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The security, economy and social fabric of the United States is seriously threatened by individuals who have illegally entered our country. The American Legion views illegal immigration as a national security issue in its truest sense.
It demands of Congress that it act responsibly in addressing the issue as outlined in the U. S. Constitution. That is “to provide for the common defense,” and to provide for the safety of the citizens of this country.
Illegal immigration is a crime. Included among the illegals are those who enter undetected across our nation's borders, and many more who enter legally and then overstay their visas.
Illegal immigration causes an enormous drain on public services, depresses wages of American workers, contributes to population growth that, in turn contributes to school overcrowding and housing shortages. Directly and indirectly, U. S. taxpayers are paying for illegal immigration.
It has been estimated by the National Research Council that the net fiscal cost of illegal immigration in the U. S. ranges from $11 billion to $22 billion per year, with most of the costs being picked up by state and local governments while the small about of taxes paid by the illegal aliens are sent to the federal government.
The criminal element also infiltrates into our society. Alien gangs operate in most, if not all, major U.S. cities. Human and drug smuggling operations are numerous along our southern border. It is widely reported that approximately 30 percent of the prison population in this country are illegal aliens and that they are being incarcerated at a cost, to U.S. taxpayers, of approximately $13 billion annually.
Department of Homeland Security officials reported in January 2007 that arrests during the first two years of a DHS program called “Operation Predator” aimed at child predators netted more that 6,000 arrests of illegal aliens. That averages about 250 arrests per month and eight arrests per day.
To further illustrate the effects that the illegal population is having on our society, consider this; more Americans are killed by illegal aliens than die in the Iraq War.
Immigration, both legal and illegal, is having a profound effect on public schools nationwide. Special programs for non-English speaking students is, according to education groups, a hindrance to the overall learning environment in the schools.
Enrollments are projected by the U. S. Department of Education to reach 55 million by 2020 and 60 million by 2030. Immigration will account for 96 percent of the future increase in the school age population over the next 50 years. School enrollment increased by 14 percent between 1990 and 2000 putting it at an all time high. Current enrollment exceeds the record set in 1970 when the “baby boomers” entered the country's school systems.
Another way illegal immigration has unfavorable impacted American society is the spread of communicable disease. Many illegal aliens harbor fatal diseases that American medicine fought and vanquished long ago, such as drug-resistant tuberculosis, malaria, leprosy, plague, polio, dengue and Chagas disease. According to a New York Times report, 900 cases of leprosy were reported in the U. S. in the 40 years prior to 2000. Between 2000 and 2003, leprosy infected over 7,000 people in the U. S. A drug resistant form of tuberculosis, carried by illegal immigrants, is up 25 percent.
Illegal immigrants say they take jobs that Americans won't do. What they don't say is that they take the jobs that Americans can no longer afford to do because of the illegal immigration. The Center for Immigration Studies issued a report last March about the effect of illegal immigration on the labor marker. The report said that there were almost four million unemployed adult Americans (age 18 to 64) with just a high school degree or less.
According to the report between March 2000 and March 2005 only 9 percent of the net increase in jobs for adults (18 to 64) went to natives. Using the same period of time, for the less educated, the number of adult immigrants (legal and illegal) with only a high school degree or less in the labor force increased by 1.6 million and had the majority of the low paying jobs.
Illegals cost Americans jobs, employers exploit cheap labor to increase profits. That combined with the increase of illegal immigrants living below the poverty line, shrinks the U. S. middle class and weakens our economic security.
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American Legion Denounces Illegal Immigration!
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Kele...Outstanding Post!
