Jewish World Review April 15, 2005/ 6 Nisan, 5765

Greg Crosby

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Consumer Reports

A Country without Borders

http://www.NewsAndOpinion.com | If millions of illegals are coming across the boarder from Mexico to work in America, and they are, then how come so many American businesses are moving their factories to Mexico? Why not keep the factories open here and hire the illegals that are coming over to work? The answer is the illegals are compelled by law to work for minimum wage in U.S. factories. Because factories would be forced to pay illegals at minimum wages or even union scale wages, it's just more economical to open factories in Mexico where wages are cheaper. That's economic logic.

By the way, I know the politically correct term for people who cross the boarder from the south is supposed to be "Latino," but the fact of the matter is, even though there is a modicum of Guatemalans and others from South America who sneak over, the vast majority of Latinos crossing into America illegally are Mexican. So let's not delude ourselves into thinking that there are loads of Brazilians and Argentineans sneaking into the U.S. to work at Wal-Mart, okay?

Mexican workers are not risking their lives to come here to work for the same money they get in Mexico, they're not stupid. They know that America pays a lot more in wages and offers a gang more in additional governmental benefits, like health care, schools, housing, and food stamps. You can thank the trade unions and state and federal give-away programs (and the ever-increasing minimum wage law) for the continued influx of Mexicans sneaking across for the higher paid work. You can also thank building contractors, and the hotel and restaurant industries for employing them. And while you're at it, you can thank the Feds (BOTH political parties) for turning a blind eye to the whole thing.

The vast majority of workers in the building construction industry in American are almost all illegals now. And I don't mean only in California, Texas, New Mexico and Arizona, it's all over the country. Go to a small town in Pennsylvania and you'll hear Spanish spoken by the construction crew building a new condo in a Lancaster County neighborhood.

And when was the last time you stayed at a Hilton hotel and heard the maid speaking with an Irish brogue? Just like you always encounter Swedish busboys at Denny's restaurants, right? It's not only the lowest paid jobs anymore, either. Mexicans are not just crossing over to pick lettuce and grapes; they're working the cash registers at the drug store and supermarket chains. They are the gardeners, the store clerks, the security alarm guys, the cable guys, the auto mechanics, the house painters, and the roofers.

The millions and millions of illegal aliens flooding into the American work force is building a "working poor" class of citizen and turning jobs which were once dependable, mid-level blue collar, into bottom-rung, low income crap jobs.

And then there are those who come across who are not really interested in fitting into the job pool at all. I'm talking about criminals like drug dealers, murderers, and rapists. They commit crimes in the U.S. then hightail it back to Mexico and cannot be found — or sometimes they can be found but cannot be brought back to stand trial because of arcane or absurd extradition laws.

An illegal alien killed police officer David Marsh in Los Angeles two years ago and fled to Mexico where he is still on the loose. Colorado University quarterback John Hessler was hit head-on by two illegals who fled the scene back to Mexico. Hessler lives a wheelchair existence. An illegal alien ran down a Denver police officer last year in a school cross walk. Eight women were raped in Boulder, Colorado over a year ago by illegals who ran back to Mexico. The list goes on and on.

The criminal element of the illegals have hunkered down in the Spanish speaking neighborhoods and are wide open for business and the cops can't stop them. Special Order 40 prevents LAPD officers from turning illegal alien gang members over to the ICE (Immigration and Customs Enforcement — formerly INS) for deportation — BEFORE THEY COMMIT THEIR NEXT CRIME!

"Special Order 40" is a police mandate that originated in 1979 by former Police Chief Gates and the L.A. City Council to prevent police from inquiring about the immigration status of arrestees. The LAPD argues that without Special Order 40, innocent undocumented immigrant witnesses and victims would lose the trust of the LAPD and would not report crimes for fear of being deported. But gang members are not innocent undocumented immigrant witnesses or victims. Special Order 40 is good news for gang members and terrorists who don't want to be questioned about their immigration status.

There is strong evidence to support the probability that most gang members are illegal aliens. A 1997 L.A. Times three part series on the 18th Street Gang stated that out of the total membership (estimated to be as high as 20,000), about 60% of them are illegal immigrants, according to a confidential report by the state Department of Justice. Its primary recruitment targets: immigrant youngsters — and that's just one gang — in one city.

The L.A. Daily News reported that L.A. County Sheriff Baca's own study estimated that 38,748 county inmates (23 percent of the jail population) are illegal aliens who will cost the county an estimated annual jail housing cost of $150 million.

And yet the Feds, the states, and the cities do nothing to stop illegal immigration.

This is why the Minuteman Project, currently being carried out in southern Arizona, was started by concerned American citizens who are fed up with the do-nothing posture of government towards this growing problem. The Minutemen group does not attempt to hurt or hassle the illegals, just patrol a 23-mile stretch of border said to be the most porous in the nation. When they detect an illegal crossing, they alert the U.S. Border Patrol who then move in and do their job.

Besides adding an additional criminal element, and devaluating jobs, here are other good reasons why our immigration laws need to be enforced. We are in danger of losing our American culture (yes, regardless of what the multiculturalists say, we do have an American culture). But that is an entire topic all by itself. I'll hold it for another time.

There are "doctors without borders," and "lawyers without borders," and Heaven knows what else without borders — but if we continue having an America without borders, we can look forward to possibly having no America at all.

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JWR contributor Greg Crosby, former creative head for Walt Disney publications, has written thousands of comics, hundreds of children's books, dozens of essays, and a letter to his congressman. A freelance writer in Southern California, you may contact him by clicking here.

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