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Foreigners can bring more than just their luggage.
http://www.thetrumpet.com/index.php?page=article&id=1835
Over 1.2 million legal and illegal immigrants settle on American soil each year.
Since 1990, the number of aliens living in the United States has mushroomed 43
percent; the Latino population alone doubled between 1980 and 2000, constituting 40
percent of all U.S. growth. Today, 1 in 10 people in America is a foreigner.
The immigration explosion is not exclusive to the U.S. Fully 40 percent of today’s
Canadians were either born abroad or are the children of Canadians born elsewhere. By
2011, immigrants are projected to account for all net population growth in Canada.
Over the next 25 years, 84 percent of the United Kingdom’s population growth is
expected to come from immigration.
As for illegal immigration, national borders are more porous than ever. In Canada,
“gaps in Canada’s border security are so severe that an airport accepts international
passengers without on-site immigration checks, a marine border unit has no boat, a
computer glitch systematically hides information about terrorists, and officers at 62
border crossings are unable to link to a computer to screen incoming travelers”
(National Post, April 11).
In the crowded UK, where the population is roughly 60 million, an estimated 500,000
workers are thought to be illegal. If spouses, dependents and those not working are
added, the “illegal” population is close to 1 million and climbing.
Governments are polarized over the issue. In America, some yearn to liberalize
immigration laws. Others assert that uncontrolled immigration has burgeoned into a
huge disaster that is rapidly getting worse.
The debate in England over immigration and multiculturalism has taken on extra
meaning since London’s terrorist bombings in July. In a few states in the U.S.,
illegal immigration has become so prevalent and its negative effects so dire that the
state government has declared certain counties to be in a “state of emergency”—a
protocol generally used in the wake of hurricanes, floods, mass riots or other
catastrophes.
In this globalized world, immigration has become a global quandary.
This issue is a two-edged sword. What was once seen as a blessing to many nations has
become a terrible curse with seemingly unsolvable repercussions. Too few understand
the crux of this complex problem.
Two areas affected by immigration cause particular concern: the economy and crime.
Economic Impact
The hard work and perseverance of America’s early immigrants did much to help the
U.S. become the richest and most powerful nation in the world. By 1869, in no small
part thanks to the industrious nature of its immigrant population, America had
attained the highest per-capita income in the world. That phenomenal wealth, together
with a burgeoning population, created the world’s first consumer-driven economy.
But economic tragedy struck. The stock market crash of 1929 gutted the American
economy and thrust the nation into unprecedented hardship. It was in the midst of
this economic depression that American politicians laid the foundation for a welfare
state. From this time forward, the American government became the crutch on which
needy citizens could lean.
Concurrent with the rising popularity of the federal welfare programs was the
burgeoning of immigration. Immigrants began streaming into America, where many of the
poorest and least educated were no longer required to subscribe to the traditional
American work ethic and instead could rely on the federal government to take care of
them. Similar problems occurred in Britain, Canada, New Zealand and Australia.
This trend continues today, and the economic impact of immigrants on the federal
government is phenomenal. Immigration analyst Norman Matloff stated, “The reason for
this increased reliance on welfare is that for many immigrant groups, welfare in
recent years has lost its stigma and has instead become a magnet, drawing them to the
United States. As one Chinese senior in Oakland puts it, a common point of view is mh
hou sit dai, Cantonese for ‘Don’t miss this great opportunity’” (Sacramento Bee, Dec.
14, 1994). Matloff cited census data showing that, for example, 55 percent of the
Chinese seniors who immigrated to California from 1980 to 1987 were on welfare by
1990.
In the era of Big Government, burdening the middle class and the rich with heavy
taxes and giving handouts to an increasing number of poor dependents is heightening
the ethnic strife and racial stereotypes. In this respect, even legal immigrants are
placing an increasing burden on the U.S. economy. When we factor in the economic cost
of illegal immigrants, the picture grows increasingly dire. Illegal and legal
immigration is costing America billions.
The Center for Immigration Studies (cis) estimated the total impact of illegal
immigration on the federal budget: “[W]hen all taxes paid (direct and indirect) and
all costs are considered, illegal households created a net fiscal deficit at the
federal level of more than $10 billion in 2002. We also estimate that, if there was
an amnesty for illegal aliens, the net fiscal deficit would grow to nearly $29
billion” (“The High Cost of Cheap Labor,” August 2004).
