Mike Cutler: Illegal Immigrants Moving Out


By Mike Cutler
http://oneoldvet.com/phpprint/print.php

Several weeks ago Julie Myers, the head of Immigration and Customs Enforcement testified on Capitol Hill that the cost of removing the illegal alien population that she estimated to consist of 12 million such law violator at 94 billion dollars. She went into an analysis of detention expenses and other costs but admittedly did not include the cost of finding these illegal aliens in the first place.

I have spoken with a number of journalist since MS Myers offered her estimate of the cost of removing those illegal aliens and I provided a different perspective. It is my belief that it would not be necessary to remove all of the illegal aliens but that once our nation showed real resolve in enforcing the immigration laws that are already on the books, many illegal aliens would simply leave the United State of their own accord and at their own expense. The additional impact of such enforcement efforts would be to discourage more illegal aliens from violating our nations borders and immigration laws.

In talking about these issues with those journalists, I also made the point that last year some 45 billion dollars was wired back to Latin America and the Caribbean by illegal aliens with even more money being smuggled out of our nation. Additionally, there are additional illegal aliens who come from other regions of the world who similarly send billions of dollars out of the United States. These dollars that are exported are utterly lost to our economy. If we are to consider the economic side of going after illegal aliens, our nation would realize significant savings in the long run and other areas of concern would also be addressed. Illegal immigration impacts everything from the economy, the environment, education, health care to criminal justice and national security.

Illegal aliens run up non-reimbursed medical bills often causing emergency rooms to serve as primary health care providers for illegal aliens who have no health insurance and no means of paying for the treatments that they receive. Ultimately many hospitals go bankrupt and close their doors. This means that when an ambulance is attempting to bring a critically ill or injured person to an emergency room the distance needed to cover increases, thereby jeopardizing the lives of the patient in the back of that ambulance who must endure a longer ride to the nearest emergency room.

It is estimated that 25% of the inmate population are illegal aliens. The cost to the criminal justice system is also high. Court costs, legal aid, costs associated with the incarcerating those criminal aliens all add to the tab. Additionally, the cost to the families of victim of violent crimes is incalculable. When someone dies the family and friends of the victim suffer immensely. When the victim of such crimes are not killed, the experience that they live through, both the physical trauma as well as the emotional trauma often scar those victims permanently impacting on their families. These victims lose days from work and productivity. These are all costs we virtually never hear about.

It is also worth noting that when illegal alien advocates claim that their clients pay taxes they fail to mention that many illegal aliens “work off the booksâ€