We learned at the Maricopa County Attorney's Office Southwest Conference on Illegal Immigration, Border Security and Crime that until other nations open their borders, offer the same essentially automatic citizenship to anyone who crosses, and have the same economic opportunities, for us to leave our borders open, particularly when we create no real incentives for immigrants to become part of American culture and society is a major mistake, and one we may paying a stiff price for, in the end.

In November 2005 the Maricopa County (Arizona) Attorney’s office sponsored a conference in Scottsdale to discuss the impact of illegal immigration on the Southwest and to assist communities in dealing with the associated issues. The impact is fairly well understood in many of the Mexican border states, as well as in other states further inland, as many illegal immigrants have found opportunities to move north and east in pursuit of jobs and less stringent enforcement. The ball has been in the federal government’s court for a long time, and it should be, as immigration is a federal jurisdictional issue. However, that does not preclude enforcement action by state and local authorities. Unfortunately, little action has been taken, probably because the issue has too much political weight attached to it for many to get seriously involved.

At the Scottsdale Conference Steve Gallardo, Arizona House of Representatives member for District 13 offered these statistics: Arizona has a $6.3 billion agriculture industry, 7,500 farms and ranches, 56,000 farmers and 60 percent of those working the farms are illegal immigrants. Obviously, this presents the case that there are a large number of agriculture jobs, which are not being filled by citizens. Either citizens ask for more money than the employers are willing or able to pay, or they are simply unwilling to take such jobs. Similar situations are undoubtedly present in other industries, including construction and manufacturing where an employer can get labor at a cut-rate price, and may not care about reduced quality. Here in Houston, large numbers of foreign workers can be found at any new housing development. Whether they are here legally is anyone’s guess.

While the influx of people to take jobs not filled by citizens or legal residents may be considered an economic positive in some respects, there is also the argument that these people are taking potential employment away from people who are here legally. And there are other sides to the issue. Front Page Magazine recently published an Interview with Arizona State Representative Russell Pearce in which it cited a number of serious statistics about the behavior of illegals after they arrive. According to this article, in Los Angeles, 95% of all outstanding warrants for homicide; a total of over 1500, are for illegal aliens, as are 66% of all fugitive felony warrants. The article goes on to state that at present the “Largest and most violent gangs are made up of illegal aliens, the MS-13 gang (30,000 to 50,000 strong, in over 33 major cities) is most violent and ruthless gang ever known.” It also mentions the Los Angeles 18th Street gang purportedly made up of approximately 20,000 illegal aliens.

Some other statistics from the same source: It is estimated that some 80% of violent crime involves illegal aliens; homicide warrants have been issued for approximately 4000 people who have since fled south across the border; and the Department of Homeland Security reported that arrests for child sex crimes during the first two years of Operation Predator (an initiative developed by the Department of Homeland Security's Bureau of Immigration and Customs Enforcement to protect children) have exceeded 6,000 and 85 percent of them involved illegal immigrants.

Front Page Magazine goes on to cite the estimated costs of $70 billion in federal public benefits, $200 billion per year in lost American wages, $1.6 billion in costs of imprisoning illegals, some $80 billion in the war on drugs which is related to illegal border crossings, costs of educating people in languages other than English, $27 billion to provide forms, ballots, interpreters and brochures for languages other than English, $350 billion in unpaid taxes due to the underground workforce and more. The American Hospital Association estimates the cost of care provided to illegal aliens who do not pay, is more than $21 billion a year. It would seem that stemming these costs could make a significant difference in the budget requirements at many levels of government. While some of these figures are disputed, particularly by libertarian oriented organizations such as the Independent Institute , there is no doubt that heavy costs do exist.

Assimilation is another very important aspect of the immigration issue. Scottsdale Conference participant Professor Glynn Custred of California State University, East Bay (formerly CSU, Hayward) noted that much of past immigration came in waves, with immigrants being assimilated into the culture, and becoming part of American society in between each wave. Today, in contrast, immigration is coming in a flood, and there is comparatively less assimilation. Even among those who are here legally, and who have taken citizenship, there is often less interest in being “American” than there was 75 years ago.

The situation reminds one of a scene in classic movie Casablanca where the husband and wife escaping from Europe to America are trying to speak English to each other. They do it poorly, but it is lack of education and experience, rather than interest or intent. One gets the impression that they want to be Americans, just as was the case with many other immigrants. Their attempt to speak English is a sign of their dedication to the new country where they intend to live a new life. There was also a common practice in European immigrants of past generations who referred to their former home as “the old country”. They were living in America now, and it was now their home. It is different today, as my experience with some of the Vietnamese immigrant population of California and Texas shows; they refer to Vietnam as “my country” even though they are citizens and own American passports. This same attitude is often found in Hispanic immigrants, as well. Some of them learn only enough English to get along, and refuse to speak it with their children; another stark contrast with pervious generations who insisted that children speak English as much as possible, and who were unhappy with their own poor English language skills.

Along with the lack of parental support for assimilation, is the lack of government support. Public schools, in particular, stress America as an evil nation, children are not presented with a picture designed to make them proud of their citizenship here. Rather, they are told to despise the nation that is being so hospitable to them and their parents.

As radio host and author Michael Savage is fond of pointing out Borders, Language and Culture are an important trio of factors defining our national identity and existence. If we don’t control our borders, maintain English as our standard language, and require assimilation by new immigrants, then our nation loses its identity and eventually its population fragments into a balkanized hodgepodge. Civil war, with criminal and terrorist organizations playing a major role cannot be far off if this road is followed far enough.

While a large part of the problem obviously resides with the employers because the illegals would be less likely to come where they were not offered jobs, some of the blame must reside with the government which provides incentives to hire cheap labor that falls outside of the cracks of regulation. Another aspect of this has been a Libertarian issue for years; if we stopped providing government benefits including health care, education and financial assistance to people who cross the border illegally, it would again reduce the incentive to do so. So far, this has been a tough sell, not to the people, but to governments, and especially the courts.

What the courts have ignored for many years is the fact that the Constitution provides a two-pronged test for citizenship, which should be applied to the children of illegal immigrants. First, they must be born here which is for all practical purposes non-issue. Second, they must be subject to the jurisdiction of the United States. When someone crosses the border illegally they are intentionally avoiding the legal requirements, and as such are placing themselves outside of the jurisdiction of United States law. As such, they should not be allowed access to government benefits and their children should not be considered citizens. In the only rational alternative, the children could be considered citizens, but the parents, because of their illegal entry would have to be sent back to their point of origin.

Proponents of “globalization” suggest that open borders are the wave of the future, and that the United States should get on board now. This might be reasonable if other nations were providing the same liberties and benefits as we do, and had robust economies where all who wanted could find work. The problem is that under the present circumstances, travel is essentially one-way, rather than multidirectional. People are coming to the USA because it offers what other nations do not. Very few really want to leave. As in free trade, the playing field must be level. Until other nations open their borders, offer the same essentially automatic citizenship to anyone who crosses, and have the same economic opportunities, for us to leave our borders open, particularly when we create no real incentives for immigrants to become part of American culture and society is a major mistake, and one we may paying a stiff price for, in the end.