In my recent readings, I spent quite some time on the subject of Illegal Immigration into the United States. A touchy issue with some I know. I, however, in reviewing the subject discovered facts that shocked me, and I am sure will shock you.
We have immigration laws for a reason. I believe that they were designed as a filter for all those seeking to enter the United States of America. In addition, it is one of our country's primary duties to control our borders. The reason we have the Immigration and Customs Enforcement to start with is to protect our citizens from criminals who flee their own country. It is also to protect us from disease that might be brought into our country by an immigrant.
Today, I want to discuss the "cost" of illegal immigration not only in monetary terms, but also in lives. Rice University conducted a study in 1997 that placed the net cost at $20 billion. The study stated that this included the cost of education, incarceration, food stamps, housing and a host of other type costs amounting to near $33 billion. In 1997 they concluded that the amount of taxes paid by illegals was around $12.6 billion. When we subtract the $12.6 billion from the $33 billion, the total cost to the US equals $20 billion. $20 billion in 1997, does that shock you?
This year, in 2008, ESR Research released a study that placed the number of immigrants in the US, legally and illegally, at 37 million. The estimated federal cost alone equaled $346 billion. A part of this equation was the loss of $100 billion in federal taxes lost "from the reduction of native incomes caused by immigrant workers". It is estimated that 12 million of the 37 million immigrants in this country are here illegally, and that is believed to be on the low side. That is one third of the total immigrants in this country. The study revealed that using this number of 12 million illegals, the total cost to the federal government would be near $115 billion.
The human cost of illegal immigration is frightening to say the least. The Violent Crimes Institute has estimated that there are 240,000 illegal immigrant sex offenders in our country. That comes out to 93 sex offenders and 12 serial sex offenders that will cross the borders into the United States, every day! Every day. The numbers tell us that each sex offender averages 4 victims. That's almost a million victims from this one study alone. Just so you will know, the cases reviewed in this study revealed that: 35 percent were child molestations, 24 percent were rapes, and 41 percent were sexual homicides and serial murders. How can we bear this?
Illegal aliens continue to stream across our borders from Mexico, of which the Federal Government can not keep tabs on. Congressman Steve King (R-IA) conducted a study using government records, cross-referencing them with arrest records and prison population estimates, and found the following results. Each day, on the average, 12 Americans are murdered by illegal aliens. 4,380 per year. Congressman King's study also revealed that estimates indicate 13 people are killed by illegal aliens in traffic accidents each day, mostly from driving drunk. That's a total of 25 Americans killed each day, 9,125 per year, because we won't secure and control our borders.
We must take action, and eliminate these deaths. Secure our borders, take away the free benefits offered so readily and hold employers accountible for hiring illegals.
The time is now, and we must get serious about protecting our borders. Let's put a stop to the free services beyond life-saving measures, and those that come here will be those desiring to go through due process and become a citizen of our country.
Sunday, November 9, 2008
The Cost of Illegal Immigration
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Rampant population growth threatens our economy and quality of life. Immigration, both legal and illegal, are fueling this growth.
I'm not talking just about the obvious problems that we see in the news - growing dependence on foreign oil, carbon emissions, soaring commodity prices, environmental degradation, etc. I'm talking about the effect upon rising unemployment and poverty in America.
I should introduce myself. I am the author of a book titled "Five Short Blasts: A New Economic Theory Exposes The Fatal Flaw in Globalization and Its Consequences for America." To make a long story short, my theory is that, as population density rises beyond some optimum level, per capita consumption of products begins to decline out of the need to conserve space. People who live in crowded conditions simply don’t have enough space to use and store many products. This declining per capita consumption, in the face of rising productivity (per capita output, which always rises), inevitably yields rising unemployment and poverty.
This theory has huge implications for U.S. policy toward population management, especially immigration policy. Our policies of encouraging high rates of immigration are rooted in the belief of economists that population growth is a good thing, fueling economic growth. Through most of human history, the interests of the common good and business (corporations) were both well-served by continuing population growth. For the common good, we needed more workers to man our factories, producing the goods needed for a high standard of living. This population growth translated into sales volume growth for corporations. Both were happy.
But, once an optimum population density is breached, their interests diverge. It is in the best interest of the common good to stabilize the population, avoiding an erosion of our quality of life through high unemployment and poverty. However, it is still in the interest of corporations to fuel population growth because, even though per capita consumption goes into decline, total consumption still increases. We now find ourselves in the position of having corporations and economists influencing public policy in a direction that is not in the best interest of the common good.
The U.N. ranks the U.S. with eight other countries - India, Pakistan, Nigeria, Democratic Republic of Congo, Bangladesh, Uganda, Ethiopia and China - as accounting for fully half of the world’s population growth by 2050. The U.S. is the only developed country still experiencing third world-like population growth, most of which is due to immigration. It's absolutely imperative that our population be stabilized, and that's impossible without dramatically reining in immigration, both legal and illegal.
If you’re interested in learning more about this important new economic theory, I invite you to visit my web site at OpenWindowPublishingCo.com where you can read the preface, join in my blog discussion and, of course, purchase the book if you like. (It's also available at Amazon.com.)
Please forgive the somewhat spammish nature of the previous paragraph. I just don't know how else to inject this new perspective into the immigration debate without drawing attention to the book that explains the theory.
Pete Murphy
Author, "Five Short Blasts"
I have to agree with Mr. Murphy's statement that it is absolutely imperative that our population be stabilized, and that immigration must be reigned in. I appreciate Mr. Murphy's comments, and welcome all others also.