Illegal Immigration

I used to live in Los Angeles. It’s huge: spread out over a large area, densely populated, heavy-duty traffic jams. According to a 2004 estimate, there were about 3.5 million residents including all the cities incorporated and unincorporated, in the County of Los Angeles. The entire county of Los Angeles has 10,179,716 residents (as of July 2004). You can read more data at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Los_Angeles_County%2C_California

There is another census page listing countries by population, mid-2005 estimates http://www.infoplease.com/ipa/A0004379.html.

Chad 9,826,419
Hungary 10,006,835
Tunisia 10,074,951
Czech Republic 10,241,138
Belarus 10,300,483
Belgium 10,364,388
Portugal 10,566,212
Greece 10,668,354
Serbia and Montenegro 10,829,175
Senegal 11,126,832
Angola 11,190,786
Zambia 11,261,795
Cuba 11,346,670
Niger 11,665,937
Malawi 12,158,924

Why would I bring all this up? Illegal immigration.

I’m positive this will be a controversial posting and I’m inviting you to think and read and reach your own conclusions. I have read that the number of illegal immigrants in the United States has grown to as many as 12 million, and they now account for about one in every 20 workers.

It’s completely shocking to me to see that there are that many people who have snuck/stayed in this country. I do not think that any other country in the world would allow this. In my naïve way, I thought there may be a few thousand illegal immigrants, and was stunned to learn that with all of our concern about security and patting down old ladies and babies in airports, we have millions of people here who should not be here.

I've worked with many great people from all over the world and when the bubble burst in 2000, most of them had to return to their countries.

My father’s grandparents came to this country in the 1800’s and obeyed the laws to get here. My mother’s parents were also immigrants in a time that Jewish immigration was limited. Her father came from Poland, worked and saved money and sent for family members, one by one. The ones who chose not to come or it was too late – they were murdered by Nazis. Mama’s mother was from the Ukraine and, as a child, witnessed countless horrors in the Pogroms. As a young woman she fled to save her life. Because of immigration restrictions, stayed in England for about two years before coming to the States. She spoke English with a Russian/British accent. She also sent for family members, and the ones who did not come...many were murdered, a few survive.

My family came to the United States to be free to practice their religion and not be persecuted and they had heard America was a wonderful place.

The Center for Immigration Studies “is an independent, non-partisan, non-profit research organization founded in 1985. It is the nation's only think tank devoted exclusively to research and policy analysis of the economic, social, demographic, fiscal, and other impacts of immigration on the United States.” You can find their website at http://www.cis.org.

In a study “The High Cost of Cheap Labor“, they note “Based on Census Bureau data, this study finds that, when all taxes paid (direct and indirect) and all costs are considered, illegal households created a net fiscal deficit at the federal level of more than $10 billion in 2002. We also estimate that, if there was an amnesty for illegal aliens, the net fiscal deficit would grow to nearly $29 billion.” Please take some time to read the article explaining how they reached this conclusion http://www.cis.org/articles/2004/fiscalexec.html.

Some people claim that no Americans would do the work that illegal immigrants do, and I don’t believe that for a moment. There are many places in the USA where high school kids, part-time workers, college students, and many others do exactly the same work and have done so for years. There will always be a percentage of the population that may be uneducated, undereducated, unmotivated, or completely satisfied by the work that is available.

I don’t know the magical answer to the 10-12 million people who are here illegally. This is not a racist issue, and I think a lot of people do not speak publicly for fear of being labeled as racists. I have sympathy for people who are seeking a better way of life.

And I also have to think of our country.

What do you think? I invite you to share your opinions if you can do it without flaming people, and please back it up with personal experience and facts. Just mull it over BEFORE you post as once you do post, you and I can't remove it.