“You can’t have open borders as long as you have a welfare state.” – Milton Friedman

As a legal immigrant who waited patiently across the ocean to receive my permission to immigrate to the U.S., I understand the plight of over four million forgotten legal immigrants who are awaiting patiently the disposition of their cases, while the Immigration office works the backlog of applications, some as old as twenty years.

But do pro-amnesty pundits, lobbyists, MSM talking heads, Republicans, Democrats, Big Labor, Big Corporations, and other interested groups refer to this situation when they label our immigration system “broken?”

I was curious and decided to do a random survey of people on the streets of D.C., in stores, and by written request on various social networks, assuring those polled that their answers will remain anonymous. My two questions were simple:

1. Do you believe that the current immigration system is “broken” and why?
2. Will amnesty of millions of illegal aliens hurt/help this country and why?

The large majority of Democrats polled believed that our immigration system is broken; they could not tell me why they thought it broken, with the exception of a few very confident individuals who blamed the current level of illegal immigration on former President George W. Bush.

Most of the Democrats I polled told me that amnesty is the humane thing to do, it is social justice, it is spreading the wealth, and it will help our country and our economy by bringing the exploited taxpaying illegals out of the shadows, the “undocumented” poor who deserve our respect, justice, and citizenship because they do the jobs Americans refuse to do.

A few self-described Democrats stated that it is un-American to have borders, everyone should be allowed to come and go as they please because we live in a global community, with global citizens, and global commerce.

Republicans, independents, and libertarians gave me more specific, lengthy answers backed by some logical arguments. The majority were in agreement that our immigration system is not broken – our immigration laws have not been enforced for a long time and they certainly are not enforced currently. A few argued that the immigration system is broken for various reasons.

When 92 million Americans are unemployed, it is hardly wise to import more poverty from Mexico and other third world nations. It is true that they work hard and for lesser wages but they have a wife and several children at home who may draw Social Security benefits, Medicaid, SNAP, EBT, WIC, receive free education for their children, causing a drag on the economy. If there are no jobs for Americans, how will the new immigrants survive without government help? Our government will increase our taxes, and it has, causing us all to live in poverty.

Democrats believe that amnesty will buy them 12 more million votes since South American illegal immigrants believe in socialism and financial dependence on big government, it is the only system they understand.

Republicans believe that amnesty will bring some voters to their side if they change their platform to a left of center ideology and get rid of the “annoying Tea Party.” The GOP will receive support from wealthy donors, the Chamber of Commerce, and Big Business, who clamor for cheap labor.

A few thought the current immigration system is “broken” because the process is expensive, it is very lengthy, fails to vet people properly, and it does not enforce policies consistently across the board, exceptions are made all the time in the name of diversity and multiculturalism, bringing in dangerous and potential jihadis.

The border police have an impossible task to protect our borders. The quandary is that, if officers do follow the law they swore to uphold, contrary to this administration’s executive orders and directives to allow illegals across the border, the border patrol officers lose their jobs.

Immigration is supposed to benefit the American people, the American citizens, not illegal immigrants who have broken our laws by crossing the border illegally. If we reward bad behavior and do not secure the border, a new wave of immigrants will occur on the assumption that they will also be rewarded with amnesty, legal status, and American citizenship.

“Immigration should be based on our need for skilled labor, not their want for free government handouts. We used to be a land of freedom and opportunity – now we have become the land of free handouts and debt.”

One respondent said that deportations should occur according to the law and without the interference from the DOJ who interprets such matters according to their own agenda.

Should we give legal status and citizenship to people who have no respect for our laws, our culture, our history, and have no intention of assimilating and learning English?

“C,” a staunch conservative, mentioned that not all illegals are our Christian “cousins” from Mexico. It is estimated that 9 million illegal Muslims from the Middle East, pretending to be Mexicans, have poured into the U.S. through the southern border. They learned Spanish, applied for public assistance, and have fanned across the U.S. in the last 20-25 years. The Border Patrol reported that OTMs (other than Mexicans) were pouring across the border by the thousands every month as far back as the 1980s.

WND reported in 2010 that illegals coming from Afghanistan, Iran, Egypt, Pakistan, Sudan, Syria, and Yemen have breached the 2,000 mile U.S. border from California, Arizona, New Mexico, and Texas. http://www.wnd.com/2010/05/156441/SjAbjYdzCkPWJLkI.99

Similar reports of OTMs arrested at the U.S. border were published by freerepublic.com and texasinsider.org. www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1191739/posts
www.texasinsider.org/663-muslims..ties..border-during-2010

According to Jerry Kammer, “The majority of OTMs arrests were made near the Texas border, and the vast majority were from Central America, especially Guatemala, El Salvador, and Honduras.” http://www.cis.org/kammer/sen-feinstein-issues-confusing-warning-about-terrorists-mexican-border

“Laura” brought up the Muslim refugees from Somalia and other Middle Eastern countries who are brought here, given apartments, 2 years of living expenses, and free ObamaCare, while our own U.S. citizens are out of work, losing their homes because they cannot pay their mortgages, and are faced with the possibility of living in the streets.

One male respondent described an ugly and dangerous facet of crashing our borders – the drug lords from Mexico forcing illegal immigrants to sell drugs in the U.S. under threat of killing their families left in Mexico.

The practice of birthright citizenship should be overturned thus ending pregnancy tourism which costs the United States dearly over time in welfare, free education, free healthcare, and free Social Security benefits without ever having paid into the system. Some hospitals in California had to close their doors; they were no longer able to absorb the free health care losses from anchor babies and extended families.

