Romney best shot at stopping illegal aliens
Letter to the Editor

hernandotoday.com
By TBO.COM
Published: November 04, 2011
Updated: November 04, 2011 - 11:42 AM

In describing the reality of illegal immigration in Voices on Nov. 2, A. Barton Hinkle did not do his research and offered nothing more than bias opinions. To suggest that illegal immigration is a "phantom threat" to our country means he thinks the threat is nonexistent.

Several of the Republican candidates, including Mitt Romney and Herman Cain, support the border fence and for good reason. The San Diego Police Department reported that the crime rate went down dramatically after the border fence was built. In 1989 before the border fence was built, San Diego had a population of 1,086,592 and a total crime rate of 94.78 per 1,000 people. After the border fence was built in 2008-09, the population was 1,376,173 and the total crime rate went down to 26.43 per 1,000 people. In claiming that illegal aliens have not caused any kind of crime wave, Mr. Hinkle must not know that 25 percent of inmates in our federal prisons are illegal aliens.

Romney's idea for a national ID card is not new. There has been discussion about this type of card, but no action has been taken. Mr. Hinkle is correct when he stated that the national ID card would not determine the immigration status of a worker, but we have the federal program, E-verify, which will determine if a worker is legal within just a few minutes and is over 90 percent accurate. Mr. Hinkle is claiming a company would have to wait indefinitely while trying to hire legal workers, which is untrue.

Mr. Hinkle claims deportations have reached a record high, but he did not research how these numbers were calculated. If an illegal alien tries to cross the border and is caught by a Border Patrol agent at the border and turned back, Obama counts this return as a deportation. This same person could attempt to cross again and again and be turned back and would be counted as a deportation each time. These illegal aliens are considered "returns," by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), not deportations. This is another trick by the Obama administration, and Mr. Hinkle swallowed the bait.

Mr. Hinkle thinks we are enjoying a healthier economy because of cheap illegal labor that is really driving down wages for Americans. A company hiring legal workers cannot compete with a company hiring illegal workers for cash and no benefits. Eight million illegal aliens have jobs while millions of Americans are unemployed, but that is acceptable to Mr. Hinkle. All employers, including the farmers, who hired illegal aliens, are breaking federal law, but work place enforcement and raids are down 70 percent under the Obama administration.

Mr. Hinkle hit Romney hard on supporting a mandate forcing people to buy health insurance when Romney was governor of Massachusetts. I guess he had amnesia during the debates when Romney said Obamacare is not good for the nation, and he would issue waivers to all 50 states to opt out until Obamacare can be repealed.

The Tampa Tribune reported that illegal aliens scammed the IRS for $4.2 billion in refundable tax credits last year. They obtained child tax credits by filing federal taxes using Individual Taxpayer Identification Numbers (ITIN). To stop this fraud, U.S. Rep. Richard Nugent, R-Brooksville, and U.S. Rep. Sam Johnson, R-Texas, have introduced legislation β€” H.R. 1956 β€” that will close a loophole that allows illegal aliens to fraudulently claim the refundable Child Tax Credit.

The American taxpayers have been ripped off for years by illegal aliens and employers who hire them. It is time we elect a president who will enforce our immigration laws, stand up for our Border Patrol agents and stop all lawsuits against states trying to protect their legal citizens.

I believe Mitt Romney is electable, and he is our best chance of getting illegal immigration under control.

Betty Dobson

Brooksville

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