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The Overwhelming of America
Marty Nemko, Ph.D.
The Overwhelming of America
Marty Nemko, Ph.D.
I don?t fit the profile of someone who worries about
uncontrolled immigration.
My parents are immigrants, I know that immigrants have
contributed mightily to America, and I?m no American
flag waver. I am ashamed, for example, of America?s
international hubris, environmental callousness,
obscene materialism, declining ethical standards, and
unconscionable disparity between rich and poor.
So, I never was particularly concerned about
uncontrolled immigration. I was additionally reassured
because the media was reporting research that found
illegal immigration to be a net plus for the US, for
example, the ubiquitous assertions that we need
illegals because they do the work that legal
resident?s won?t.
But one day, one of my unemployed clients said, ?Damn,
I?d even work in one of those poultry plants if they
paid a half-decent wage.? It made me start to wonder
whether uncontrolled immigration was being ignored
mainly because it allows corporations to get cheap
labor?another example of corporate welfare.
And then I heard some stories from my wife, Dr.
Barbara Nemko, the Napa County Superintendent of
Schools, about how challenging it is to meet the
immigrant children?s learning, social, health needs
without shortchanging the other kids.
So I decided to more thoroughly review the evidence on
uncontrolled immigration?s effects. As a result of
that research, I have had to change my mind. I have
come to the conclusion that the greatest threat to
America is not terrorism but uncontrolled immigration.
I thought that perhaps I was overreacting, so it was
reassuring that this was the conclusion drawn in the
cover story of this week?s (Sep. 19, 2004) Time
magazine.
Heretofore, the frightening present and future effects
of illegal immigration have not been readily apparent
to many of us in the middle class, but that will
almost assuredly change.
Prevalence
The number of illegal immigrants in the US has more
than doubled in the past decade to 10,000,000, the
population of Maine, Idaho, New Hampshire, Rhode
Island, Montana, Delaware, Vermont, North Dakota,
South Dakota, Montana, Alaska, and Wyoming combined!.
And the rate is accelerating. According to the
September 19, 2004 issue of Time magazine,
3,000,000(!) illegals entered this US in the past
twelve months alone.
Effects
There's an enormous difference between earlier waves
of immigrants and this one: This wave is uncontrolled.
As a result, not only are the numbers overwhelming,
but because so many in this wave have chosen to flout
US immigration laws, this wave is much more likely to
commit crimes. The crime rate among illegals is
extraordinary. And the financial and human cost of
providing social services for this wave is
dramatically greater than for any previous one. Help
to earlier waves of immigrants consisted mainly of
providing them with night school to learn English.
Today, the costs are many times greater: free health
care, free education K-12, subsidized higher
education, easy-to-illegally-obtain social security,
welfare, unemployment, housing subsidies, etc, plus
the terrible financial and human costs of their high
crime rate.
This article will primarily document, with hard facts,
how our schools, our health care system, criminal
justice system, will likely soon be overwhelmed. In
addition, our national security is severely
compromised, and salaries are being driven down,
forcing ever more formerly middle-class US residents
into poverty.
Uncontrolled immigration and its devastating effects
would be dramatically worsened further by President
Bush?s Guest Worker proposal: all Guest Workers?
spouses, children, parents, and siblings would receive
legal status. And the chain would extend far further:
the Guest Worker or spouse could ?sponsor? his or her
parents and brothers and sisters, and relatives, which
means they can come to America legally. In turn, those
relatives could sponsor their relatives, ad infinitum.
John Kerry has proposed a vague but probably even
more devastating plan: He has promised, in a keynote
address to the National Conference of La Raza to
initiate, within 100 days of his election, a ?path to
legalization? for all illegals.
Both the Bush and Kerry plans are daggers in the US
middle class?s heart.
Here is the evidence.
Lower wages.
Cindy and Ed Kolb used to run a construction service
in Hereford, Arizona. On CNN, she said, ?We could
never win a bid because we paid Americans a living
wage. Other firms hire illegals and pay them below
minimum wage.? The Kolbs have had to close their
business.
Of course, the problem also affects employees. The
owner of a Bay Area construction company who insisted
on anonymity bragged that he used to have to pay
carpenters $20 an hour plus benefits but now gets them
for $12, no benefits, because of the ready supply of
illegal immigrants.
The Center for Immigration Studies has calculated that
illegals have already cost American workers $133
billion in salary cuts and job losses. A study by
George Borjas, professor of economics and social
policy at Harvard's John F. Kennedy School of
Government, found that immigration has reduced the
average annual earnings of native-born U.S. men by
approximately $1,700. According to a study by the
prestigious National Academy of Sciences, illegal
immigration combined with the rampant offshoring of US
jobs promises to significantly shrink the middle and
working class, forcing ever more people into poverty.
