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It's time to take action



At this moment there are roughly 35 million immigrants in the United States, and about one-third of them are here illegally. Yet policymakers continue to ignore, and in some instances go to great lengths to patch over, the significant costs of illegal immigration.

A pair of wire service stories underscore policymakers' myopia.
The first concerns a federal program to track children of migrant workers through the education system. The federal Office of Migrant Education attempts to ensure that school records follow children of migrant farm workers, including many whose families are here illegally.

Children should not be punished for the actions of their parents. But we find all manner of costs imposed upon law-abiding taxpayers by illegal immigration: Schools that must accommodate non-English-speaking children of illegals. Social services agencies also intervene, again at cost to taxpayers.

The second story is even more worrisome. The Journal of the American Medical Association published a study, conducted by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, noting the rise of a particularly nasty form of drug-resistant tuberculosis among "foreign-born" Californians. The study delicately avoided asking whether any of the patients involved, whose treatment costs run between $200,000 and $1.2 million apiece, were here illegally. Many were.

No one has suggested closing the border, only patrolling it and actually enforcing our immigration laws. Such is the wackiness of the immigration discussion that a CDC official suggests Americans wait for unspecified "innovative public-health strategies" to be developed rather than directly attempt to reduce the flow of infected people into the United States.

Ignoring or papering over the problems imposed by illegal immigration is not bliss. Congress and the Bush administration have a responsibility to take action.