No state has been more impacted financially by both illegal and legal immigration
than California. “Analysis of the latest census data indicates that California’s
illegal immigrant population is costing the state’s taxpayers more than $10.5 billion
per year for education, medical care and incarceration. Even if the estimated tax
contributions of illegal immigrant workers are subtracted, net outlays still amount
to nearly $9 billion per year. The annual fiscal burden from those three areas of
state expenditures amounts to about $1,183 per household headed by a native-born
resident” (Federation for American Immigration Reform, “The Costs of Illegal
Immigration to Californians,” November 2004).
The economic costs associated with immigration are hitting the UK as well. The influx
of immigrants has profoundly cost the government. The budget of the Immigration and
Nationality Department of the Home Office in the fiscal year of 1998-1999 was 300
million pounds; by 2003-2004 that amount had risen to 1.9 billion pounds—a
jaw-dropping increase of 633 percent.
Many of these immigrants are asylum seekers. More people apply for asylum in Britain
than in any other EU country. Why? Because it’s easier to enter, remain and claim
asylum status there compared to other EU countries like Germany or France. Anyone can
claim asylum upon arriving in the UK and cannot be expelled until his claim is
rejected and he has exhausted any right of appeal. “Meanwhile, the claimant is
entitled to free accommodation, emergency health care, children’s education, a cash
allowance and free legal aid” (www.migrationwatch.org, February 2005).
Families that are denied asylum “continue to receive benefits worth an average of
15,000 pounds a year tax-free” (ibid., January 2004). Britain’s shadow immigration
minister admitted to the presence of over 250,000 failed asylum seekers in the UK
(Express, May 18).
An added economic consequence of immigration is the bleeding of cash from host
countries. Upon locating work in their host nation, many immigrants (legal or
illegal) send a portion of their paychecks back home to their families. In the U.S.,
for example, Mexicans will send home $20 billion this year alone, according to
projections by Mexico’s Central Bank. This flood of cash will probably be the largest
source of foreign exchange in Mexico. The cash from Mexicans working in the U.S. is a
driving force behind Mexico’s economy: It amounts to the equivalent of 2 percent of
its gross domestic product. No wonder the Mexican government has done little to curb
the flow of illegal immigrants into the U.S. and, in many documented cases, has
actually condoned their illegal entry.
In 2004, India received $17.5 billion in the same manner. China, Pakistan and the
Philippines also receive substantial wads in remittance. For these nations, illegal
immigration is paying off quite nicely.
Crime
Heather Mac Donald, in an article titled “The Illegal Alien Crime Wave,” wrote, “Some
of the most violent criminals at large today are illegal aliens. Yet in cities where
the crime committed by aliens is highest, the police cannot use the most obvious tool
to apprehend them: their immigration status” (City Journal, Winter 2004; emphasis
ours throughout). Mac Donald highlighted Los Angeles as an example: The city is home
to numerous gangs, many of which are comprised of illegal immigrants from around the
world—particularly Asia, Latin America and South America. Alone and often without
money or a place to live, illegal immigrants in big cities are prone to joining gangs
in order to acquire food and shelter. Feeling secure among people of his own race or
status (illegal), the new immigrant oftentimes embraces the gang as a surrogate
family, and crime becomes his new occupation.
Mac Donald highlighted the following examples:
In Los Angeles, 95 percent of all outstanding warrants for homicide (which total
1,200 to 1,500) target illegal aliens. Up to two thirds of all fugitive felony
warrants (17,000) are for illegal aliens.
A California Department of Justice study reported in 1995 that 60 percent of the
20,000-strong 18th Street Gang in Southern California was illegal; police officers
said the proportion was actually much greater. The bloody gang collaborated with the
Mexican Mafia—the dominant force in California prisons—on complex drug-distribution
schemes, extortion and drive-by assassinations, and committed an assault or robbery
every day in L.A. County. The gang had grown dramatically over the previous two
decades by recruiting recently arrived youngsters, most of them illegal, from Central
America and Mexico.
The leadership of the Columbia Lil’ Cycos gang, which uses murder and racketeering to
control the drug market around L.A.’s MacArthur Park, was about 60 percent illegal in
2002. A Mexican Mafia member and an illegal alien controlled the gang from prison
while serving time for felonious reentry following deportation.
