. Personally; I'm scared of gang problems, crime and the economy; but demonizing ANY ethnic or economic group as "being the problem" isnt' rational or productive. We incorporate the "new" citizens into our culture by educating them in our schools; by separating them from the mindsets of their parents (for good and for ill), and by instilling "American Values". Of course, if you suppress one section of the populace, then they find other outlets (some really bad choices).
ReplyDeleteMuch as I hate to admit it; I would prefer a national ID card that cant' be easily forged, and require this for employment, services (except emergency accident care, et al) and food benefits. But it is a VERY intractable problem, I agree on that.
It's true that illegal immigration has two sides. Human nature often wants to better itself. But many of those coming into this nation want simply to 'hurt' America. They bring in drugs, weapons and perhaps even WMDs and they bring an attitude of 'entitlement'. They don't 'absorb', the isolate. This is not the 'melting pot', they wish to become the majority and "vote" their lifestyle and beliefs "over" our Constitution and Bill of Rights. We can lose America... we might not see it but our kids and grandchildren will bear the burdons. Too much corruption, too much pandering for the 'illegal' vote (yes, they vote!), don't believe this will be turned about by 'cards' and 'ID checks'. Recall the Hoover, Truman and Ike all deported millions of illegal and 'legal' immigrants to make jobs for returning vets and men of the Depression! Rome is burning... who is fiddling?
ReplyDeleteaedmunde-
ReplyDeleteI would be inclined to agree with you. In the past I used to think that any ethnic group dumped into extreme poverty and other similar difficult situations would react similarly. However, for whatever reason, I have seen first hand that children of illegal and legal Mexican immigrants are more prone to crime and laziness then most other ethnic groups placed in similar circumstances. I taught High School in an inner-city school in the Dallas-Fort Worth Metroplex. The school used to be predominantly Black with a few Whites and a few token students from other nationalities. It wasn't the best school around by any means, but had a reasonably respectable graduation rate and average issues with gangs/violence compared to other similar schools. However, over about a ten year period, the school became predominantly Mexican and went downhill very fast. I couldn't tell you why that was the case, but economic conditions didn't change a bit. The only thing that changed was the cultural demographics. Also, my cousin is a Border Patrol Agent and let me assure you the large percentage of people they are apprehending crossing the border are NOT doing it for the so-called "right" reasons.
@ Mark Biggs
ReplyDeleteIllegals may contribute some money through Sales Tax and other unavoidable taxes, but they certainly don't come near paying for the benefits they abuse as a group. And comparing them to a legal person in the same position shows a LARGE gap in the amount of taxes contributed to society. Let's not forget that drug dealers contribute taxes and revenue to society as well, but that doesn't mean they are even remotely desirable to society.