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| Promoting awareness of problems and solutions in U.S. immigration policies |
 AMNESTY TRUTH SHEET
The Truth About Amnesty
U.S. Senate
Comprehensive Immigration Reform Act of 2007
The Secure Borders, Economic Opportunity and Immigration
GAO Testimony
Prospects For Biometric US-VISIT Exit Capability Remain Unclear
CBO Testimony
Budgetary Impact of Current and
Proposed Border Security and Immigration Policies |
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The Real Cost Of Immigration An Analysis of Costs to 15 Federal Agencies  April 7, 2008 -- An article originally published in Investor's Business Daily discusses a report that was prepared by Edwin S. Rubinstein, a fellow at the Manhattan Institute, a New York-based think tank. Mr. Rubinstein will be conducting a press conference at the National Press Club in Washington on Tuesday of this week to discuss his findings and I hope that the members of the news media will show the integrity to report on this news conference and especially on the findings of the report. I have often made the point that immigration is not a single issue but is a major component of many issues such as national security, criminal justice, the economy, the environment, education and health care to name the most prominent. No politician can be serious about dealing with these issues if he (she) is unwilling to address the immigration component of these challenges that confront our nation today. Those whose agenda is to leave our borders unsecured and not create a secure immigration system manipulate statistics in innovative ways. They will use the term "immigrant" to describe all aliens who are in our country whether legally or illegally. This blurs the distinction between lawful immigrants and illegal aliens. The open borders proponents love to remind us that "We are a nation of immigrants!" To this I have often made the point that: "The difference between an illegal alien and an immigrant is the equivalent of the difference between a burglar and a houseguest!" When I have debated representatives of organizations such as the ACLU and La Raza (The Race), my opponents will often not only misinterpret the statistics, but will flat out lie when all else fails! The artful interpretation of statistics is consistent with the expression that "Figures don't lie, but liars can figure!" However, flat our lying is a tactic I have seen employed with increasing regularity as more statistical evidence shows that illegal immigration is a costly problem and in more ways than one. It not only costs dollars, it costs quality of life issues for many Americans and, indeed, often costs human lives as well. Several weeks ago I debated a representative of the ACLU who stated that "immigrants" don't commit crime, that most crimes are committed by Americans. He even asserted that immigrants are much harder working than are Americans! Our audience was the well to do students of a high school in Chappaqua, New York, the affluent neighborhood whose wealthy residents include Senator Clinton and her husband, former President Bill Clinton. When I talked about how, as the INS representative to the Unified Intelligence Division of the DEA in New York 20 years ago I began conducting a study on the arrests made by DEA agents in New York and found that some 60% of those arrested by DEA in New York were identified as being foreign born, my opponent, if you could imagine this, stated that yes, undocumented immigrants (his term) do traffic in drugs but that because they generally don't stay in the country for too long (according to him, they only stay in the United States long enough to drop off their load of narcotics) their presence in our country is of no consequence. By that false reasoning, I guess that a burglar who breaks into someone's home, steals the valuables of the homeowner valuables and kills the family dog on the way out should not be considered a problem because the average burglar spends less than 30 minutes in the home he burglarizes! Of course I countered the false argument that this guy came up with, but what is truly astounding is the level of chutzpah he demonstrated as evidenced by such an outrageous statement. As you read the statistics below, you will see the level of involvement of criminal aliens in our country today. For the record, they weren't "just passing through!" You will see the cost to our nation in dollars and in lives. As you read those statistics I want you to consider a point our opponents will never make, including those who purport to represent immigrants in our country. The most likely victim of a criminal alien is a member of his (her) ethnic community. This means that all too often a family will legally immigrate to the United States, having abided by all of the rules and regulations, eager to begin their lives anew in our country, believing that they have left behind the squalor, the corruption and the violence of their home country, only to find that the same criminals who victimized them and their loved ones, have succeeded in entering the United States and continue to pose a threat to their safety and well being, turning their "American Dream" into a nightmare. The issue of national security has not been addressed in the article below and I suspect that the report will not address this component of the immigration crisis confronting our nation (I have yet to see the actual report). Please consider the basic irrefutable truth, the fact that our nation has millions of undocumented aliens whose true identities are unknown and unknowable represents a huge threat to national security. Our officials are unable to know the nationality of these millions of people, we therefore do not know about possible criminal histories. We have no way of knowing about their potential affiliations with terrorist or criminal organizations. We also have no way of knowing when these millions of illegal aliens got here so that there is no way of simply saying that anyone who has been here for more than 5 years (or other arbitrary time period) should be given certain benefits. USCIS, (United States Citizenship and Immigration Services) the federal agency that is responsible for adjudicating all applications for various immigration benefits such as conferring resident alien status and United States citizenship upon aliens is utterly incapable of effectively carrying its mission today without suddenly being inundated with millions of applications for a Guest Worker Amnesty Program such as the ones that have been proposed by the current administration and by the current crop of Presidential candidates. Such an insane program would simply confer lawful immigration status upon millions of illegal aliens, potentially in false names, and America would still not know who they were but we would have created a false sense of security for ourselves. In my view the only thing worse than no security is false security. Meanwhile our borders remain highly porous and the Visa Waiver Program coupled with a huge lack of resources to enforce the immigration laws from within the interior of the United States will simply encourage and enable millions of additional illegal aliens to enter our country to the great detriment of our nation and our people. I also fear that the backlash of Americans who resent the further onslaught of illegal aliens will be harmful to lawful immigrants. I believe our nation is strengthened and greatly enriched by the great diversity of our people, however, the process of immigration must be controlled and lawful. The obligation to secure our nation's borders and create a secure immigration system that secures our nation, protects our people and honors those lawful immigrants who abide by the law is not an option but should be seen as a mandate! We the People must make a commitment to getting our elected representatives to do what is essential to achieving those goals. Democracy is not a spectator sport! Lead, follow or get out of the way!
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ANCIR is a volunteer 501(c)(4) citizens organization. Our goals are to educate the public on the problems created by current U.S. immigration policies and to promote legislation to correct them. Donations to 501(c)4s are not deductible for tax purposes.
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