Referring to another L.A. gang, Mac Donald stated, “[D]ozens of members of a ruthless
Salvadoran prison gang have [sneaked] back into town after having been deported for
such crimes as murder, assault with a deadly weapon and drug trafficking. Police
officers know who they are and know that their mere presence in the country is a
felony. Yet should a cop arrest an illegal for felonious reentry, it is he who will
be treated as a criminal for violating the lapd’s [Los Angeles Police Department’s]
rule against enforcing immigration law.
“The lapd’s ban on immigration enforcement mirrors bans in immigrant-saturated cities
around the country, from New York and Chicago to San Diego, Austin and Houston. These
‘sanctuary policies’ generally prohibit city employees, including the cops, from
reporting immigration violations to federal authorities.”
Making matters worse than the fact that illegal immigration contributes to high crime
rates in many of America’s larger cities is the reality that many of the illegal
immigrants committing the crimes are protected by misguided policies set up by city
and state governments.
“[Sanctuary] laws testify to the sheer political power of immigrant lobbies, a power
so irresistible that police officials shrink from even mentioning the illegal alien
crime wave. ‘We can’t even talk about it,’ says a frustrated lapd captain. ‘People
are afraid of a backlash from Hispanics.’ Another lapd commander in a predominantly
Hispanic, gang-infested district sighs: ‘I would get a firestorm of criticism if I
talked about [enforcing the immigration law against illegals].’ Neither captain would
speak for attribution” (ibid.).
James R. Edwards, an author who specializes in immigration, stated, “The impact [of
illegal immigration] is seen particularly in crime: Record-high auto thefts in
Arizona, drug trafficking in Salt Lake City, human smuggling rings in Los Angeles,
D.C. sniper Lee Malvo, money laundering, prostitution, gang murders, and even
slavery” (The Claremont Institute, Nov. 22, 2004). The evidence proves that illegal
immigrants are a driving force behind high crime rates in many American cities,
particularly those close to the southern border.
Reflecting the impact illegal immigrants are having on America’s crime statistics is
the impact they are having on the U.S. prison system. America’s prisons are
chock-full of illegal immigrants. The facts and figures are stunning.
“In 2002, nearly 29 percent, or 39,000 inmates, in the federal prison system were
non-citizens. Based on prior research, we estimated that 59 percent of this total are
illegal aliens. This translates into 17 percent of the federal prison population, and
thus 17 percent of the $4.1 billion prison budget can be attributed to illegal alien
households” (cis, op. cit.). The fact that 17 percent of America’s prisoners are
illegal immigrants demonstrates the vast extent of their involvement in crime and
criminal activities.
In Britain, illegal immigrants similarly contribute to crime. The large numbers of
illegal immigrants seeking to work in the UK give rise to organized criminals who
recruit and supply cheap labor for agricultural, catering, construction, food
processing and manufacturing job markets. The majority of illegal immigrants entering
the UK would not be able to do so without forged or stolen travel documents,
transportation access, fraudulent sponsorship and other benefits provided by these
crooks.
“Serious and organized criminals involved in both smuggling and trafficking make
extensive use of bribery and corruption to support their activities. They exploit
border guards, police and customs officers, and a range of political and official
contacts in order to operate unhindered. They also collude with professionals who can
assist them, including those in the legal profession” (National Criminal Intelligence
Service report, 2003). Some illegal immigrants work for months or years to pay off
the fee that these criminals charge.
Evidence also shows that illegal immigrants are used by organized criminals in drug
trafficking, vehicle theft and even aggressive begging and pick-pocketing (especially
in bigger cities like London) in order to obtain credit cards that can be used for
further criminal activity.
Some believe immigration restrictions would not help solve crime problems and that
the focus rather needs to be on dealing with the crime itself. They argue that crime
is an inherent part of any society. While this argument has some validity because it
recognizes that crime will exist as long as human nature remains unchanged, it is
flawed.
Consider the gang situation in California. If every illegal immigrant was deported
out of California and if illegals were prevented from coming in and joining gangs,
would gang-related criminal activity stop? No. But would it drop? Yes—and probably
quite dramatically.
While prevention of illegal immigration wouldn’t cure our crime problems, it would
definitely reduce the number of crimes occurring in many of our larger cities,
particularly those closer to our borders.
Because our enforcement agencies are handcuffed by lack of resources, as well as
bureaucracy and political correctness, criminal activity conducted by illegal
immigrants will only grow worse. Our cities will increasingly be robbed of peace and
safety.
