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Smugglers or Illegal Immigrant Smugglers?

Wednesday, December 13, 2006

Letter: The California experience

Editor, Daily News:

The headline on your front-age article, "Immigrant smugglers took Baby Bryan," should have read "Illegal immigrant smugglers," but your article also reminded me of all the crime and cost we are inheriting from our government's lack of desire to halt these illegal abuses that are most likely happening here in Lee and Collier counties.

The Los Angeles Times some time ago reported that in Los Angeles County, 40 percent of all workers were working for cash and not paying taxes — local, state or national — because they are illegal aliens.

The Times also found that 95 percent of warrants for murder in Los Angeles are for illegal aliens and that 75 percent of people on the most wanted list in Los Angeles are illegal aliens.

The Times reported two-thirds of all births in Los Angeles County are to illegal alien Mexicans, and the births are paid for by taxpayers.

The newspaper said 25 percent of all people jailed are Mexican nationals here illegally, less than 2 percent of illegal aliens are picking crops and 29 percent of all of them are on welfare.

The reported cost of illegal aliens to American taxpayers in 1997 was around $70 billion.

I would like to know how much it is costing us here in the state of Florida and locally?

If the federal and state governments won't protect us, perhaps it is time we do something locally.

Tom Macchia, Naples