- Being a consumer, buy-now-pay-later society, when we
wonder about what illegal immigration is costing this nation we get out
the figures and start calculating the loss in terms of money.
-
- Always money.
-
- Seldom do we consider, or empathize with, the victims
of this lawless, over-the-border explosion: the rancher who has his fence
wires cut and his cattle driven off; the wife who is afraid to leave the
house at night for fear of being assaulted; the farmer who has his croplands
invaded and trampled flat; the homeowner who has to clean up the garbage
the illegals dump and leave behind.
-
- If you think this is an exaggeration, you haven't been
in Arizona, California, New Mexico, or Texas lately. The horror scenes
experienced, and reported daily, about the invasion of our borders is enough
to turn stomachs.
-
- Mine, for one, did a real flip flop when I read the latest
report from WorldNetDaily of what illegal immigration is now costing America.
And not just in money.
-
- When I got to the part in the report about what the cost
of illegal immigration was doing to the education of our children, I nearly
retched. Having to subsidize mostly illiterate foreigners is bad enough,
but lowering the boom on the necessary tools for educating our school children
is an unconscionable act. Which I, for one, will never accept nor forgive.
-
- Illegals are "busting the educational budget",
reports WorldNetDaily, "to the tune of $7.4 billion", which is
hurting American kids across the country.
-
- You certainly don't have to be told that public schools
throughout the nation are on shoe-string budgets, and are also facing continuing
decreases in funding. What money is budgeted is used to accommodate mass
illegal immigration. Result? American kids, yours and mine, are taking
the hit.
-
- That's not all. The budget shortfalls also mean reductions
in child care and early childhood programs. The American Federation for
Immigration Reform (FAIR) tells us that, "drastic cuts mean teacher
layoffs, larger class sizes, fewer textbooks, elimination of sports, language
programs, and after-school activities." All benefits that our own
kids need, and aren't getting.
-
- And to pay for all the things our kids are NOT getting,
how much money is illegal immigration depriving the states of? California
spends the most: $2.2 billion to educate illegal immigrant children; ranking
second and third are Texas and New York.
-
- Like it or not, that's only a small fraction of what
it costs us to subsidize education for more than one million illegal immigrant
children now living in the U.S. All children have a right to an education,
no one can argue that; but not at the expense of our own kids.
-
- A Supreme Court decision in 1982 forbade public schools
from shutting out any children, regardless of citizenship status, from
an education. That means that children of illegal immigrants are entitled
to the same educational benefits as American children, without having to
share in the cost.
-
- The fact that ALL costs must be borne by American taxpayers
didn't seem to bother the Supreme Court---or its supporters, who maintain
that educating illegals is minimal compared to the $700 billion annual
cost of public education.
-
- But this lopsided giveaway is on the hot seat. More and
more American families are getting fed up with providing free education,
and other gratis benefits, to illegal aliens. With a million illegals taking
up residence in the U.S. every year, Americans families are rebelling.
-
- The latest polls show that 70% of Americans want a reduction
of immigrants into the U.S. Over 80% feel that closing our eyes to illegals
jumping the border will encourage more to break the law. And over 90% of
Americans support military patrols of our borders. (Those soldiers that
aren't somewhere else in the world protecting other borders, that is.)
-
- With this illegal, foreign bombardment of America's education
budgets, costs are exploding, debt is increasing, the money-well is running
dry, and American children are the losers.
-
- Are there any answers? Try these. Stop treating illegal
immigration as a free lunch. Close the gaping holes in our southwest and
northeast borders, and do it fast. Enforce the immigration laws that politicians
seem to have forgotten are already on the books.
-
- "If illegal immigration is not stopped at the borders,"
warns FAIR spokesman, David Ray, "its negative consequences, including
bankrupt emergency rooms, and overcrowded schools, quickly become everyone's
financial burden."
-
- I have news for you, Mr. Ray.
-
- It already IS everyone's financial burden. But more than
that.
-
- Since American kids are being cheated out of a full and
proper education, the cost we will ultimately have to pay---because our
next generation is being short-changed---will be a lot more than financial.
-
- A lot more.
-
-
- Published originally at EtherZone.com
- Republication allowed with this notice and hyperlink
intact."
- Jim Moore is a free-lance political writer and is a regular
columnist for Ether Zone.
- He can be reached at <mailto:%20Jmoore1819@aol.com>Jmoore1819@aol.com
- Copyright 1997 - 2003 <http://www.etherzone.com/>Ether
Zone.
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