Coming down hard on illegal immigrants

July 8, 2008

A discussion on U.S. immigration was held at the Library of Congress. According to panelists, two thirds of Americans feel that the administration is not doing enough to deal with the approximate 12 million illegal immigrants residing and working in the U.S.

J. Bonner, president of the National Border Patrol Council, said that the large numbers of illegal immigrants act as a burden on institutions such as courts and overtax border police resources. To put the situation into perspective, Bonner claimed that when a single border patrol agent is taken off the line for three hours to carry out arrests, 25 miles of the border are left wide open. Bonner also noted that illegal immigrants tend to flock to areas which offer sanctuary or ignore the immigrant situation completely.

In addition to the rising crime problem attributed to illegal immigrant gang violence in Prince William County, Corey Stewart, president of the its board of advisers in Virginia, cited problems such as overcrowding in school systems and hospital emergency rooms. When asked about the impact of increasing housing costs if the cheap labor population decreased, Representative Michael C. Burgess (R-Texas) pointed out that the increased housing costs would be a ‘one time thing’ but the costs of education and medical assistance would increase ‘in perpetuity’ if the U.S. ignored the illegal immigrant situation.
http://talkradionews.com/2008/07/coming ... mment-9921