Legalizing low-level workers with an average 10th grade education will expand the dependent class that the rest of productive Americans must support. They will likely take jobs away from lower skilled Americans who are already having a hard time finding jobs in this contracting economy.

“D” opined that, by the time the permanent Democrat voter majority will be established through blanket amnesty, it may take generations to reverse the political damage and, the so-called “living and breathing” Constitution would have likely expired.

One contributor gauged the current immigration system as having ceased to exist. If something is broken, it assumes that it can be fixed. How can something be fixed when even the word “illegal” is taken out of usage? Promoting lawlessness is not a good practice. ”Amnesty will assure that millions of old uneducated and dirt poor relatives of newly minted ‘citizens’ will move to this country, overwhelming culture, language, and even religion on which this country was built, drawing benefits that this country will not be able to provide.”

Several respondents agreed that the immigration system is not broken, it may just need tweaking, such as increasing H1B work visas. Some immigrants just want to work here and then return home. They have no desire to assimilate.

On the other hand, the increase of H1B visas will dry up opportunities for American college graduates who will now have to compete with educated foreigners on H1B visas who are willing to accept much lower wages. Outsourcing jobs will depress pay even further. A Bangladeshi doctor may be willing to read MRIs and CAT scans emailed during the night from an American hospital for the low pay of $20,000 a year.

Some of the respondents did not really know what the immigration system really is. Many had no idea that there is such a thing as immigration lottery. I have friends who are now permanent resident and citizens after having won the immigration lottery. Luckily, the winners I know are educated individuals our economy needs.

“Our immigration criteria require adjustment to continue to accept those who seek the American dream.” Are illegal aliens who refuse to assimilate, live in self-imposed barrios, and do not speak English, interested in embracing the American Dream or are they interested in milking the generous welfare system?

“We will never be able to build a giant fence due to animal migration as well as other reasons.” I will add that any fence can be easily escalated by a determined person who has already broken the law by leaving their countries without a passport and/or documents.

Not one of the people asked addressed the simple solution of cutting off welfare and not hiring illegals, thus forcing them to return to their home countries.

Nobody addressed the responsibility of illegal aliens’ home countries to create welfare and social programs to care for their citizens – Americans are not the world’s nanny and bank account.

We are broke. Our national debt of trillions of dollars cannot possibly be repaid. As Milton Friedman said, when government spending exceeds 25 percent of GDP, democracy will fail because welfare recipients will outnumber producers. Can we afford to increase the numbers of welfare recipients by adding 92 million unemployed and millions of newly amnestied illegal aliens?

Democrats and some Republicans answered that “Most illegal immigrants are living law-abiding lives.” Except that crossing the border illegally is a crime in all countries, with varying degrees of punishment, from harsh to lax. Claiming over $4 billion in earned income tax credit for children who reside in Mexico is also criminal.

Democrats and some Republicans believe that illegals pursue education and work and “come here for such opportunities, thus unleashing economic and human potential that is currently muted.” Statistics and reality point in the opposite direction.

“I think the alternative of leaving millions in the shadows is far more detrimental to society than finding ways to open our arms to those who still believe in the promise of America.”

It sounds lofty although this person could not explain how leaving millions in the shadows is detrimental to America. As a matter of fact, illegals do not live in the shadows at all, they live openly in our communities; they shop at Walmart, lining up every month with their EBT and SNAP cards, taking their indignation and impatience out on the cashier because she does not speak Spanish; they shop in our grocery stores, go to church; their children attend our schools and do not speak English, prompting taxpayers to spend billions on ESL programs and on Spanish translators to help children struggling in math and reading to catch up; and they congregate in the nearby convenience store parking lots, waiting to be hired.

A very logical commentary came from “C.W.” She opined that immigration should be limited, spending more resources on growing our economy. We already have an annual legal immigration quota of one million people. It won’t be easy to absorb that many annually when the predicted U.S. population by 2050 is one billion. How will these people be fed, housed, educated, provided sanitation for, and medical care to when Congress with its EPA is busy halting power companies from expanding service to the existing population?

When immigration law was passed in 1965, it was not a logical response to an economic need and the ability to grow the economy, but a political response to the desire to allow non-Caucasians into the U.S. whether they fit in or not, by changing the old law’s immigration quotas from three primary countries: Great Britain, Germany, and Ireland.

One irate respondent used a quote by an unknown author, “Calling an illegal alien an ‘undocumented immigrant’ is like calling a drug dealer an ‘unlicensed pharmacist.’”

Rush Limbaugh opined on his show that “when you flood the country with millions of people who are predestined to vote Democrat, who are inexperienced and low wage, what in the world is going to happen when you bring in that many or legalize that many and you’ve given up your assimilation, the assimilation aspect of immigration, then you have Balkanization that takes place?”

How can House GOP want legal status but no citizenship for illegal immigrants and expect that they won’t vote in elections? This administration has legalized by executive order 4 million “Dreamers” (a euphemism for younger illegal immigrants) right before the 2012 election. Does anyone believe that they did not vote? Rush concludes that amnesty is “the mother of all scams” and suicide for GOP and America. It is suicide because, according to statistics and poll after poll, most unemployed vote Democrat, most first generation immigrants vote Democrat, and most non-Caucasians vote Democrat.

No matter what the voters want, both parties will push amnesty through. And the truth slipped out from former Mayor Michael Bloomberg. “Congress should act on immigration reform even if Republicans won’t agree to the full-scale overhaul that President Obama wants. Once a new system is in place, tweaks could more easily be made in future years.”

Amnesty might be a blessing if nine-tenths of illegals were doctors, scientists, entrepreneurs, engineers, architects, and conservatives interested in assimilating and preserving the American way of life.