http://www.worldnetdaily.com/news/artic ... E_ID=48392

The 2005 'spike' list
WND editors, readers expose year's underreported stories

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Posted: January 18, 2006


4. The impact of illegal immigration on the U.S. and its security. At least 51 people from countries such as Iran, Iraq, Lebanon, Egypt, Syria and Pakistan who crossed the border illegally have been arrested on suspicion of terrorism since such tracking began in October 2004, according to Department of Homeland Security figures.

In November, defending President Bush's "guest worker" program for illegal aliens, Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff said it's not practical to deport the millions of foreigners who are in the country illegally, because the cost of identifying them and sending them back would be "billions and billions of dollars."

In October, Chertoff promised to end the federal government's "catch and release" policy, but an activist group that wants to build a high-tech barrier to secure the southern border called the move "too little, too late," arguing the crackdown will only solve 25 percent of the problem. For every "Other than Mexican" illegal alien apprehended by border agents, experts estimate another three enter the country undetected.

In June, it was reported that of the 800,000 illegal aliens caught trying to sneak across the U.S.-Mexico border since October, more than 10 percent are from countries other than Mexico, posing serious national security issues.


Sen. John Kyl, R-Ariz., said the U.S. "has intelligence that tells us that al-Qaida specifically desires to bring people across our border."

According to new Border Patrol numbers, a record 98,000 "other than Mexicans" had been apprehended in the previous eight months, an increase of 175 percent from the same time in 2004.

In May, the president of a labor organization representing Border Patrol employees and a Texas congressman criticized a House Homeland Security bill for failing to fund construction of new detention facilities to hold illegal border-crossers from countries other than Mexico, resulting in their automatic release pending a later hearing date.

In April, an analysis of the latest census data by the Federation for American Immigration Reform showed Texas' illegal immigrant population cost the state's taxpayers more than $4.7 billion per year for education, medical care and incarceration.

In March, the volunteer citizen group Minuteman Project began helping U.S. officials capture illegal aliens. President Bush referred to the group members as vigilantes, and the American Civil Liberties Union said it would monitor the activities of the volunteers.

A report in the spring issue of the Journal of American Physicians and Surgeons said the increasing number of illegal aliens is forcing the closure of hospitals, spreading previously vanquished diseases and threatening to destroy America's health-care system.

According to the study, 84 California hospitals were closing their doors as a direct result of the rising number of illegal aliens and their non-reimbursed tax on the system. While politicians often mention there are more than 40 million without health insurance in this country, the report estimated that at least 25 percent are illegal immigrants. The figure could be as high as 50 percent.

In January, an analysis of census data indicated that the presence of illegal aliens in California cost the state's taxpayers more than $10.5 billion per year for education, medical care and incarceration.

A business analyst who studied the impact of the nation's underground economy said there could be 20 million illegal aliens in the U.S. today. Robert Justich, a senior managing director at Bear Stearns Asset Management in New York, said the underground economy of illegal aliens working in the U.S. is costing the federal government hundreds of billions of dollars in unpaid income taxes and could lead to a higher impact on taxpayers if President Bush's amnesty proposal is passed into law.