Posted on 07/06/2004 8:24:59 PM PDT by seastay
GOV. Arnold Schwarzenegger has made progress on several fronts in an effort to put California on the road to recovery. But there's a roadblock at the very beginning, and until it's removed, California's recovery cannot move forward. Illegal immigration, more than any other single factor, is crippling major segments of California's economy, from health care to higher education to jobs. That's why, regardless of the security concerns -- and there are many -- Schwarzenegger should not sign any bill granting driver's licenses to illegal immigrants.
This is not a Republican vs. Democrat issue. Exit polls conducted during last year's recall showed that 39 percent of the recall voters identified themselves as Republican. Yet 70 percent told pollsters the license law that was then in effect should be repealed.
Schwarzenegger did the right thing and forced its repeal. Now he should do the right thing and refuse to resurrect it.
There are approximately 6 million illegal immigrants living in California today, a figure that has more than tripled over the past decade despite supposed increases in enforcement.
Why? Because we have made the allure of the Golden State irresistible. Even in the face of legal ramifications and the very real possibility of death or serious injury en route, illegal immigrants continue to come.
A driver's license would be one more enticement. Instead of offering driver's licenses, we must remove the enticements we now offer.
Anyone, whether here legally or not, should not be denied emergency care. But illegal immigrants use hospital emergency rooms for general care. As a result, 82 percent of the state's emergency rooms lost money in 2002, according to the California Medical Association.
The burden from illegal immigrants who use emergency rooms for primary care is so great that hospitals across the state are closing at alarming rates. Such burdens hurt those who can least afford it -- our native working poor who lose access to the only health care available to them.
Illegal immigration also hurts our native working poor's ability to attain Section 8 housing. By state law, illegal immigrants are barred from Section 8 housing. But the law is not enforced. So illegal immigrants fill public housing while a several-generation U.S. mother lives in her car with three children because she's on a six-year waiting list.
In California, illegal immigrants attend state universities at in-state tuition rates. That's grossly unfair to a legal high school student who moves out of California for a year, then returns to attend college. That student will pay $16,956 a year more than an illegal student -- who shouldn't be entitled to attend anyway.
Proponents of giving illegal immigrants driver's licenses say they need them to work. These are the same people who repeat the fallacy that illegal immigrants take jobs U.S. citizens don't want.
More than 8 million Americans are unemployed. Hotel and restaurant jobs -- which used to be filled quite happily by legal U.S. residents and citizens -- are now filled by illegal immigrants who are paid a pittance of what U.S. workers were paid. Construction used to be a time-honored profession passed from father to son in the United States, but U.S. citizens have been forced out by illegal immigrants willing to do the work for minimum wage and no benefits.
With a wink and a nod by employers, illegal immigrants supply forged documents to get a job. Easily forged and fraudulently obtained matricula consular cards are accepted as a free pass on our streets. Illegal immigrants obtain free medical care and heavily subsidized higher education without penalties.
It's impossible to return California's economy to a solid footing without addressing illegal immigration. It's true that the federal government needs to step up enforcement, and I am working with my congressional colleagues to do so. But as long as we offer free health care, jobs, heavily subsidized higher education, subsidized housing and other enticements, illegal immigrants will risk life and limb to come here.
For the health of our state's economy, Schwarzenegger should declare any future driver's license bill dead on arrival and begin reversing state laws and policies that serve as a lure to illegal immigrants.
Rep. Elton Gallegly, R-Thousand Oaks, is former chairman of the Congressional Task Force on Immigration Reform and a senior member of the House of Representatives Judiciary Committee.
Since 1992, voter turnout has fluctuated between 73 million and 105 million.
A presidential candidate only needs around 50 million votes to win.
Agree, we will pay for this cheap labor, greed and pandering in a big way.
Call Nativo Lopez 1-888-437-6114 and tell him to stop protesting the Border Patrol ! His email address is hmnsa@yahoo.com.
