Dispelling the myth that Illegals benefit America/caption
The distinction between legal immigration and illegal migration makes all the difference in the world. At issue is the American impulse to extend freedom counterbalanced by the undocumented aliens desire to usurp it. Thus to consider what liberty means to us we must directly reference an inspirational source:
Here at our sea-washed sunset gates shall stand
A mighty woman with a torch whose flame
Is the imprisoned lightning and her name
Mother of Exiles. From her beacon-hand
Glows world-wide welcome ...
I lift my lamp beside the golden door."
From The New Colossus" (1883) by 19th century American poet Emma Lazarus
Based upon the above description is it any wonder a more famous part of this sonnetreferring to huddled masses yearning to breathe free"has been inscribed on a bronze plaque in the pedestal of the Statue of Liberty?
Inscribed since 1903 upon that monument this message conveys a uniquely American spirit. Its defined by humanitarianism and economic generosity. In cultural terms it has translated into our melting pot" philosophy: a warm embrace of foreign-born citizens. Speaking of the statuesque and the great is our own current first lady Melania Trump born in Slovenia (formerly Yugoslavia). For any newcomer whos a better symbol of the American Dream than she?
To that end the U.S. permits more legal immigration than any other country in the world. That accounts for about 20 of the worlds migrants. For context based upon available 2015 figures from Pew Research Center some 43.2 million people living in the U.S. were born in another country. Add to that 277.7 born on native soil and we arrive at 320.9 million: Americas populace for that year. Given that the worlds population then was approximately 7.2 billion that means theres a 1 in 26 chance of being born stateside. Hence not really good odds for the inhabitants of economically challenged Third World countries!
Yet Libertys golden door" was never intended to be an open border policy. As a metaphor that would be like throwing ones home open at any time to perfect strangersallowing said guests" to permanently resideand expecting positive results. Compounding that disturbing dynamic is the general caliber of these criminal interlopers. For starters they have already violated U.S. immigration law. Also working against them are cultural barriers usually a lack education and specifically English language proficiency. Even worse is an inability to find gainful employment legitimately. Under these obviously adverse conditions is it any surprise that so many turn to crime to survive?
A recent government count of incarcerated aliens bears this out. As of June 24 22 of the U.S. prison population or 42000 are in federal prisons. Per the Prisons Bureau the average cost of incarceration for Federal inmates (exemplified by Fiscal Year 2015) was $31977.65. (Per inmate per day thats $87.61or roughly 1.3 billion dollars per year!) Recall per Social Security the typical employee made $48098.63 that year. So astonishingly housing a criminal cost 66 of what that average U.S. employee earned! And that is just the tip of the fiscal morass perpetrated by this shadowy underclass of 11 million squatters.
Globally per the Washington Times a new study from the Center for Immigration Studies finds they will drain nearly $750 billion from U.S. taxpayers over their lifetimes. Thats six times the cost of mass deportations. However the cost is more than strictly economic. As these aliens predominantly congregate in failed Democratic-controlled urban centers like Chicago San Francisco and Portland is it any surprise that these sanctuary cities are hotbeds for criminality inflicted against the law-abiding? Tragically thats seen most graphically in a one-man crime wave that is Mexican Sergio Jose Martinez 31. Reportedly deported 20 times for progressively more serious offenses ranging from drug possession and burglary to auto theft and hit and run hes currently accused of raping a 65-year-old Oregon woman as well as the same-day attempted kidnapping of a 24-year-old female while wielding a knife. If released again will he cause the death of some innocent like Kate Steinle?
Meanwhile House Bill 3464a bill to expand Oregons sanctuary status with no Republican supportsits on beleaguered Governor Kate Browns desk. Specifically the measure prohibits state and local agencies from sharing information with federal authorities or inquiring about a persons immigration status except as required by state and federal law. The high profile brutalization of one and the threat of bodily harm to another has galvanized state Republicans. Senate Minority Whip Dennis Linthicum said:
Sanctuary states excuse lawless behavior and perpetuate criminal rape and gang cultures. Every Oregonian should be outraged to see criminals let loose into the streets. Career Democrats shouldnt sacrifice Oregonians safety on the altar of their extreme political agenda."
Unfortunately as state Attorney General Ellen Rosenblum and Governor Brown spearheaded this harebrained effort it seems highly unlikely that mounting political pressure will suddenly compel a veto. Therefore how are these Democratic leaders not indirectly complicit in Martinezs crimes? In any case shouldnt public safety always trump their politically correct social engineering? Indeed to be effective our democracy requires acclimation to agreed upon laws a common language and basic standards of civilized conduct.
At every level of communityfrom the local to the state to the nationalthe United States is individually and collectively owned and financed by her citizens. Would progressive politicians host and subsidize the uninvited and the violent in their personal dwellings? Therefore how is it not insanity for them to advocate free rein for the unvetted and the lawbreaking within Americas homeland? In any case the waste of U.S. resources to mitigate the fallout from Democrats dytopian schemes is appalling. Still at least that exorbitant expense is measurable. What isnt is the domino effect of illegals criminality: the invisible human cost exacted by victims anguish and suffering. That pricewhich liberals completely ignoreis incalculable.
David L. Hunter is an Associate Editor at Capitol Hill Outsider. Hes on Twitter and blogs at davidlhunter.blogspot.com. He is published in The Washington Post The Washington Times FrontPage Mag and extensively in Patriot Post Canada Free Press and American Thinker.