Immigration quotas have existed in the U.S. for almost 100-years ... nothing new here. Congress enacted the first widely restrictive immigration quota law in 1917. This was followed by the Johnson-Reed act of 1924, which limited immigration into the United States by nationality quotas.
In spite of the legal restrictions, there were an estimated 12-million immigrants living illegally in the U.S. as of 2008, up from 3.5 million in the 1990's. Six million Mexican-born immigrants make-up 52-percent of these numbers. Just a few perspectives to add economic reality to the illegal immigration problem:
- Social services for illegal aliens were estimated to cost American taxpayers $70 Billion per year (2004 est). - Most current estimates for costs of illegal alien services since 1996 is almost 400 trillion dollars.
- State and local governments spend some $4 billion a year to provide health care to illegal aliens and their U.S.-born children and $20 to $24 billion to educate children from illegal alien households.
- The drain by illegal aliens on American tax monies lowers the quality in education and services that belong to legal American citizens.
- Illegal aliens are siphoning the resources out of the U.S. to other economies. 10 billion dollars annually are sent from U.S. to Mexico. Almost 22 trillion dollars have been wired to Mexico since 1996
- Illegal immigrants do not assimilate into U.S. society and are causing a splintering of society along racial and cultural lines.
- Illegal immigration threatens America quality of life. It is linked to drug smuggling, human sex trade, murder, and other crimes, which threaten the safety of Americans and increase the burden on the US law enforcement system and resources.
- Illegal activity should be punished not rewarded. Illegal aliens show contempt for the values and laws that make America the land of opportunity and desirable to reside in. They abuse the generosity and compassion of the American people. They belittle all immigrants who reside in America legally.
10 reasons to oppose illegal immigration protection policies
As with so many modern issues, there is more to illegal immigration than the simple 'touchy-feely' notion that ever everyone should be allowed to become American citizens "on demand."
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