Wednesday, April 19, 2006

Illegal Immigration - a net cost to society and a security risk

But don't tell politicians or the media

by StFerdIII

Illegal immigrants demand rights! Interesting. Break the law, earn money and pay no tax, access various state funded institutions including hospitals, schools and even welfare if your fake ID is good enough, and then demand equal rights. I wonder if the average white anglo saxon male waiting patiently in line for 4 years after paying $3.000 US in legal fees feels the same. Or the white female Brit that married an American and has to wait 3 years before being allowed to emigrate and work in the US – after paying appropriate legal fees and ‘expenses’ which are nothing more than a head tax to enter. Yet the media and most politicians cry the same tired useless refrain; ‘most illegals are nice, most illegals work hard, those against illegal immigration are racists’…blah blah. There are many good reasons why illegal immigration is a danger – the most obvious is that it is a drain on society and a huge security risk.

In a recent book by Michelle Malkin [a black, asian female conservative derided by the mainstream media], called Invasion, she tells the sorry tale of the hijackers that rammed a 747 into the Pentagon – illegals that posed as legal. In Virginia 2 illegal Saudis went to the well-known black market network and were quickly supplied with a state ID document using a fake address certifying that they lived iin Virginia. Within 24 hours these 2 illegals returned with two more friends and used their own brand-new state IDs to obtain in turn brand-new state ID for their comrades in arms. A few weeks later, all four of them used their Virginia ID to board American Airlines Flight 77 at Dulles Airport and smash it into the Pentagon. This is only one story about the dangers of allowing illegals amnesty and to enter a nation at will. What do you tell the families of the victims of that crash, ‘oh well sorry about that, but you know, illegals are mostly nice people, law abiding and hard working….’

In the US and Canada the debate about illegal immigrants is laughably sophomoric. Very few frame the issue the way it should be framed with the following parameters: a nation state must secure its borders; laws are necessary for civilization; breaking the law must be punished; legal immigration is a net benefit to society; illegal immigration including prisons full of aliens is a net drain on society. Instead what do we hear ? Almost the opposite. As you would expect in post-modern socialist states the turns of phrase are emotive not substantive. The pro-illegal immigration crowd comprising business, the church, leftists and latinos focus on ‘jobs that Americans will not do’; ‘racial rights’; ‘respect for hardworking latinos’ etc. None of these screams for sympathy make any sense.

There are plenty of jobs that Americans will do – if business would bother to hire people for those particular jobs. If you don’t enforce the laws of the land and a business owner has a choice between paying Luis Mexicano $7 per hour with no extra costs and Joe Wilson $10 per hour with an extra $3 for benefits and taxes and the job can be done equally well by both with the same rate of productivity then Luis will win. If the government can’t enforce its own laws and does not care about border security then why should a business owner?

Another discomforting fact for the pro-illegal crowd is that illegal immigration costs society money – about $30 billion per year in the US. Costs include prison; police; education; welfare; hospitals and other uninsured services. This net drain will only rise once the US grants amnesty to the 25 million or so illegals. Once amnesty is handed out then every illegal will invite their family or spouse into America. Suddenly the 25 million problem will escalate overnight to 50 million. Sure some of the costs after amnesty might be offset by illegals who are quasi-legal and are now paying tax, but the $30 billion costs over time will rise not fall as services are accessed by 50 million people. The only people who profit from illegal immigration are the business owners of course not the general public.

The catering to the media and to buy Hispanic and the sensitive–female vote transcends any political party. In the US the Republicans are just as pathetic on the issue as the usually vapid and weak-kneed Democrats. Bush has contributed a book of ridiculous platitudes, beginning with his line that ‘family values don't stop at the Rio Grande.’ Thanks George. Nice to know that Antonio loves his children too. Try the family value line, if you want to jump the queue and get into the US legally. If you're an American and you marry a Canadian the U.S. government can take years to process what's supposed to be a non-discriminatory immigration application. Better chance if you are a Muslim, African or Latino to jump the queue. Muslims are routinely ‘fast-tracked’ while the Anglo-Saxon Canadian with the wrong last name but married to an American, languishes at the end of the line. Even if she gets a US visa she is still prey to the whims of the many bizarre interpreters of U.S. immigration law at airports and land borders. Insanity.

That is probably the word to describe the immigration and border debate – insanity. The US made 70 classical violin and cellists from Britain go and individually apply for a visa and interview in London. The troupe was based in Manchester. Is this really necessary? Are you sure that 70 chaps sawing away on a cello are a national security concern more than say 25 million illegals? Bin Laden has bragged that 70 nuke suitcases were smuggled into the US. Let’s assume that he is lying. But would it be that hard to do so? If 25 millions can walk, crawl, or sneak across the border why can’t 60 or 70 be carrying nuke suitcases?

So instead of acting like a nation state interested in security and legal immigration the US devolves into meaningless debate and emotive nonsense about ‘rights’ and ‘jobs others won’t do’. Interesting. Maybe the ‘jobs others won’t do’ crowd can take a walk on Saturday afternoon in Fatsville Shopping center and behold the young attached to bodies that could use some hard manual labor. Maybe if we stopped telling the poor dears that they are beyond such work, then US employers could hire US natives for ‘jobs others won’t do’. But then again those against illegal immigration are of course just a bunch of white racists.