By James L. Lambert
Guest Columnist - 2/14/2008
Illegal immigration should be a concern to all American citizens in this election year. With increased anxiety over the economy, Americans should be aware that illegal immigration is expensive -- so expensive that it will deprive taxpayers of enormous, hard-earned benefits in years to come.
I live in the County of San Diego (California). Several months ago our Board of Supervisors was presented with a government report essentially saying that detention and apprehension of illegal immigrants who commit crimes in the county cost taxpayers more than $100 million a year. Just to the north of us, in Los Angeles County, a popular area radio station reported that more than 75 medical emergency facilities have closed in the last 18 months because of the overriding costs and non-payment of benefits offered to illegal immigrants. A few years ago, one emergency ward nurse actually confided in me that the requirement to treat undocumented aliens was hurting her local hospital financially. (Incidentally, some state and federal laws require designated medical facilities to treat all patients, regardless if they can afford to pay.) Costs associated with illegal immigration continue to mount, yet the Democrat-controlled California Legislature has mandated illegal immigrants into our community college educational system. That system -- in which I taught 15 years ago -- is mostly subsidized by California's taxpayers. It is absurd to treat non-citizens the same as U.S. citizens when it comes to taxpayer-subsidized tuition, especially when our state is running such huge fiscal deficits. Yet this practice continues to occur -- despite the fact our governor has threatened to cut the state's budget by up to 10 percent due to budget-related shortfalls. Regardless, our spineless, liberal politicians in Sacramento refuse to eliminate educational benefits to illegal immigrants. We simply cannot afford this madness anymore. The same problem persists with California's public school system. State school administrators routinely allow students of "questionable" citizenry into our public school system. (There have even been documented cases where students from Mexico are caught on film coming across the border to go to U.S. schools.) Yet our politicians will not face the truth. I once chatted with an illegal immigrant who lived and worked in the home as a gardener for a resident in Olivenhain, California. This individual emphatically told me that the school officials where he attended high school never checked his citizenry, but only cared if he "lived" in the district where he was attending school. He, along with countless Mexican and foreign national teenagers, received a high school education -- again, thanks to American taxpayers! This is reprehensible! Yet three out of the four major candidates for president -- Hillary Clinton, John McCain, and Barack Obama -- believe that "amnesty," as presented in McCain-Kennedy legislation last summer, is justified. That bill essentially said, "Just pay your $2,000 or $3,000 fine -- and welcome into the United States." Americans should be insulted that our political leaders would sell out our citizenship so cheaply. I was at least glad to see that Mitt Romney didn't agree with this approach, and wanted to enforce the law of the land and build a fence. As for GOP frontrunner McCain, though, he should know better. The price of freedom is costly. It has been preserved by the sacrifice of many and the split blood from our soldiers. What's happened to the rule of law? What happened to putting American citizens first before people who knowingly break the law and take advantage of our government's generosity? (Generosity, by the way, with the people's hard-earned money.) In 1991, I met a Cambodian-born pastor who came to America in 1981 (under the sponsorship of friends in Rhode Island) and spent years waiting for American citizenship. His life had been threatened in his native country, and several of his national soccer teammates were brutally murdered by the Khmer Rouge militants in the late 1970s. Literally thousands of people like my Cambodian friend have spent years legally acquiring their citizenship. So why should millions of people who have broken our laws and entered our country illegally basically get a free pass? How can our political candidates give preference to lawbreakers over the millions of Americans who faithfully pay their taxes?
These are serious questions that need to be asked of all our candidates for president. It is time that we as voters understand that, yes, there are people actively breaking our laws. Yes, Hillary -- there are "illegal women" who are in this country in violation of our laws. And yes, John McCain -- you need to enforce the rule of law instead of ignoring it (via a backroom deal made with his friends in the U.S. Senate). And yes, Barack Obama -- change in the name of change is not good unto itself ... especially if you ignore our nation's sovereignty!
Illegal immigration should be a concern to all American citizens in this election year. With increased anxiety over the economy, Americans should be aware that illegal immigration is expensive -- so expensive that it will deprive taxpayers of enormous, hard-earned benefits in years to come.
I live in the County of San Diego (California). Several months ago our Board of Supervisors was presented with a government report essentially saying that detention and apprehension of illegal immigrants who commit crimes in the county cost taxpayers more than $100 million a year. Just to the north of us, in Los Angeles County, a popular area radio station reported that more than 75 medical emergency facilities have closed in the last 18 months because of the overriding costs and non-payment of benefits offered to illegal immigrants. A few years ago, one emergency ward nurse actually confided in me that the requirement to treat undocumented aliens was hurting her local hospital financially. (Incidentally, some state and federal laws require designated medical facilities to treat all patients, regardless if they can afford to pay.) Costs associated with illegal immigration continue to mount, yet the Democrat-controlled California Legislature has mandated illegal immigrants into our community college educational system. That system -- in which I taught 15 years ago -- is mostly subsidized by California's taxpayers. It is absurd to treat non-citizens the same as U.S. citizens when it comes to taxpayer-subsidized tuition, especially when our state is running such huge fiscal deficits. Yet this practice continues to occur -- despite the fact our governor has threatened to cut the state's budget by up to 10 percent due to budget-related shortfalls. Regardless, our spineless, liberal politicians in Sacramento refuse to eliminate educational benefits to illegal immigrants. We simply cannot afford this madness anymore. The same problem persists with California's public school system. State school administrators routinely allow students of "questionable" citizenry into our public school system. (There have even been documented cases where students from Mexico are caught on film coming across the border to go to U.S. schools.) Yet our politicians will not face the truth. I once chatted with an illegal immigrant who lived and worked in the home as a gardener for a resident in Olivenhain, California. This individual emphatically told me that the school officials where he attended high school never checked his citizenry, but only cared if he "lived" in the district where he was attending school. He, along with countless Mexican and foreign national teenagers, received a high school education -- again, thanks to American taxpayers! This is reprehensible! Yet three out of the four major candidates for president -- Hillary Clinton, John McCain, and Barack Obama -- believe that "amnesty," as presented in McCain-Kennedy legislation last summer, is justified. That bill essentially said, "Just pay your $2,000 or $3,000 fine -- and welcome into the United States." Americans should be insulted that our political leaders would sell out our citizenship so cheaply. I was at least glad to see that Mitt Romney didn't agree with this approach, and wanted to enforce the law of the land and build a fence. As for GOP frontrunner McCain, though, he should know better. The price of freedom is costly. It has been preserved by the sacrifice of many and the split blood from our soldiers. What's happened to the rule of law? What happened to putting American citizens first before people who knowingly break the law and take advantage of our government's generosity? (Generosity, by the way, with the people's hard-earned money.) In 1991, I met a Cambodian-born pastor who came to America in 1981 (under the sponsorship of friends in Rhode Island) and spent years waiting for American citizenship. His life had been threatened in his native country, and several of his national soccer teammates were brutally murdered by the Khmer Rouge militants in the late 1970s. Literally thousands of people like my Cambodian friend have spent years legally acquiring their citizenship. So why should millions of people who have broken our laws and entered our country illegally basically get a free pass? How can our political candidates give preference to lawbreakers over the millions of Americans who faithfully pay their taxes?
These are serious questions that need to be asked of all our candidates for president. It is time that we as voters understand that, yes, there are people actively breaking our laws. Yes, Hillary -- there are "illegal women" who are in this country in violation of our laws. And yes, John McCain -- you need to enforce the rule of law instead of ignoring it (via a backroom deal made with his friends in the U.S. Senate). And yes, Barack Obama -- change in the name of change is not good unto itself ... especially if you ignore our nation's sovereignty!
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