Legally residing young adults without college
degrees?an already vulnerable group--are being hit
particularly hard. Last year, the employment rate for
teens reached a record low, down nine percentage
points just since 2000.
President Bush, pandering to Corporate America?s
thirst for cheap labor, is proposing a so-called Guest
Worker program that would greatly increase the number
of illegal workers. It would provide legal residency
for three years (renewable) to all illegals holding US
jobs, to their families, and even to those with just a
letter stating that an employer promises a job.
The only restriction would be that the employer must
first have tried to hire a legal resident. That
restriction is practically unenforceable. The cost of
investigating each of millions of hiring decisions
would be prohibitive. No doubt, as in the 1986 amnesty
program for agriculture workers, Bush?s Guest Worker
program would rely on employers? self-serving
attestations. Even that amnesty program?s sponsor,
Charles Schumer (D-NY) admitted that in that program,
fraud occurred in 2/3 of the hires.
According to Rosemary Jenks, director of government
relations for Numbers USA, a nonpartisan nonprofit
that collects immigration statistics, ?When that 1986
law was passed, it was support to be a one-time
never-to-be repeated action. Since then, however,
Congress has passed seven amnesties rewarding more
than six million illegal aliens with legal residence
and putting them and their relatives on the path of US
citizenship.? Why have you not heard about this? Aware
that the public opposes amnesty for illegal aliens,
politicians disguise amnesty programs by giving them
obfuscating labels such as ?earned regularization,? or
Bush?s term, ?Guest Worker.?
I wonder what Bush would say to that carpenter whose
income has dropped to $12 an hour, no benefits.
?Sorry. We wanted to be sure corporations can get
cheap labor.??
Bush claims that Guest Workers do work that legal
Americans won?t. If that were true, then in the 35
states with few illegals (87 percent of illegals
reside in just 15 states), lawns wouldn?t get mowed,
hotel rooms wouldn?t get cleaned, buildings wouldn?t
get built, and crops wouldn?t get picked. In those
states, employers simply have to pay a living wage and
provide decent working conditions to get people to do
that work.
As mentioned earlier, John Kerry proposes an even more
radical plan. He has promised?without specifying
details?that within 100 days of his inauguration, to
forward a ?path to legalization? for nearly all
illegals
Gutted unions. Unions protect workers against
exploitation. Flooding the job market with illegals
erodes unions? power to negotiate. Bush?s Guest Worker
proposal and Kerry?s ?path to legalization? would add
millions of non-unionized workers. That would, of
course, exacerbate the problem.
Worse public schools. America?s public schools already
suffer under severe budget constraints, causing large
class sizes, textbook shortages, and leaky ceilings.
Yet, US law requires that all illegals receive free
public education K-12. The Federation for American
Immigration Reform estimates that this costs $7.4
billion dollars each year.
The birthrate among illegals is more than double that
of legal US residents. The Pew Hispanic Center
calculates that within seven years, the children of
immigrants, legal and illegal, will account for one in
nine school-age children in the US. The Urban
Institute estimates that already, 15% of all school
children in California are illegals, many of whom
speak little English. These students are usually
mainstreamed in classes with native English speakers.
This means that teachers must slow down instruction,
denying native English speakers their right to an
appropriate-level education.
The challenge is even greater because not all those
students? native language is Spanish: For example, in
my nearest major school district, San Francisco, it
would not be unusual to find a class that had native
speakers of Chinese, Russian, Tagalog, Spanish, and
English. Imagine the challenge of trying to educate
them all. If your child were in that class, would you
be confident that he or she would receive a quality
education?
Immigrant children pose less obvious challenges to the
schools. Barbara Nemko, the Napa County Superintendent
of Schools, points out examples: ?Unless she speaks
Spanish, we have a hard time justifying hiring an even
an excellent teacher? So much of our staff development
time must now be allocated to dealing with the needs
of ?English Language Learners.? Our immigrant kids
also come to school with serious health problems that
we must address. For example, dentists now visit our
high-immigrant schools providing dental services at no
cost to the student.?
Immigrant advocacy groups such as the Mexican-American
Legal Defense Fund (MALDEF) and La Raza have
additionally burdened the public schools by demanding
that schools provide special controversial programs
such as bilingual education, in which students are
taught in Spanish for much of the day. Bilingual
education programs exist throughout California even
after longitudinal research has not demonstrated their
effectiveness and after a voter-approved ban on those
programs.