Terrorists in Our Midst
The economic and criminal impact of poorly managed immigration is hijacking the
economies and largely peaceful societies of the U.S., Australia, Britain and Canada.
Uncontrolled immigration, however, presents an even more sobering threat.
“After decades of attempting to dam the flow of Mexican immigrants crossing into the
United States illegally, federal agents say a new crisis is emerging along the
southern border, and they are helpless to stop it. Non-Mexicans are spilling over the
border in record numbers—some from countries with terrorist ties—and most are set
free soon after being captured” (Christian Science Monitor, July 26). America’s
porous borders have become an attractive option for terrorists seeking entry into the
nation.
“Already this year the number of non-Mexican apprehensions has far outpaced last year’s
total in just eight months” (ibid.). Illegal immigrants from nations other than
Mexico are flooding into America at an unprecedented rate.
“Other than Mexicans” (otms) must be returned to their country of origin. Officials
cannot just send them back across the southern border, as they do most Mexicans. U.S.
law dictates that they be detained in the U.S. pending a deportation hearing. “The
problem is, immigration detention centers are packed, so most otms are given a court
summons and told to return in three months. A full 85 percent don’t” (ibid.).
According to the U.S. Border Patrol, 465,000 otms have exploited this “catch and
release” program and settled illegally in the United States. The Christian Science
Monitor quoted T.J. Bonner, president of the National Border Patrol Council: “It’s an
insane policy which encourages otms to come into the country illegally, and we
shouldn’t be shocked that they are coming in record numbers.” While most otms come
from Central and South America, more than 600 of them entered the U.S. in 2004 from
“countries of concern”—countries that support terrorists.
There is no mistaking the fact that weak immigration policies and practices are
contributing to the economic and societal destruction of America, Britain and Canada.
Combine these facts with the probability that terrorists are penetrating our porous
borders and setting up camp, and we should easily recognize the severity of the
immigration issue. This is a serious problem. National security is on the line.
The solution lies beyond politics. The curses immigration has thrust upon the Western
world were prophesied in the Bible. The reasons behind the failure of our immigration
practices are spiritual.
In our book The United States and Britain in Prophecy (free to Trumpet readers upon
request), we explain that the nations of America, Canada, Australia, New Zealand and
the UK comprise the peoples of biblical Israel. This is important to understand,
because the Bible has specific prophecies concerning these nations. One of those
prophecies discusses the problem that these nations would have with immigration.
God gave a dire warning to the Israelite peoples concerning immigrants from other
cultures (the Bible uses the word strangers). He said that if the children of Israel
were to rebel against His laws—to turn away from His commandments and embrace the
practices of the heathen—they would suffer terribly (Deuteronomy 28:15-19). The
curses included this prophecy: “The stranger that is within thee shall get up above
thee very high; and thou shalt come down very low. He shall lend to thee, and thou
shalt not lend to him: he shall be the head, and thou shalt be the tail. Moreover all
these curses shall come upon thee, and shall pursue thee, and overtake thee, till
thou be destroyed; because thou hearkenedst not unto the voice of the Lord thy God,
to keep his commandments and his statutes which he commanded thee: And they shall be
upon thee for a sign and for a wonder, and upon thy seed for ever” (verses 43-46).
The imminent fulfillment of the stranger rising up in great numbers and overwhelming
the Israelitish people is a sign of God’s curses being poured out on these nations.
Lax immigration policies and weak borders are playing an instrumental role in the
fulfillment of Bible prophecy. God is cursing the nations of biblical Israel for
their failure to hold fast to His laws. God is humbling us—imploring us to turn to
Him.
Unless the people of Israel repent, “strangers” will continue to pour through their
ports of entry and get above them until they lose the inheritance afforded them by
Almighty God. It is prophetic fulfillment. It is happening even as you read this
magazine.
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I intend to last long enough to put out of business all *****-suckers
and other beneficiaries of the institutionalized slavery and genocide.
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"The army that will defeat terrorism doesn't wear uniforms, or drive
Humvees, or calls in air-strikes. It doesn't have a high command, or
high security, or a high budget. The army that can defeat terrorism
does battle quietly, clearing minefields and vaccinating children. It
undermines military dictatorships and military lobbyists. It subverts
sweatshops and special interests.Where people feel powerless, it
helps them organize for change, and where people are powerful, it
reminds them of their responsibility." ~~~~ Author Unknown ~~~~
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