This is in response to Candy Conniff's letter 'Let's try some human logic' in the Feb. 13 issue of the Leader, which used more of an appeal to emotion than logic.
These are humans who are willing to endanger their children on their journey to come to our country illegally and risk separation of their families. It is not a pleasant truth, but human and drug trafficking and gang affiliates are a real danger. Not every illegal immigrant is evil, but aliens who illegally enter the United States without inspection or admission present a significant threat to national security and public safety.
In 2017, the Federation for American Immigration Reform completed a study that stated illegal immigrants cost Americans $116 billion annually! Most of them are low-skilled and have not completed a high school education. Although illegal aliens don’t qualify for welfare, they receive free health care in our clinics and hospitals, and through their American-born children they may receive benefits such as cash aid, food stamps and housing vouchers. Their children are entitled to a free education in public schools. Most Hispanics remain on these programs for an extended period of time, meaning they remain a financial burden upon American citizens instead of contributing to the United States.
According to the U.S. Government Accountability Office, between 2008-14, 40 percent of all murder convictions in the state of Florida were criminal aliens. According to the Texas Department of Public Safety, from 2011-16, there were 600,000 crimes by illegal aliens, and almost 6,000 of those crimes were rape.
The GAO reports that the percentage of criminal aliens in federal prisons was about 27 percent of the total inmate population. That is nearly 30 percent of the entire prison population! Also reported between 2008-14, criminal aliens accounted for 38 percent of all murder convictions in California, Texas, Arizona, Florida and New York, while illegal aliens only constitute 5.6 percent of the total population of those states. That 38 percent represents 7,085 out of the 18,463 total murders! This is alarming! These are facts! Where is the outrage for the deaths of these American citizens?
Countries such as Israel, Spain, Hungary and Egypt have implemented effective border walls to protect against illegal immigration. What is most insulting is that American tax dollars have helped to fund national security in other countries such as Israel ($38 billion in 2016), but Congress can't agree on $5.7 billion here.
Not only should there be border walls erected in the most problematic areas, there needs to be increased security in both detection and surveillance technology. Building a high-tech border barrier would certainly help stem this flow of illegal immigrants, but ending chain migration is another obvious remedy.
We need to have individuals enter the U.S. based on skills and merit. E-Verify, the national database that allows employers to check workers’ immigration status, is also essential. So is a fully-functioning entry/exit system to track visa overstayers.
We need to come up with solutions by looking at all the facts and not make decisions based on emotion. As Sen. Chuck Schumer said in 2009, "We must create a system that converts the current flow of primarily low-skill illegal immigrants into the United States into a more manageable and controlled flow of legal immigrants who can be absorbed by our economy."
We are a nation of laws and we should enforce those laws and only welcome those who respect those laws, not enable those who break them. As President Ronald Reagan said, "A nation that cannot control its borders is not a nation."
