Don't Stop Kicking Those Doors Down

On Saturday, March 28, a protest was held by the Southern California Immigration Coalition (SCIC) to demand
full immigration legalization for all. The protest march started off at the intersection of Broadway and Olympic
Blvd. and ended outside of City Hall. They held the march in response to President Obama's visit to Los Angeles,
where he chose not to address "immigrants' rights," according to the SCIC press release.
SCIC chooses to ignore the most important "I" in the immigration debate: illegal. An immigrant is someone that
enters a country legally and assimilates into that nation's culture; an illegal immigrant is someone that knowingly
breaks the law of the nation they choose to enter because they don't think the rules of that nation apply to them, or
they simply don't care about the laws of the nation.
Immigration laws are based on the number of immigrants America can handle each year. The number of immigrants
who receive citizenship will fluctuate accordingly. There is a process that involves screening out criminals, testing
citizenship and legal knowledge and a waiting for those to be processed.
Diversity is a good thing in any society. It promotes understanding and unity in the world. Unchecked illegal
immigration that allows migrant workers to enter and use our nation's resources without regard for the U.S. should
not be tolerated, ever.
Unlike the opposition, I don't have to take to name-calling or to citing individual cases of heroism or hardship
to support my side. I can use nothing other than the data readily available to prove that our current system is
broken.
"Immigration Counters" is a non-profit agency committed to providing accurate statistics, delivered in real-time,
using a multitude of government and private studies. They offer the following statistics:
Illegal immigrants in the United States: 22,079,463
Money wired to Latin America since 2001: $247,948,485,799
Cost of social services for illegal immigrants since 1996: $397,451,373,868
Children of illegal immigrants in public schools: 4,658,279
Cost of illegal immigrants' children in schools (-12) $13,983,192,733
Illegal immigrants currently incarcerated 389,825
Cost of incarcerations since 2001 $1,399,789,414
Fugitive illegal immigrants 706,389
Anchor babies since 2002 1,947,007
Skilled jobs taken by illegal immigrants 10,985,669
The amount of people coming over the border illegally and the money it costs the U.S. is enough to demand
immediate reform.
The need to stop illegal immigration is most dire in the state of California. California faces the largest deficit of
any state, ranks almost last in education, can't afford to pay its employees, fix the streets or come anywhere close to
supporting itself without the aid of the federal government.
Arizona recently passed a bill mandating the use of E-Verify by businesses operating in the state. E-Verify is an
Internet based system operated by the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) in partnership with the Social Security
Administration (SSA) that requires employers to electronically verify the employment eligibility of their newly hired
employees.
E-Verify is free and voluntary and is the best means available for determining employment eligibility of new hires
and the validity of their social security numbers. It does not require the screening of tax-paying employees already
employed. Businesses that are caught in violation lose their business license.
According to the Arizona Republic, crime dropped around 40 percent in the first six months of the mandatory participation
enforcement of E-Verify. It still has some drawbacks, but offers an effective way to stop illegal immigration.
Such a system is sure to help California create more jobs for Americans and ease the pressure on our already
exhausted social service programs.
None of these statistics or opinions are meant to incite hatred or racism, rather to ensure Americans are getting
the things they need and deserve. With unemployment at nearly 11 percent, Americans are going to have to take
a stand. Save our schools, our economy and make a stand for our countrymen and women by stopping illegal
immigration.
I welcome anyone that would like to send me comments or a rebuttal. I only ask that you avoid name-calling and
other under-educated forms of responses. I respect your opinion, so do the same.
Leave your comments below,
Anyone that presents a strong enough argument will get invited to
debate me on a podcast that will be featured in coming weeks on this website.