Enforce immigration laws

Letter date: 
Thursday, March 15, 2012
Letter publisher: 
bend bulletin.com
Letter author: 
Julia Stapp - Redmond
Letter body: 

Victor Davis Hanson’s Feb. 19 column on illegal immigration cuts to the heart of the issue: Are we, or are we not, going to enforce American laws?

There is nothing “racist” about arresting and deporting people who deliberately flout our laws. Any intelligent person, irrespective of race, knows breaking the law carries unpleasant consequences. If Hispanics choose to purposely violate American immigration laws, it doesn’t make those who refuse to condone or excuse criminal behavior racists.

The United States has completely sealed the border between North and South Korea for 50 years, yet it hasn’t sealed our borders with Mexico. Twenty million American citizens couldn’t find jobs in February, but seven million illegal immigrants hold nonagricultural jobs. Could your spouse, your child, your friend, use one of those jobs?

The annual net cost to taxpayers of every low-skilled immigrant household is $19,588. The cost per year of illegal immigration to the American taxpayer is $113 billion. Would you prefer to subsidize millions of illegal immigrants, or see your tax dollars benefit American citizens?

I support legal immigration. (My son-in-law is a legal immigrant.) I also believe in respect for the law, and in stiff penalties for violating the law. We need to enforce our laws and stop mollycoddling criminals, and that’s what illegal immigrants are.