Two sets of questions were posed to me that I would like to answer. The first set being, "How exactly do illegal immigrants drain the public health care? Is it by only being able to receive emergency care?" The second set being, "Do you suggest we just let them die, because since they committed the crime of entering the country illegally they are considered less than human?"
According to a study done in 2002 by the Center for Immigration Studies, illegal immigrants cost America $26.3 billion dollars, but these same illegal immigrants only paid $16 billion dollars of it in taxes. This means that the America public lost more than $10 billion dollars because immigrants did not pay all of their taxes. Of this $10 billion, $2.5 billion is from Medicaid and $2.2 comes from the cost of treating the uninsured illegal immigrants. (http://www.cis.org/articles/2004/fiscalexec.html)
More so than just the cost of treatment, the American public is being withheld jobs because certain employers would rather get cheaper labor from illegal immigrants. On average $200 billion per year are suppressed in American jobs. $45 billion dollars of our economy are sent back to the country of the immigrants origins to help their family. (http://kevincolby.com/2008/07/27/the-cost-of-illegal-immigrants-to-the-american-taxpayer/)
I am not saying that helping your family is wrong I would do the same if I had no option, but the money sent back could have helped homeless veterans in D.C. or they could have been used to help underprivileged kids in the innercities. Too long has America used money on other countries rather than helping their own country first. Maybe we as a nation should go back to the isolationism of the early 1900s in an attempt to reconstruct.
Every human being has certain unalienable rights. (http://www.ushistory.org/declaration/document/index.htm)That was set forth in our nation's history before I was even born, but the men who wrote that Declaration of Independence probably also had a plan for those who would like to remain in our country. Every human has rights, but does those illegal immigrants entering our country infringe upon the rights of those who are legal or are citizens of the U.S. ? Should the rights of the illegal immigrants be put above the rights of those who have sworn to follow its laws?
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3 comments:
Duckblogger,
I agree that America gives away too much of its own money for immigrant-related matters, given the current financial crisis. However, America should not revert to an isolationist country, not only because of the humanitarian aid America gives, but also because of international relations. If America isolated itself from the outside world, then millions of people would suffer from diseases that America could cure. Also, isolated countries are never exposed to foreign cultures and ideas, and therefore, these countries rarely develop and evolve. I understand that you want to isolate America to halt the transfer of the billions of dollars that America transfers, but isolationism is not a very effective method of achieving this goal. In fact, if America was able to bolster foreign economies, like the economy of Mexico, then America may receive less illegal immigrants. Would this approach work if the financial crisis did not exist?
As for the rights of illegal immigrants, those rights should not be valued more than the rights of legal citizens. The veterans and underprivileged children that you mention have no reason to be placed above illegal immigrants. Illegal immigrants have morals and values of their own, and many illegal immigrants are often forced to cross into the United States. Do you think that these illegal immigrants tried to enter the country legally, but could not do so? If so, is America's immigration system broken?
On a side note, you could try to embed your links inside your text, instead of keeping the links separate. I have a post with over twenty links now, and separating those links from the text would make my post very jarred.
Tommy
I also agree with America giving far too much money away to other countries and immigrant-related matters. We are obviously in our own econonomic crisis right now and don't need to be wasting money on those who aren't helping the economy build back up by paying taxes. Basically, many immigrants are having their cake and eating it too right now, and this has got to stop the U.S. is going to continue to grow. Speaking of growing, isolationism would not be the best way to go about that. Tommy brings up a very good point about the spread of culture and ideas and their importance to help ourselves and other nations. But I don't think "bolstering foreign economies" is a wise choice either. We have always helped foreign economies, foreign nations in war...anything foreign we usually help. Our intentions have not always been good but everytime we have been in a bind, we are rarely met with the same support from other countries. I think a system needs to be developed to watch immigration movements and locations in the country more carefully, and eventualy allow more to become citizens...then they will be tax payers and truly be a part in helping a nation and culture grow. Immigrants will continue to seep in, so why not grant more citizenship after they have been watched and followed up on?
Duckblogger,
Thanks for answering my questions and I find that you do make valid points. However, I find that your approach lacks humanity. You view immigrants as statistics and not actual human beings. I also would like to point out that I never believed immigrants should considered more important than “underprivileged kids in the innercities.” I’m a bit confused that you say that America has spent too much money helping other countries, but illegal Immigrants live in the United States. Whether people like it or not they are part of this country. I was never talking about foreign aid. If you want to see waste of American money in foreign aid take a couple of minutes and check out my blog. Look forward to reading about your thoughts on your next blog. Nice Job.
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