MALDEF and La Raza also pushed through legislation
that allows, in 19 states, illegal immigrants to not
only attend any public university in those states, but
to pay in-state tuition, while legal residents of
neighboring states must pay the out-of-state rate
which is three to eight times more. It?s quite an
injustice, for example, that a legal resident can be
denied admission to taxpayer-supported Berkeley and
must attend community college so an illegal foreign
national can attend Berkeley?at in-state rates! And
often, because of reverse discrimination admission
policies, the illegal is admitted with B grades while
the rejected legal resident may have A grades.
And Senator Dick Durban (D-Illinois) is spearheading
legislation to extend the in-state tuition privilege
to illegals in all 50 states.
MALDEF?s and La Raza?s lobbying and legal power is
remarkable.
§ Worse health care. US law
states that all illegals and their families are
entitled to free emergency health care, and many
jurisdictions provide non-emergency care to illegals
for free.
Our health care system is already overwhelmed. For
example, thousands of Americans die each year because
of lack of adequate nursing and other medical care.
Illegal immigrants, coming from poor countries, have
great health care needs.
And in addition to common diseases, illegals bring
challenges not normally faced in the US, for example,
7,000 new cases of leprosy in the past three years
came in from Mexico, India, and Brazil, 16,000 new
cases of multiple-drug-resistant, incurable, and
communicable(!) tuberculosis. The Centers for Disease
Control reports that illegal immigrants account for
over 65 percent of communicable diseases (TB,
hepatitis, leprosy, AIDS, etc.,) in the US.
Immigration officials are supposed to screen out
immigrants who are carrying diseases, but there is no
health screening for illegal immigrants.
Illegals? further burden the health care system
because they disproportionately do heavy physical
work, which causes their bodies to fall apart faster,
and because the violent crime rate among illegals is
staggering (See below).
The burden of providing health care to illegals
extends beyond disease and saving crime victims. For
example, because of illegals? high birthrate, in
Colorado, which has a mere (?) 100,000 illegal
immigrants, taxpayers in 2003 alone paid for 6,000
illegals to have their babies. That?s 40% of the
births Medicaid paid for in the state. To get
immediate care, the illegal only must say ?I am
undocumented."
The Washington Times reported that dozens of hospitals
in Texas, New Mexico, Arizona, and California have
either closed their doors or face bankruptcy because
of losses caused by uncompensated care given to
illegal immigrants. Heretofore, most of the closings
have been in hospitals near the Mexican border. But
the problem is extending northward as illegals move
northward. This week, a hospital in San Jose (400
miles north of the Mexican border) had to close
largely because it was overrun by illegals who would
not pay for services.
Brenda Walker, in the same publication writes, "More
than 40 million American citizens do not have health
insurance while they pay in their tax bills for free
medical care for Mexican nationals, many of whom are
illegally working at American jobs - a double-dip rip
off. Furthermore, hospitals closing and emergency
rooms crowded with illegal aliens mean that an
American needing speedy treatment may have to wait far
longer to receive it. Such delays can mean the
difference between life and death."
US House of Representatives member Mark Foley has
persuaded the General Accounting Office to study the
financial costs that illegals impose on hospitals. He
says "we need to remedy this problem before we can no
longer afford to take care of Americans."
The impact of legalizing millions of illegals, their
spouses, and children, to our already creaking health
care system would be devastating.
I wonder what George Bush or John Kerry would say to a
legal resident whose family member died because of an
overwhelmed health care system: ?Sorry, we allow the
illegals because it enables corporations to avoid
raising wages.??
§ More Dishonesty. Bush and Kerry
would give legal status to millions of people whose
first act in this country was to commit a
crime?sneaking into the US to evade immigration
laws--and who soon committed a second crime-- applying
for a job when only legal residents are allowed to.
Countless illegals soon go on to commit yet another
crime: obtain false documents so they can, from US
taxpayers, steal (that is the correct albeit
unvarnished word) food stamps, housing subsidies,
unemployment insurance, Medicare, and other government
benefits intended for legal residents.
Obtaining false documents couldn?t be easier. A fake
identity package including birth certificate, Social
Security card, passport, green card, and driver's
license is widely available on the street for $50 to
$70. For a similar price, illegals can borrow the real
thing. Legal immigrants simply rent their IDs to
illegals who want to apply for a job, welfare, or
Social Security.
Can we ask legal residents to be honest--for example,
to pay their income taxes?while we reward lawbreaking
illegals with legal status, an array of services for
themselves and their families, plus full US
citizenship for all subsequent offspring? In
officially welcoming millions of acknowledged at-least
two-time lawbreakers into the US, we would exacerbate
America?s already declining honesty.
