Illegal Alien Invasion
By Judge Roy Moore
The Covenant News ~ March 21, 2006
America is a land of immigrants. From the beginning of our Nation,
people have come to America "the land of opportunity" where they found freedom
and prosperity. However, over the last few years the immigration story has
changed from a tale of working hard, playing by the rules and achieving
success to a nightmare of poorly secured borders, irresponsible employers,
overwhelmed social services, and increased crime.
Immigration is the
legal means by which one becomes a citizen of this Country. It has
historically involved an application for citizenship, a test, an investigation
and an oath. When people enter our Country who make no application to become a
citizen, do not wish to learn our language or our customs, and only intend to
reap the rewards of our economy while paying no taxes required of a citizen,
they are illegal aliens and not immigrants.
It is estimated that nearly
20 million illegal aliens now reside in the United States, with thousands more
crossing the border every day. Statistics on how many illegal aliens reside in
Alabama are sketchy, but it is known that Alabama has seen an explosion in
those numbers over the last ten years. In 2000, the Immigration and
Naturalization Service (INS) estimated that 24,000 illegal aliens resided in
Alabama. That represented a 500 percent increase from INS estimates in 1996.
Today, experts place the number of illegal aliens at 75,000 to 100,000 and
rising rapidly.
Such vast numbers of people are not harmlessly absorbed
into the overall population. Last year, police in Birmingham and Decatur
working with the U.S. Bureau of Immigration and Customs to locate criminals
among the illegal alien population, arrested over 30 who were suspected of
being involved in brutal gang activities. One of those individuals arrested
had a prior felony charge and is suspected of kidnapping, extortion, and
trafficking of other illegal aliens into the country.
The law requires
hospitals to provide free emergency medical services to illegal aliens, which
costs well over $250 million per year. Alabama received $572,326 from Congress
in fiscal year 2004 to offset the cost of medical services for illegal aliens,
but that amount represents only a fraction of what the state actually spends
in this area. Along with this illegal alien invasion come dangerous diseases
and other medical conditions which are cause for heightened
concern.
Illegal aliens are generally not proficient in English and
this lack of proficiency leads to the additional costs of providing
translation expenses, and government services such as driver's license
testing, education, and law enforcement. The U.S. Supreme Court ruled in 1982
that the children of illegal aliens, regardless of their place of birth, have
a constitutional right to be educated in public schools.
This
judicially mandated entitlement currently costs the state over $7,000 per
child per year. Given such alarming numbers as well as the renewed emphasis on
security in the Country, one would think that our state and national
government would focus more attention on the illegal alien problem.
In
fact, governments are doing less than they were even ten years ago. Since
1993, the federal spending on border enforcement has grown from more than $740
million to $3.8 billion. Despite the increase, the number of undocumented
aliens flooding into our Nation has continued at a rate of about 500,000 per
year. Clearly, current efforts to curtail these problems are not
working.
Alabama is restricted by federal law with regard to
interdiction and deportation of illegal aliens. Nevertheless, our law
enforcement officers can never be prohibited from arrest and detention of
illegal aliens for criminal activity or violation of our laws. Some officers
have been led to believe otherwise. A simple training program could correct
this deficiency.
Another course of action is to put more pressure on
employers who hire those illegally present in this state. The federal
government has left a gaping hole in this area of enforcement that the state
can fill. In 1992, INS issued 1,063 orders nationwide levying fines against
employers for hiring illegal aliens; in 2002, INS issued just 13 such orders.
Only 3 notices of intent to seek fines against employers for knowingly hiring
illegal aliens were issued in 2004 by the Immigration & Customs
Enforcement agency (ICE - the successor to INS). We can do better than
that!
Alabama needs to fill the void left by the federal government by
enacting tougher laws that punish employers who hire illegal aliens for their
own profit. When it becomes clear that jobs will only be available to those
who become citizens by following the rules, illegal aliens will leave Alabama.
Fewer illegal aliens will mean more jobs will be available to our own
citizens.
It will also demonstrate respect for immigrants who have paid
their dues and followed our laws in order to become naturalized citizens. The
time for action is now!!! When I become governor, I will address this illegal
alien invasion, which in my opinion is not only an economic problem, but a
health and security issue as well.
Judge Roy Moore
For
Governor of Alabama
www.WeNeedMoore.com
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