The Inevitable Consequences Of Illegal Immigration

The Inevitable Consequences Of Illegal Immigration

By Ivy Scarborough
The negligence – even recklessness – in the discharge of their duties to the nation by the President and Congress in permitting illegal immigration to continue, and their support of legislation which would encourage illegal immigrants to stay in this country or prompt others to enter in defiance of our laws are disgraceful. Such strong language is warranted and more.

I am in a better position than most to judge the impact of illegal immigration. My background is in international studies and international law, which I taught for years at a local university. I have provided briefings for the military on the subjects of terrorism and Afghanistan. More importantly, I have spent a great deal of time in Muslim countries (6 so far) and was with the mujahadeen in Afghanistan in 1985 during the war with the Soviet Union. I gained insight from those experiences into what we might expect from radical Islam. As a result, in a commentary published in a Nashville newspaper in 1996, I predicted a catastrophic attack on the United States in the foreseeable future and added that the "earlier World Trade Center bombing would be a pinprick rehearsal for what would follow".

More immediately, my law practice is focused on representing victims of crime, particularly victims of drunk driving, in civil lawsuits. In the last 5 years I have represented 6 families who have lost a total of 7 loved ones (not including one survivor who was severely disabled) to illegal immigrants who were driving drunk. In each of those cases the immigrant had no legal documents and no driver's license. In sum each illegal immigrant had dishonored the laws of the nation - not simply in their entry but in multiple ways thereafter. Innocent Americans paid the price in blood for our government's massive failure to protect them.
Though I am reluctant to put this in economic terms – it goes much deeper and far more is at stake – I will do so because it seems that this is all that many people in our nation's leadership will heed. In three present cases my clients' loved ones were killed and injured by drunk illegal immigrants. In each case the medical costs were huge (totaling now over $750,000 collectively). This had to be paid by insurance companies. A father - who was about to be shipped out to Iraq with the military – is now permanently brain damaged and will never work again. In all of these cases I have handled, with one exception, the drunk driver was uninsured. In each the American criminal justice system must deal with the legal issues, and the illegal immigrants end up in American jails and prisons. This only refers to direct financial costs not indirect financial, social and legal consequences.

There can be only two reasons why our government has permitted this: First, a sizable number of businesses have significant financial vested interests in exploiting the labor of these immigrants. Second, their influence (money dominates American politics) coupled with many politicians' timidity about offending what has become a significant voting block.

All arguments and rationalizations founded on altruism are disingenuous and hypocritical. There are many ways in which we could altruistically aid these immigrants – I have advocated for many of them since the mid 80s, without result – but they can and should be implemented only through adherence to the laws of the nation - all the laws.

Only the selfish beneficiaries (corporate and individual) of cheap labor benefit by illegal immigration. The rest of America is subsidizing – in blood, suffering and money - their greed. Thus, there is folly and tragedy in triplicate:

1) The American people are victimized through crime and their pocketbooks.
2) The laws of the nation are dishonored – not just by immigrants but by our own people – thus undermining the integrity of our legal and social order; and
3) Immigrants are exploited for their cheap labor – all done surreptitiously.

Anyone but a fool understands that if a nation permits either citizens or aliens to dishonor the nation's laws this inevitably leads to loss of respect for the law generally -a principle demonstrated by sociologists and criminologists in studies of criminal behavior.

If the present trend continues we can expect these results: First, there will be continued and growing crime at the hands of immigrants (now illegal but who seek the imprimatur of legality) who were not christened with the notion when they crossed our borders that they must obey all of our laws, not just some.

Second, the demographic makeup of the nation will shift even more dramatically - it already has – and, with it, our nation’s social fabric, mores and values will change fundamentally. Previous generations of legal immigrants - and that distinction of going about the entry legally is very important - came because they were attracted to what American stood for, what it believed, its values, not just its wealth and economic opportunity. Thus they embraced America rather than sought to make it over into something of their choosing. The conduct and words of the present massive influx of illegal immigrants clearly tell us that is not their motivation or intent.

Third, the President and Congress have permitted what any security analyst or competent military officer knows to be a flagrant breach of our national security in uncontrolled borders and unenforced laws of entry. This will lead to others paying with their lives if it is not reversed.
Finally, those politicians who lend their names and energies to any legislation not intended to completely reverse all of these trends and practices will, in the retrospective of history, face the stigma of having failed the American people.

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FamilySecurityMatters.org Contributing Editor Ivy Scarborough is an attorney representing victims of crime, particularly of drunk driving, across the country. He is the author of the book “Winning Against DUIâ€