The Amusement Park

Shortly after I began doing interviews on television and radio programs about the immigration crisis that contributed to the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001 I was invited to participate in a successful of discussions on Lou Dobbs Tonight that aired on CNN.  In one of my earliest appearances Lou decided to address the impact of illegal aliens on healthcare.  He was understandably “torqued” because illegal aliens, who had come to use the emergency rooms of hospitals and then not paying for their treatment, were driving hospitals into bankruptcy.  This resulted in hospitals shutting down their emergency rooms and, in some instances, going out of business altogether.

The consequence of this was that American citizens and lawful immigrants were not able to find hospitals near where they lived.  Meanwhile the loss of emergency rooms resulted in a loss of lives–the lives of patients who had suffered heart attacks or traumatic injuries who did not survive the longer treks to the remaining emergency rooms.

(This provides yet another example of how illegal immigration causes our nation and our citizens to bleed red and green!)

As I sat in front of the cameras with Lou across the table from me and with one of Lou's correspondents, Bill Tucker, sitting to my left, Lou turned to me and asked me one of his signature questions, “What in the world is going on?”

I recall coining a phrase at the spur of the moment–an phrase that has been plagiarized by so many folks over the years, “No one would break into the amusement park if they could not get to go on the rides!”  I went on an added, “Furthermore the American taxpayers are paying for them to ride so why are you surprised?”

Think of all of the “rides” that entice aliens to charge across our nation's borders, currently encouraged more than ever that under current administration policies- they have virtually nothing to fear even if they are discovered as being illegally present in the United States!

The open borders advocates whom I have come to refer to as the immigration anarchists would simply say that illegal aliens are only coming to do the work “Americans won't do.”  They talk about how the illegal aliens pay taxes and make all sorts of other such assertions that upon closer examination, don't stand up to scrutiny!  When factories are raided and illegal aliens leave their jobs, the very next day the news media in those communities report on how long lines of unemployed Americans quickly descend on those factories hoping to take one of the jobs that had been held by an illegal alien the day before!

Of course the prospect of employment does attract millions of illegal aliens to run our nation's borders, but the “amusement park” has more than one ride.

There is free education for their children–even with all of the shortcomings of our educational system; a public school education far surpasses any education that their children would receive in their home countries.  Of course, the greater the numbers of foreign students who attend our schools, the greater the cost educate these students- costs that are not being offset by taxes being paid by their parents.  Furthermore, the Congressional Budget Office issued a report in December 2007 estimated that there are an estimated 2 million illegal aliens who currently attend our nation's schools and that there are 3 million United States citizen children who were born to illegal alien parents also attending our nation's schools.

The Congressional Budget Office study that also found that it cost from 20% to 40% more to educate children who lack basic English language skills as compared with those students who are already fluent in the English language when they begin attending school.

The report that contained that contained these and other statistics about students was entitled, “The Impact of Unauthorized Immigrants on the Budgets of State and Local Governments DECEMBER 2007”

I believe that often the number of illegal aliens estimated be present in the United States is much lower than the actual numbers.  But even if the number of students is as noted in the OMB report- think about what the cost is.  The cost is not only limited to the economic burdens that it imposes on the educational system but the way that limited resources need to be dedicated to address students who don't possess English language skills and other such factors and you realize that a significant burden is also borne by teachers and American and lawful immigrant students.

Teachers are coming under increasing pressure to perform and demonstrate proficiency.  Think of how having a significant number of foreign students whose English language deficiencies hobbles the best of our teachers and creates mayhem in classrooms of mediocre teachers and the impact this has on all of the students in those classrooms!

Free healthcare also provides a very attractive “ride.”

As do various welfare and so-called safety net programs that help to subsidize illegal aliens.  I find it incredible that such programs are now referred to as “Entitlements!”

Here is the dictionary definition of “Entitlement:”

1: a: the state or condition of being entitled : right b: a right to benefits specified especially by law or contract

2: a government program providing benefits to members of a specified group; also: funds supporting or distributed by such a program

3: belief that one is deserving of or entitled to certain privileges

It is insane that in this era of economic hardship for so many of our fellow Americans where the national deficit is soaring into the stratosphere faster than our now grounded space shuttle causing our government to be considering increasing the age of eligibility for Social Security and means testing that program in which American workers involuntarily contributed hard earned money, that illegal aliens would be considered entitled to all sorts of economic assistance programs!

Congressman Elton Gallegly, the Chairman of the House Subcommittee on Immigration Policy and Enforcement posted a commentary in the Ventura County Star on October 29, 2011 that illuminated yet another enticing “ride” for illegal aliens.

His commentary started out by saying:

According to President Obama's own Treasury Department, 2.3 million illegal immigrants who paid no income taxes in 2010 nevertheless received $4.2 billion in tax refunds.

That's four times the tax refunds that were paid to illegal immigrants who paid no taxes in 2005, and is increasing exponentially as more illegal immigrants find out about the program.

At a time when the federal government is considering program cuts for American citizens, giving away billions in taxpayer dollars to illegal immigrants is unconscionable.

Illegal immigrants are able to claim tax credits because the IRS allows illegal immigrants to apply for a nine-digit Individual Taxpayer Identification Number, which is then used to file income tax forms in lieu of a Social Security number. Tax credits are paid even if the taxpayer has no taxable income.

In his commentary, Representative Gallegly went on to discuss the need to make E-Verify mandatory something that would happen under the aegis of The Legal Workforce Act (HR 2885).  While I believe that nearly all of the provisions of that bill are on target, I have no choice but to oppose that that bill however, because it would preempt the states from enforcing the immigration laws that clearly the administration has absolutely no intention or desire to enforce!  Giving the Obama administration a monopoly in enforcing the immigration laws would certainly not help solve the problem!

States that have passed their own immigration laws, in response to the vacuum created by the administration, are now being sued by the U.S. Department of Justice!  I can tell you as a former INS Special Agent that you can fill a law book with laws and nothing will happen until and unless law enforcement personnel actually enforce the laws!  Today the greatest obstacles to enforcing the immigration laws that the agents of ICE (Immigration and Customs Enforcement) have are the obstacles placed in their way by the “leadership” at DHS, an agency I have come to refer to as the Department of Homeland Surrender!

If the preemption provisions of H.R. 2885 were removed, I would wholeheartedly support this bill!

My folks used to say that “IF” is one of the smallest but most important words in the English language!