Legal immigration is a vital and necessary resource to enhance our economy and culture, illegal immigration is an affront to those who follow the law.
While Mexico relies on more than $20 billion in annual remittances from Mexican expatriates from the U.S., illegal immigration continues to cost Los Angeles County taxpayers alone nearly $2 billion dollars a year and siphons resources away from vital municipal services for legal immigrants and county residents.
Our health care delivery system has become the HMO for the world and our education system is failing.
In public safety, twenty-five percent of our county jail inmates are illegal – and the cost of illegals on our county’s justice system is $550 million dollars a year which includes incarceration, prosecution, defense and probation.
More important, however, is the human toll of illegal immigration.
Jonathan Del-Carmen-Refugio, arrested for the murder of USC graduate student Xinran Ji, entered the country illegally — yet the victim’s parents were delayed in entering the country legally to claim their son’s body.
Sadly, Xinran Ji joins Sheriff’s Deputy Dave March, local high school football player Jamiel Shaw, and countless more who have been victimized by Illegal alien criminals.
In addition to vigorous border enforcement, an end to no-cost, cradle-to-grave federal and state benefits for illegals and reimbursement for costs incurred by local governments, effective immigration reform must include a comprehensive approach to fix our broken system.
To address the costly impact of illegal immigration, I have proposed to federal and state officials effective solutions including; the establishment of cooperative medical clinics on the Mexican side of the border employing both American and Mexican medical personnel; a federal guest worker program that requires workers to be “bonded” to cover any cost they incur while working in the United States; and the establishment of a trained reserve component for our Border Patrol similar to what local law enforcement has, to enforce the security of the border.
Further, the federal government should place pressure on Mexico to restructure and privatize their state-run monopolies, including their oil companies, and embrace a market-based economy which will help her grow economically through public-private partnerships to increase opportunity for their citizens.
Our nation is a melting pot of immigrants — but illegal immigration has grown into a human rights crisis characterized by a wave of violence, murders, kidnappings, human trafficking and exploitation. It is tearing at the fabric of our society and economic and social toll impacts every aspect of American life.
Rather than amnesty and continued programs that incentivize illegal immigration, our nation needs comprehensive reform to restore justice and public safety to improve the quality of life for our citizens and those who come here legally.