And the impacts of a dishonest society are profound.
Already, we hear of endless examples of rampant
dishonesty from corporate malfeasance to welfare
fraud, from student cheating to elder scams. A viable
society requires that we able to trust what people say
and do.
§ More violent crime. The violent crime rate
among illegals is horrific. I wish I could present the
most germane statistic: the violent crime rate for
legal versus illegal residents, but for reasons I
can?t understand, most law enforcement agencies are
prohibited from collecting those data. Nevertheless,
related statistics are available.
According to the US Transportation Department, nearly
half of California's drunk driving arrests in 2001
were Latino men. (Data for later years is not yet
available.)
An article in City Journal reports, ?In Los Angeles,
up to two-thirds of all fugitive felony warrants
(17,000) are for illegal immigrants. A confidential
California Department of Justice study reported in
1995 that 60 percent of the 20,000-strong 18th Street
Gang in southern California is illegal; police
officers say the proportion is actually much greater.
The bloody gang collaborates with the Mexican Mafia,
the dominant force in California prisons, on complex
drug-distribution schemes, extortion, and drive-by
assassinations, and commits an assault or robbery
every day in L.A. County.? One in seven inmates in
California state prisons are illegal immigrants,
serving time for crimes other than being in the US
illegally. California taxpayers alone spend $500
million a year on incarcerating illegals.
Astonishingly, because of so-called sanctuary laws,
police in illegal-saturated cities such as L.A., San
Diego, Houston, Austin, Chicago, and New York are
prohibited from reporting even felons? immigration
violations to federal authorities.
Even an illegal alien who has committed murder rarely
gets deported! According to statistics from the former
Immigration and Naturalization Service and Immigration
and Customs Enforcement, 80,000 illegals who have
served prison time for felonies including murder,
rape, drug smuggling, and armed robberies, are roaming
our streets. This is frightening indeed because,
according to Bureau of Justice statistics, within
three years of prison release, 62% commit another
crime.
I wonder what Bush or Kerry would say to the family of
a person who was murdered by an illegal.
And if Bush or Kerry?s legalization proposals are
enacted, the violent crime rate among illegals will
worsen further. Because most illegals have physically
demanding jobs, when they reach their 40s, their
bodies are typically no longer capable of doing that
work. At that point, with no experience other than in
manual labor, most of these people will not be able to
earn a living wage, and hopeless people (or their
children) disproportionately turn to crime. So, as
time goes on, the already devastating crime rate among
illegals will rise further.
§ Endangered national security.
All 19 of the 9/11 terrorists were in the US
illegally. Peyton Knight, Director of Legislative
Affairs for the American Policy Center, a Virginia
think tank, writes, ?At a time when America is under
attack by Islamist holy warriors, the Census Bureau
estimates that as many as 115,000 illegal immigrants
from Middle Eastern countries are living in the United
States.
§ Higher taxes. Many illegals are
paid off-the-books. Most others earn low salaries and
therefore pay little or no tax. Yet illegals are heavy
users of tax-dollar funded programs: education, health
care, and the criminal justice system, for example.
According to US Census data, immigrants [1] are 75%
more likely to use food stamps, medical benefits, and
housing assistance at a cost of $68 billion per year.
(Compare this with the estimated $84 billion one-time
cost of the war in Iraq.) A recent report by the
Center for Immigration Studies finds that illegals
cost the taxpayer $10 billion more than they
contribute in taxes.
Some argue that illegals contribute to our economy
through their spending. In fact, because illegals?
salaries are low, they have little to spend. In
addition, while American-born workers spend most or
all of their earnings here in the US, creating more
jobs and in turn, more tax revenues, illegals send
much of their earnings back to relatives in their
native country. For example, according to a study by
the Pew Hispanic Center and Inter-American Development
Bank, Latino immigrants in 2002, despite the soft
economy, sent a record $23 billion to relatives and
others in their home countries.
California is already almost bankrupt. Adding millions
more illegals into legal status would likely push
California over the edge. Other states with large
numbers of illegals would likely soon follow, causing
illegals to move to states that still had money to
provide them with services. Senator Robert Byrd (D-WV)
called the Bush plan, ?lunacy.? The Kerry plan would
legalize far more illegals.
§ Ever more illegal border
crossing. If I were a poor citizen of a poor country
and learned that the US government is not deporting
illegal aliens but instead, providing them with free
health care and education, and that with
easy-to-obtain fake ID, I could get many additional
services, my family and I would be ever more tempted
to sneak into the US.
