Amnesty would be a betrayal of citizens

BY DAN M. ROSE
February 10, 2014
Dan M. Rose is president of Americans First, Inc., a Lexington nonprofit.

After thankfully failing in 2013, Republican and Democratic elites and their media and big business allies will apparently renew their sinister efforts to grant amnesty to millions of illegal aliens.

What is missing in the amnesty debate in the government/media echo chamber is any concern for what is best for American citizens. After all, our government's first obligation is to our nation's citizens, not citizens of other countries.

Where are the American politicians or media organs who feel any patriotic duty and loyalty to their fellow citizens?

Any objective analysis of the damage caused by illegal immigration leads directly to the conclusion that amnesty would be catastrophic for American citizens, especially working-class Americans.

Start with the job market.

Americans are unemployed in record numbers. The percentage of adults in the work force is at an all-time low. Real wages for working-class Americans, particularly minorities, have been declining for 30 years.

Into this bleak job market, amnesty proponents would add 11 million more potential workers. This is economic insanity.

Economics 101 teaches that increasing the labor supply depresses wages. Instead of amnesty that will flood the labor market and further depress wages, what American citizens need is an immigration moratorium, strict enforcement of the E-verify system and an increase in the minimum wage until all Americans have jobs and wages are rising.

Amnesty supporters falsely claim that illegal aliens will contribute more in taxes than they consume in government benefits.

This claim is ridiculous on its face and demonstrably false. The cost of legalizing current undocumented residents would be approximately $6.3 trillion over the next 50 years, as noted in the Heritage Foundation study in 2013.

Fifty seven percent of households headed by an immigrant (legal or illegal) are using at least one welfare program, as documented by the Center for Immigration Studies.

It is patently absurd to think that 11 million illegal aliens — predominantly with less education and higher birth rates than current citizens — would not be net consumers of government benefits for many generations to come.

Amnesty will not only cost Americans jobs, lower wages for the working class, and accelerate the bankruptcy of benefit programs sustaining our neediest citizens, more violent crime is also guaranteed.

Consider these facts:

■ Illegal aliens comprise approximately 30 percent of the U.S. prison and jail population (Federation for American Immigration Reform, "Criminal Aliens" 2012).

■ The FBI reports that 1.4 million gang members are in our cities, and that gangs, primarily of Mexican origin, are a growing threat throughout the country.

■ Eighty-three percent of warrants for murder in Phoenix are for illegal residents; and 75 percent of those on the most wanted list in Los Angeles are illegal residents.

■ And, of course, the Sept. 11 terrorist attack would likely have never occurred had our government enforced our immigration laws. Several of the hijackers were admitted to the country without proper screening, had overstayed their visas and should have been deported.

How many more American citizens would be alive today if our government had been aggressively enforcing our existing immigration laws over the last few decades? How many more Americans will die at the hands of illegal aliens if amnesty prevails?

America needs an immigration policy focused on what is best for Americans, not illegal aliens or the "cheap labor" multinational corporations who have no allegiance to American citizens or our country.

Amnesty is nothing less than a betrayal of America and our fellow citizens.
Americans need aggressive enforcement of our existing immigration laws, deportation of illegal aliens, full implementation of the E-Verify system and punitive sanctions for employers hiring illegals.

These are the policies that will promote the well-being of our fellow American citizens to whom our government owes its loyalty.

Where are the politicians of either party who will defend our fellow citizens and promote their interests?

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