1) immigrants make up a disproportionate number of prisoners- which understandably makes working-class Americans nervous about increased immigration due to the huge cost of incarceration and law enforcement;

2)from a health perspective- i agree that the leprosy claims are unfounded, but immigrants are more likely to have been exposed to TB in their home countries, which imposes a significant cost on the health care infrastructure due to the high cost of isolation techniques necessary for preventing airborne infections.

3)On a local level, the very high costs of illegal immigration are beyond dispute. You can use any fiscal analysis that you want, but the truth is that working class Americans are facing a situation where emergency rooms and schools are facing huge budget shortfalls due to the surge in illegal immigration and the consequent rise in the number of uninsured individuals seeking care in local ER’s and the unexpected rise in student populations at local schools.

Before you jump to the “racist” accusation- think about the following scenario. Imagine if 12 million Americans moved to Mexico without visas over a span of 5 years, radically changing the ethnic composition of neighborhoods and cities, arguably displacing Mexican workers, incurring huge expenditures at local ER’s and schools, requiring Mexican teachers to teach in English and Spanish, starting new radio and TV stations in English, and were perceived (rightly or wrongly) as being responsible for higher crime rates in communities… what would the response of the Mexican government be?

How quickly would they assert their right to control immigration in the name of preserving their culture and their way of life. How would they respond to a demographic challenge in which the growth of this immigrant population would make indigenous Mexicans a minority in a generation?

No one talks about the double standard that has been created for countries with a majority-European population and those with a majority non-European population. Non-Europeans are allowed to assert their concerns about threats to culture and, like most African and Asian countries, can create nationalistic anti-immigration laws. If majority European countries do the same, they are accused of racism.

The double standard cannot hold.

Why do Bush and that bunch of liberals in the Chamber of Commerce so eagerly push for open borders? Is it because they are humanitarians who long to help their brown brothers or sisters? I suggest it’s because they know very well illegal immigrants will force down wages in the fields in which they work and weaken labor demands for such things as safer working conditions and health insurance. Which is what has happened; wages in such areas (fields in which I, myself, have worked) have declined.

The fact that the workers have broken the law in coming here is a secondary point. It should not be ignored, but I’d probably do the same thing in their place. But why should it be only Mexicans? And why should the illegal employers (yes, there IS such a thing as an illegal employer) not be prosecuted to the fullest?

And whose side are you on?

“Killings turn focus on San Francisco sanctuary law

…
But authorities say that was enough to cause Edwin Ramos to unload an AK-47 assault weapon on a man and his two sons, killing them.

The deaths immediately drew public outrage, which intensified when authorities revealed that Ramos, 21, is an illegal immigrant who managed to avoid deportation despite previous brushes with the law.

…
”
news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080724/ap_on_re_us/road_rage_killing

The American Legion’s booklet “A Strategy to Address Illegal Immigration in the United States” is being updated. Please come back soon for the new edition.

One thing I definitely don’t agree with the Legion on is the slant they sometimes take on national political issues (namely leaning right-wing on presidential politics). I believe they should be entirely non-partisan…court ALL the politicians to back veterans benefits. Compared to a number of other countries, our nations honor to vets is horrible. We are good at throwing ticker tape parades, and patting them on the back, but give it a year or two and they’re left in the cold (figuratively and literally in some instances).

While I would like to see a crack down on illegals coming into the country, it is deplorable that the Legion would miss-represent the facts. They should be ashamed, and have brought discredit to those of us that wear the legion hat. I will be contacting National about that.

If we would have spent the near trillion dollars we’ve spent in Iraq (that wasn’t a terrorist training ground, but now is pumping them out like there’s no tomorrow) on border security, better tracking of visitor/student visas, we’d be far more secure than we are now. But I suppose that will be thrown aside as liberal rhetoric. Though I guess I could take the easy, uneducated, or more appropriately uninformed, scare tactic of “the terrorists are coming, the terrorists are coming, shoot everyone…we’re all going to die.”

Only the united struggle of native and immigrant workers can back these people into a corner and achieve the wages, benefits, and safety measures these jobs should have.

Maybe you and your associate Socialists and open border promoters should get your facts straight. I don’t get what you think is so wrong about protecting the sovereignty of ones own country. As far as crime goes even one murder, rape or hit and run driving fatality is to many if perpetrated by somone who shouldn’t be here to begin with.

What is wrong with having controlled and orderly immigration into the United States?

I say that all of your liberal facts are skewed, and you are trying to dupe the American citizen with YOUR hate rhetoric against “Americans”.

There are also well documented studies on the negative effects of immigration and this myth that multiculturism is good for anyone.

Quit trying to brand your hate label on anyone with opposing views. This is straight out of the liberal playbook.

P.S. I bet that you don’t print this, of course that would also show your bias

Wow, of 6000 rapists and child molesters caught by Operation Predator, 5100 of them were “foreign nationals!” That’s shocking! You prove the American Legion’s point! We need a government that looks after Americans rather than foreigners, and sharply defines what an American is. According to SPLC logic, every person born on the planet out side of America is an embryonic American. I say no. Much of the world is full of people who I sure as heck wouldn’t want in this country. Let them stay where they are, and millions who are here need to be sent back.

Hopefully, they will DO THE RIGHT THING and issue both a recall of the booklet and an apology.

“I’m more afraid of my Anglo-American neighbors than I am of any other group, native-born or not. Oh and by the way, I’m a native-born white Irish American for anyone who’s wondering.”

Anglo … hmmmm … are you implying animosity against the English?

I can understand the American Legion being deceived. I cannot accept that they would spread them without verification. That’s disgusting.

If the adverse effects of illegal immigration were so bad, why is it necessary to lie about it?

During the 1920′s and 1930′s, Legionnaires acted as strike-breakers (“scabs” in the vernacular) during periods of labour unrest, in particular the Centralia Massacree in Washington state of 1919.

And the Legion has been known to associate with the Fascist element as required; Wikipedia’s entry on the American Legion thus notes:

According to congressional testimony in the 1930s, several of the American Legion’s leaders, including its original bankroller Irénée du Pont, plotted a fascist coup against the Government of Franklin D. Roosevelt called the Business Plot. According to testimony, the plot was averted because Major General Smedley Butler warned Roosevelt of the plan.

(That, and expressing outright admiration for Benito Mussolini’s Fascisti in Italy.)

The Legion is made up of those people who fought for this country and it’s CITIZENS/LEGAL IMMIGRANTS.

Many of the items you have pointed out as incorrect are actually quite correct. Do you homework HONESTLY