And a majority of Mexicans, with whom the US shares a
1,000-mile border, believe there?s nothing wrong with
doing so. According to a Zogby poll, 57 percent
believe ?Mexicans should have the right to enter the
US without US permission? and 58 percent agreed that
?the territory of the U.S.? southwest rightfully
belongs to Mexico.?
Many Mexican leaders also hold these beliefs.
Co-founder of MALDEF, Mario Obledo, to whom President
Clinton awarded the U.S. Presidential Medal of
Freedom, boasted, ?California is going to be a
Hispanic state. Anyone who doesn?t like it should
leave." He added: "Every constitutional office in
California is going to be held by Hispanics in the
next 20 years.? Jose Pescador Osuna, former Mexican
Consul General in Los Angeles, said, "Even though I?m
saying this part serious and part joking, I believe we
are practicing 'La Reconquista' in California." Past
Mexican president Ernesto Zedillo, in 1997, speaking
before the national council of La Raza, was not
half-joking when he said: "I have proudly affirmed
that the Mexican nation extends beyond the territory
enclosed by its borders and that Mexican migrants are
an important ? a very important ? part of this." And
Mexico?s current president, Vicente Fox has marched La
Reconquista forward by having convinced President Bush
to provide legal status for millions of illegals.
In Sum
As I mentioned earlier, I am far from an American
flag-waver. But despite its flaws, America has,
heretofore, been a land of exceptional opportunity and
innovation. As I get older, I especially appreciate
that America has spawned more life-saving medical
advances and quality-of-life improvements than any
country in the world. America has also provided
trillions in foreign aid, and is the only country in
the world with a worldwide Peace Corps, a tremendous
service to the people of the developing world.
However, uncontrolled immigration promises to destroy
all that. Of course, many illegal immigrants do
valuable work, but their net impact, as I have
demonstrated, is already very negative, and promises
to decimate America.
Yet, in fear of not sufficiently celebrating
diversity, and in pandering to Corporate America?s
thirst for cheap, compliant labor, both Democrats and
Republicans are not only failing to defend against the
overwhelming invasion by illegals but encouraging it.
As a result, every year, America is dying faster.
President Bush?s Guest Worker proposal and John
Kerry?s even more radical proposal would accelerate
America?s death, a dagger in the middle class?s heart.
And what about the millions of people worldwide who
have patiently waited so they can immigrate to the US
legally? Can we expect they?ll continue to wait? Or
will they just come on in, accelerating the
overwhelming of America.
This is sad, not only for America, but for the world.
For example, developing nations benefit from a US
government and a Corporate America wealthy enough to
invest in those countries. For example, when US
corporations establish operations in developing
nations, they pay employees much more than the
country?s prevailing wages and offer far better
working conditions. So, a dying America contributes to
declining standard of living to people around the
globe.
By having de facto suspended our immigration laws, we
will soon be just another of the world?s countries
struggling just to cope with its own residents?
poverty.
An Alternative
For both humanitarian and practical reasons, the US
should not round up and deport illegal immigrants.
Instead, the US should impose and enforce severe
penalties on employers who hire illegals. If an
employer cannot find a legal worker, it must improve
salaries and working conditions until a legal resident
will take the position. The government must also
eliminate incentives for foreigners to sneak into the
US: no benefits to illegals and their families except
for emergency health care.
Also, we should do more to make citizens of other
countries less eager to leave their homeland. Such
efforts should focus on Mexico because it is the
source of the majority of illegal immigrants. What
could be done? Mexico is home to half of Latin
America?s billionaires. Mexico should more heavily tax
its wealthy to provide higher-quality education and
health care for all its citizens. US banks and
non-profits, perhaps with a government subsidy, should
provide microloans to help Mexican citizens start
their own local businesses. For 25 years, microloans
have helped millions of poor people to raise their
standard of living, even in the most poverty-wracked
countries. In addition, the Mexican government needs
to take some responsibility for its people?s poverty.
For example, its government is notoriously corrupt,
creating a gap between rich and poor that dwarfs the
disparity we so decry in the US. If President Fox is
to expect the US to assist Mexico, he needs to make
all efforts to clean up the corruption.
If you believe that uncontrolled immigration is
damaging to America and indirectly to the world, seek
out candidates willing to control immigration. Trouble
is, I can?t find one.
Marty Nemko holds a PhD in education from the
University of California, Berkeley and subsequently
taught there. He has been a consultant to 15 college
presidents. 400+ of his published writings are on
http://www.martynemko.com.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
[1] The census doesn?t identify residents as legal or
illegal, but the consensus estimate is that 2/3 of all
immigrants in the US are illegal.
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