Illegal immigration must be confronted
By Yeh Ling-Ling
Published April 26, 2003, in the Los Angeles Daily News
Translate
While the war against Iraq is winding down, many
serious problems facing California and this country remain unresolved.
Our federal budget deficit is at a record high. Most states, especially
California, are facing their most severe budgetary crises in decades, as
schools and jails overflow.
Large numbers of workers continue to lose their jobs every day.
These stark facts ought to give our politicians the courage to advocate an
immigration policy that would immediately reduce the number of social
service users and save jobs for all legal residents.
Yet instead of supporting HR 946, which would reduce legal immigration from
1 million a year on the average to 300,000, and taking immediate steps to
seriously control our borders and deport illegal immigrants, President Bush
and many in Congress favor amnesties for illegal immigrants!
Oblivious to the fact that illegal immigration costs California taxpayers
billions of dollars a year in services, the Senate Transportation Committee
in Sacramento passed AB 60 this April 1, which would grant driver's licenses
to illegal immigrants. This bill will be heard before the Assembly
Appropriation Committee on Wednesday.
If passed, AB 60 would undoubtedly encourage higher illegal immigration.
Shouldn't Sacramento adopt a resolution urging Congress to deport the
estimated 2 million illegal immigrants in California, which would free up
jobs for unemployed low-skilled Americans, and reduce the number of drivers
on our freeways and students in our schools?
Advocates for driver's licenses for illegal migrants argue that illegal
immigrants will continue to drive anyway and that AB 60 would better protect
the safety of California drivers.
Are they saying that we should give our house keys to burglars since they
will trespass anyway and we would not want them to break our expensive
windows?
Legislators should be reminded that the September 11 attacks happened in
part because U.S. immigration laws were not enforced. Some of the 9-11
perpetrators who were in the U.S. illegally used American driver's licenses
to open bank accounts and to circulate freely by air and by car.
In addition, as most states are bankrupt and their infrastructures extremely
overburdened, it is not realistic to expect that thorough background checks
of illegal immigrants will be performed.
Thousands of Americans have already lost their lives and tens of billions of
tax dollars have been spent because of homeland insecurity.
But eliminating Saddam Hussein or continuing our crusade against countries
suspected of possessing weapons of mass destruction alone will not free the
United States from terrorist attacks as long as our borders remain porous
and our law enforcement agencies absolutely overwhelmed.
If the U.S. continues to allow 800,000 illegal immigrants and large
quantities of drugs to be smuggled into this country, why not terrorists or
anthrax?
Recently, U.S. Sen. Jon Kyl, R-Arizona, warned: "It's hard to imagine
terrorists not trying to come in through this southern border."
How many more innocent Americans should die and how many more tens of
billions of dollars should we spend in window-dressing homeland security
measures before the American leadership seriously implements a comprehensive
plan to effectively stop terrorism?
The costs of porous borders extend beyond our national security. American
taxpayers nationwide spend $1.5 billion a year just incarcerating illegal
aliens who committed crimes. Hospitals in many states are on the verge of
bankruptcy due to emergency health care provided to illegal migrants.
Educating illegal students also costs billions of dollars annually.
Is it responsible to cut programs and services which adversely impact
existing legal immigrants and U.S-born Americans while we continue to pay
for the high cost of services for illegal immigrants?
Assuming that illegal immigrants pay taxes, the little fiscal revenue they
generate is not enough even to offset the cost of educating their children,
which averages $6,000 a year, let alone pay for their share of other
infrastructure.
Illegal immigrant families also pollute, use water and need housing, just
like all native-born Americans.
Can the most populous state afford more people to put additional pressure on
its environment, budgets and infrastructure?
Gen. Tommy Franks, U.S. commander of the war in Iraq, recently stated, "Any
nation that wants to control its borders can do so."
Elected officials in Sacramento should start by opposing AB 60 and all other
benefits for people who are here illegally.
Drastic immigration reduction will not solve all America's ills, but is the
necessary first step if our leaders are serious about realistically dealing
with our concerns.
Yeh Ling-Ling is the executive director of Diversity Alliance for a
Sustainable America, www.diversityalliance.org.
|