http://worldnetdaily.com/news/article.a ... E_ID=50566

Friday, June 9, 2006



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Sieve-like border: It's costing us

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Posted: June 9, 2006
1:00 a.m. Eastern



By LETTER OF THE WEEK



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© 2006 WorldNetDaily.com
President Bush says that the Senate guest-worker bill requires that those here illegally will have to "go to the back of the line" to become U.S. citizens. But so what? They're already here, they're staying, and they have their benefits, which are allowed to continue while they're waiting. This simply doesn't create any kind of disincentive for the migrants to enter illegally – just the opposite.

Illegal entry amounts to approximately half a million illegals per state on average if you accept the 20 to 30 million figure. This imposes enormous costs on the American worker at an individual level.

America provides a variety of benefits to its "residents," costing the American worker a large but unknown amount of money for each illegal entry.


The benefits they receive include the following:

1. Welfare payments and food stamps

2. Housing assistance

3. Unemployment

4. Social Security and SSI

5. Medical services

6. Education and school lunches

7. Police protection.

8. Worker's compensation

Unrestrained border crossings will continue to cost America dearly for generations to come, including the following impacts:


1. Illegal immigrant-borne diseases like tuberculosis, AIDS, polio, plague, small pox and a host of other diseases that once were eradicated from within U.S. Borders.

2. Criminals fleeing prosecution in Mexico will commit crimes here and if caught, will cost more money in the court system and correctional system.

3.Illegals smuggle drugs into the U.S. to pay for their guides and stolen identities.

4. Terrorists get into the U.S. with the aim of killing Americans.
The immigration bill in the Senate doesn't address the problems of illegal entry. It rewards it.

The last time illegal aliens were given amnesty, back in 1986, that led to a surge in illegal entry from 3 million to 12 million. How many millions will enter illegally now that some version of amnesty is being offered again? Since the issue has heated up in 2006, illegal entry has begun to surge again.

Building a fence is a start, but it is far from a permanent solution. If illegals cannot get a job or welfare, they will stop coming, and those here already will go home on their own. No deportation will be required. Enforcement of the laws on the books with respect to employing illegals is a major component of any permanent solution and must involve severe fines. Businesses that hire illegals do so because they benefit from underpaying them – but this is at taxpayer expense. A cost must be imposed to create a disincentive to hiring illegals. Investigations, audits and other enforcement combined with severe fines against employers will provide the disincentive and will discourage illegals from entering this country.

The government must also provide employers with the ability to determine false documentation, including a readily available database of valid and invalid Social Security numbers with cross checking of addresses, birthdates or other means of verification so identity theft can be more readily determined. With computer technology, this should not be a daunting task at all.

Critics of the president's guest-worker plan call upon our government to get illegal entry under control before granting benefits or amnesty or whatever we choose to call it. Border enforcement and active deportation must be proven first before granting benefits, amnesty or any other carrot to people here illegally.

No one is against immigration. They are against unrestrained illegal entry into this nation with all of the burdens and risks involved. This is particularly so in a time of war.

Every nation on the planet, including Mexico, has border enforcement far more severe than ours. Why is it wrong for us?

Tim Cresswell