Illegal iImmigration — Still Serious

There are, according to government sources, approximately 170,000 illegal aliens in the state of Oregon. Please note that I do not use the preferred politically correct nom de nonsense “undocumented workers.” That’s because they are aliens, they are here illegally, and some, but not all of them, don’t work. The 170,000 figure is most likely an underestimate given Oregon government’s undying fealty to “political correctness” and avoidance of anything negative that has racial overtones.

But let’s be fair about this. Oregon’s illegal alien population, while predominantly Hispanic, includes Russians, Ukrainians, Chinese, Muslims from every country in Western Asia, Cambodians, Laotians, Vietnamese, and virtually every other Southeast Asian country dominated by repressive political regimes, and virtually every country on the African continent. The only areas of the world from which there are few illegal aliens are Australia, New Zealand, Canada and most of Europe – countries where there are democratic regimes and economic growth and stability.

The economic burden imposed by illegal aliens is almost impossible to determine because Democratic administrations beginning with Barbara Roberts and continuing through Ted Kulongoski refuse to track the health and welfare benefits paid out to illegal aliens. Add to that the significant number of illegal aliens that pass through the criminal justice system, clogging the courts and overrunning the jail and prison systems and the costs can only be deemed to be astronomical.

The crackdown on meth production in Oregon has not significantly reduced the distribution of meth – rather it has moved the production to Mexico and forced illegals to work as “mules” in partial payment for their illegal entry. Street gang violence has been migrating from blacks to Asian and Hispanics and the Russian gangs are among the most violent. Drug traffic, prostitution and auto theft are almost the exclusive province of gangs dominated by illegal aliens.

Almost all of this goes unnoticed by the general population because the major news outlets, print and electronic, steadfastly refuse to inquire about, or disclose, the status of criminal offenders. Government refuses to track, investigate or quantify the breadth of the problem. In fact, under four successive Democratic administrations, the government has aided and abetted the growth of the illegal alien population and proliferation. Not only are health and welfare benefits provided to illegal aliens, seemingly without care or inquiry, but revisions have been made to allow illegal aliens to acquire driver’s licenses and voter registration.

The issue of dealing with illegal aliens is a major issue in this year’s gubernatorial campaign. You haven’t heard anything about it? Of course not. The politically correct media shies away from any discussion of the issue because they cannot figure out how to report accurately on the issue without being labeled as racist by the professional alarmists. Regardless of the lack of coverage there is a major difference between the parties and the political candidates. Kulongoski and the Democrats want to severely punish those who hire illegal aliens but resist doing anything to the illegal aliens themselves – including denying them health and welfare benefits, drivers licenses or the opportunity to vote illegally. Saxton and the Republicans want to secure the borders first – criminalize illegal entry and deport all current illegal aliens.

But the solution to the illegal alien problem is not mono-dimensional and requires solutions on all aspects of the problem. The first element of the solution is to remove the incentives for illegal entry. That means that, for those illegals who enter to work the jobs must disappear, and for those illegals who enter to take advantage of the welfare system, benefits must be denied. You cannot ask business to refrain from offering the benefits of jobs if the government is unwilling to refrain from offering the benefits of the welfare state.

The next step is to ensure that illegal aliens do not gain political power. They are here illegally, they should not influence the direction of government. In Mexico, attempts by aliens to vote in their elections are punished by imprisonment. The Democrats have shown remarkable resistance to any attempts to curb the participation of illegal aliens in the voting process. That is to be expected because the Democrats are the primary beneficiaries of those who vote to maintain welfare benefits – legal or illegal. A new governor can change that overnight by prohibiting the issuance of drivers license to illegals and refusing to register illegals (who use those drivers licenses to register) to vote.

And the final step is to deal with the crowding of the criminal justice system by illegals. Every arrest should carry with it an inquiry as to status of the detainee. Every person found to be here illegally, regardless of whether they are subsequently prosecuted or not, should be deported – those who are convicted of crimes after serving their sentences and for those who are not, immediately after processing. No bail but rather remand to the INS. For those who are convicted, additional inquiry should be made of the criminal’s home country to determine whether there are criminal charges pending and where there are, those criminals should be returned immediately for prosecution and confinement in prison systems that are far harsher than any found in Oregon.

The point of this is that the problem is here and it is growing. Fix it now. Fix it before it overwhelms the abilities of the state to fix it.