Border Patrol Sweep Contact List:
Call Gloria Chavez at Public Information Office at the U.S. Customs and Border Protection 202-927-1422 or gloria.chavez@cbp.gov
Call Department of Homeland Security 202-282-8000 or homeland@mail.house.gov
If you want to thanks the San Diego Border Patrol for taking care of business, you can e-mail them at sdc.pio@dhs.gov
Contact Asa Hutchinson, Under Secretary for Border & Transportation Security and tell him that you want the Border Partol to do their job! Call at 202-282-8355 or e-mail him at asa.hutchinson@dhs.gov.
Also, contact Robert Bonner, Commissioner, U.S. Customs and Border Protection who sent out a memo for the Border Patrol to stop the sweeps at homeland@mail.house.gov or robert.bonner@dhs.gov
Here is the number that Homeland Security wants you to call: 1-877-287-8667 but don’t call after 3pm because it doesn’t work!
Freep Them !
The press keeps going with the 2 million figure. The 2002 census pegs California's total population as 35 million (29.7 million in 1990).
Percentage breakdown - White persons: 59.5%, Hispanic/Latin persons: 32.4%, Asian persons: 10.9%, Black/African American persons: 6.7%.
If there's 12 and a quarter million total Hispanics and just under half of them are here illegally how can anyone accuse the Border Patrol of racial profiling?
What has happened to California's black population (6.7%)? They made up 13.4% of Californians 12 years before. The U.S. average right now is 12.3%.
I am thoroughly infatuated with that argument; it has to be the most amusing and illogical of them all. How much do a bunch of mininimum wage workers really contribute to Social Security? How much do the large number paid under the table contribute to Social Security?
abortion
Any questions?
A major problem in the southwest is water. Not too little water, too many people due to immigration. The developers have be running a propaganda program claiming it is a drought (temporary - it should clear up any day now). But with manmade depletion of the water table, clouds do not form, rain does not occur, and water is not replaced. Soon Coloradans will have to drink recycled urine, like they do in San Diego.
Of course they'll all be voting for Bush.
In his dreams. ;^)
That's why Congress wants to grant them amnesty. But the crafty Mexicans know better. They don't want amnesty. That means they have to pay taxes. No more Diesel pickup trucks with dual rear wheels; no more goodies. It's a two-step process, very much like gun registration. If Congress doesn't get them registered, it will have to take the rap for spending the Social Security "Trust Fund."
Anyone have an idea as to how many of those 6 million illegal aliens in California are voting fraudulently?
Wow! I forgot to add that the Whites were at 75% in 1990 compared to 59.5% in 2002. Those abortion doctors must be getting home bone tired after a long day of killing.
But you will hear that argument.
You mean since motor-voter?
Our previous acting governor (we recall them on a regular basis) went to a citizenship swearing in ceremony up in Phoenix once upon a time. Afterwards, she gave a little speech and reminded all of them to take advantage of their new status and register to vote. Quite a few told her that they had been voting for years.
Only their enablers know for sure. I've personally seen brown folks (can't presume illegality now) led right over to voter registration after receiving driver's licenses here in Tennessee. Somehow they neglected to ask me (must have thrown them off with the English). I'll be anxious to see if this will continue now the illegals have to settle for certificate cards marked "Not Valid For ID".
Hey Jackelope, what state are you from. People who won't say have a kneejerk penchant for secrecy and agitation, IMO.
Yes, but they work so cheap. Disposable employees. Use 'em up. Spit 'em out. Throw 'em away. Let the taxpayers bite the bullet for their well-being, as long as the companies who hire them make a fast buck, pay them no benefits, and incur no work comp costs on their behalf.
Nothing is more important than cheap immigrant labor. Unless it's cheap offshore labor.
I ask you, is this a great country or what?
/sarcasm
You want to see something that will have you choking in your own puke?
Try the Marianas Trust Territories. They belong to the United States. They're home to some of the worst sweat-shops known to man. They import labor from all over Asia, then treat them in ways Simon Legree only had wet dreams about. But their products are allowed to proudly wear the "Made in USA" label.
A voice of reason! Great piece. Hopefully someone will listen.
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