Closed emergency rooms, crowded prisons, illegal immigration is a huge drain on the economy. Free housing, free lunches, the list is endless.
Our local paper was profiled an immigrant who was given amnesty in the Reagan era. Instead of being sympathetic I saw a man who still didn't speak English, was still unskilled, and the best he could say about America waas that it had great unemployment benefits.
Crowded prisons, we can thank the "drug war" for that too. Another miss-guided policy that doesn't work. I just don't see how illegal immigration is the cause of crowded prisons.
The problem is not immigration for these folks, it their inability to become a functioning members of society here in America. And their inability to find gainful employment in their homeland. It is the whole "push/pull", cause/and effect principle of migration. Given the choice I would bet most illegal immigrants would rather live in their homeland with their family if they could. But there are few quality jobs or opportunity to raise a family.
What would you do if you lived in Nicaragua, El Salvador, etc.? If there were few jobs and you had a family. I know I would work by butt off doing whatever it took to put food on the table for my family and I would image most of us would.
One reason for this lack of opportunities in their homeland is America's foreign policy. Read
Confessions of an Economic Hit Man it's a real eye opener (
YouTube Interview). It is FAR too narrow to say 'we need to tighten the border', 'we need to kick these illegals out'. Right and how to you propose to do that when the push it too great and the pull is to strong.
Who care if someone speaks English? There are plenty of people throughout American history who don't speak English. There are plenty Asian-American who don't speak English. I don't hear people complaining about them.
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So what makes illegals more likely to use welfare? Why are they THE drain on the American economy and the cause for emergency rooms to shut down? Take a look at the ethnic breakdown of those on "welfare" or
TANF (Temporary Assistance for Needy Families) African-American 38.3%, White 31.6%, Hispanic 24%. Looks like 69.9% of those on welfare are African-Aamerican and White.
And what about crowded prisons? Let's look at the ethnic breakdown of those in prison. Statistic from the
US Bureau of Justice
Sorry my graph didn't copy well.
White 1990 169,400 2006 336,600 Percent 45.00% Change 1990 - 2006 (%) 99.00%
African-American 1990 172,300 2006 296,000 Percent 39.00% Change 1990 - 2006 (%) 72.00%
Hispanic 1990 58,000 2006 119,200 Percent Change 1990 - 2006 (%) 106.00%
Total 1990 399,700 2006 751,800 Percent 16.00% Change 1990 - 2006 (%) 88.00%
The numbers will not lie and neither will I. In 2006 the total number of Hispanics was far fewer than either Whites or African-Americans at only 16% of those in prison; however, as a percentage of change between 1990 and 2006 there was a higher percentage increase between 1990 and 2006.
It is far too easy to scapegoat illegal immigrants for all the wrongs commonly attributed to them when in fact Whites and African-Americans account for far more (in raw number and percent) of those in prison and on welfare. To say that illegals are the cause of the problem is a red hearing. Yes crowded prison and closing emergency rooms are a problem but the numbers I am finding do not support the argument. I am no political science major. I just did simple searches on Google to find these numbers.
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