As
the Obama Administration’s time comes to an end, Democrats are desperately
seeking to solidify the vast numbers of illegal immigrants who entered the U.S.
during the past eight years.
Those
they seek to protect range from those brought into the nation at a very young
age (known as “dreamers”) to hardened criminals and gang members who pose
serious threats to public safety.
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Democrats, notes The
Hill, have submitted two letters
requesting President Obama to pardon approximately 750,000 youth who were
brought to the U.S. by parents. While the President has the power to pardon
individuals, legal questions could be raised about an act that appears to
wholly offset existing law, as a mass pardon would.
Arguments
about humanitarian actions for dreamers fall far short for other illegal
immigrants. The
City Journal notes: “Some of the most violent criminals at large today
are illegal aliens. Yet in cities where the crime these aliens commit is
highest, the police cannot use the most obvious tool to apprehend them: their
immigration status.
In Los Angeles, for example, dozens of members of a
ruthless Salvadoran prison gang have sneaked back into town after having been
deported for such crimes as murder, assault with a deadly weapon, and drug
trafficking.
Police officers know who they are and know that
their mere presence in the country is a felony. Yet should a cop arrest an
illegal gangbanger for felonious reentry, it is he who will be treated as a
criminal, for violating the LAPD’s rule against enforcing immigration law.
The LAPD’s ban on immigration enforcement mirrors
bans in immigrant-saturated cities around the country, from New York and
Chicago to San Diego, Austin, and Houston.
These ‘sanctuary policies’ generally prohibit city
employees, including the cops, from reporting immigration violations to federal
authorities. Such laws testify to the sheer political power of immigrant
lobbies, a power so irresistible that police officials shrink from even
mentioning the illegal-alien crime wave. ‘We can’t even talk about it,’ says a
frustrated LAPD captain.”
Rep.
Jason Chaffetz (R-Utah) stated in April that in 2015, the Obama Administration
released 19,723 people who had been convicted of a combined 64,179 crimes,
including 134 sex offenses, 216 kidnappings and 196 homicide-related
convictions.
Despite
that, advocates continue to impede efforts for the removal of the criminal
aliens. Breitbart report reports that “Immigration advocacy groups are
asking California Attorney General Kamala Harris to “block federal access” to
the database containing names of gang members in the state.
There
are, of course, issues beyond crime. The Federation
for American Immigration Reform (FAIRUS) found
that “Illegal immigration costs U.S. taxpayers about
$113 billion a year at the federal, state and local level. The bulk of the
costs some $84 billion are absorbed by state and local governments.”
Perhaps
even more worrisome than issues relating to finance and crime is the problem of
contagious disease. The Southern
Medical Association reports that “There’s a growing health concern over illegal
immigrants bringing infectious diseases into the United States.
Approximately 500,000 legal immigrants and 80,000
refugees come to the United States each year, and an additional 700,000 illegal
immigrants enter annually, and three-quarters of these illegal immigrants come
from Mexico, El Salvador, Guatemala, and Honduras. Legal immigrants and
refugees are required to have a medical examination for migration to the United
States, while they are still overseas…
Illegal immigration may expose Americans to
diseases that have been virtually eradicated, but are highly contagious, as in
the case of TB. This disease rose by 20% globally from 1985 to 1991, and was
declared a worldwide emergency by the World Health Organization (WHO) in 1995.
Furthermore, TB frequently occurs in connection
with the human immunodeficiency virus…”“Troubling facts concerning health risks
related to the wave of illegal immigrants who are crossing our southern border
are coming to light…
Historically, immigrants who legally sought entry
to America (such as those through Ellis Island) went through a structured
process that checked them for communicable diseases. In some cases, those found
to present a health risk were quarantined until they no longer proposed a
threat. In other cases, they were sent back to their country of origin. Today,
Border Patrol agents have confirmed those now flooding across the border are
not adequately checked for diseases because of the sheer volume, lack of proper
screening techniques and lack of manpower…
This is what we know. Immigrants coming here have
been documented as having communicable diseases such as tuberculosis and swine
flu. Because there is limited use of the vaccine for the
former and limited effectiveness of vaccine for the latter (studies
vary on the effectiveness of the swine flu vaccine; estimates range
from 42 percent to 96 percent), individuals coming in contact with people
with these diseases are at risk of becoming infected.
Those most vulnerable to contracting illnesses from
illegals are the first responders such as the Border Patrol agents. In turn,
they may pass diseases and conditions on to their children, spouses, seniors
and those with whom they come in contact who have compromised immune systems…It
isn’t the diseases that we have been vaccinated against that are the most
concerning, but ones like TB, which have developed multiple drug resistance, or
tropical diseases such as Dengue fever that doctors may have difficulty
diagnosing and for which there is no treatment.”
Some
will argue that those seeking to protect illegal immigrants are doing so out of
a humanitarian impulse. Others contend that, since statistics overwhelmingly
indicate that new immigrants, legal or illegal, tend to vote Democrat, the
motives are self-serving. In either case, the increased danger from crime and
contagious disease, as well as the added expense to taxpayers, requires that
policies protecting illegal immigrants must be seriously weighed against the
significant detrimental impact they impose.
http://affluentinvestor.com/2017/01/whats-cost-protecting-illegal-immigrants/
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