The Thing About Illegal Immigrants

It is creating a whole new wave of prejudice.

I was in a campground in Mississippi and saw three families walking with their kids in the loop where our RV was parked.

The families looked Central American to me.

My ex husband is from Central America, El Salvador. His family came here legally. Filled out all the paperwork, paid all the money, attended assimilation classes, proved they could earn income.

What startled me was the idea that all I could wonder was if these families were here legally.

In the past that idea would have never crossed my mind because I have seen the immigration process first hand and believe it is a good process when the established laws are followed.

But people who haven’t been exposed to that process may develop other ideas.

One wonders what will those people begin to think when they read or experience these kinds of statements:

"Our county officials estimate that we have around 3,000 of those that have come to a village of 3,420 residents. And our complaint is, if the federal government is going to have an open borders policy, with that they need to have a policy directing these immigrants to communities that can absorb that kind of population increase," Lockland Mayor Mark Mason told Fox News Digital.

Village Administrator Doug Wehmeyer told Fox News Digital recently that it is leading to around $150,000 in losses for the village, as the illegal immigrants do not pay taxes and are displacing local residents who are moving out of those apartments. It is an assessment shared by the mayor.

"Our fire and paramedic services have been stressed. Since they moved into these apartment complexes, a lot of the longtime residents have moved out because of multiple fires. It's been caused by their not understanding how to cook on stoves, and they use high levels of grease in their cooking, which have caused multiple fires," Mason said.

"And so a lot of people don't want to subject their families to unsafe conditions in these apartment complexes. So, therefore, they've moved out – the working residents – and they have moved in. And most don't have jobs, they don't contribute to society. They don't contribute to your earnings tax base. And it's a real concern," he said

Ohio has been in the news lately because of the influx of illegal immigrants. One very small town on the fringe of Cincinnati, Lockland village, had a population of around 3,000 and that population has doubled in the past year. The original population was working class people struggling in this economy, how many have now developed strong biases against these interlopers and anyone who looks like them?

Many of the local papers try to evoke sympathy in the stories they write, but those authors aren’t living the situation.

Mauritania was one of the last nations to criminalize slavery, and the practice is widely believed to persist in parts of the country. WCPO

Though the author never sews the slavery imagery together with these illegals.

Just the idea that they are African and from Mauritania is enough.

We wouldn’t want to be called racist would we?

Many of the immigrants in Lockland are here under our asylum laws. Most have arrived illegally.

Many Mauritanians are finding their way to Cincinnati from a route posted on TikTok and WhatsApp that flows from Mauritania to Turkey, then Central or South America to the U.S. WCPO

Who qualifies for U.S. asylum?

In the U.S. our laws grant asylum to immigrants who suffered or have a well-founded fear of persecution in their home country because of their nationality, race, religion, political views or membership in a "particular social group."

Not just the idea of slavery still existing in the country.

The persecution must come from government authorities or someone the home country is unable or unwilling to control.

Poverty, scarce economic opportunities, displacement caused by natural disasters or a desire to reunite with family are not grounds for asylum under U.S. law.

Asylum is only available to those on U.S. soil. Barring some exceptions, U.S. law allows migrants in the U.S., including those who entered the country unlawfully, to request asylum as a means to halt their deportation.

There are two types of asylum cases: "defensive" and "affirmative" requests.

Migrants that our government wants to deport, including those who cross the U.S.-Mexico border illegally, can file defensive asylum applications to try to prevent their deportation. These cases are decided by immigration judges at the Justice Department.

Immigrants with temporary legal status in the U.S., such as short-term visa holders, and unaccompanied children who enter U.S. border custody without their parents, can submit affirmative asylum applications with U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS).

Migrants seeking defensive asylum must make their case in adversarial court hearings while those with affirmative applications are interviewed by USCIS asylum officers.

How many really show up for these hearings one wonders?

On June 4, 2024, the Biden administration issued an executive order that temporarily suspends the right to seek asylum for people who arrive at the southern border away from an official point of entry, or without a CBP One app appointment. An update to this measure was announced on September 30, 2024, tightening asylum restrictions even further.

Too little, too late.

While these illegals flood our country, American citizens who have suffered real tragedy in North Carolina, Florida, Georgia, Tennessee, Hawaii are being handed $750 to help “recover”,

Myth: FEMA will only provide $750 to disaster survivors to support their recovery.

Fact: There are other forms of assistance that you may be eligible to receive. 

The $750 is an upfront, flexible payment you may receive while FEMA assesses your eligibility for additional funds. As your application continues to be reviewed, you may still receive additional forms of assistance for other needs such as temporary housing, personal property and home repair costs. If you have questions about your disaster assistance application and what you qualify for, contact the FEMA Helpline. FEMA

One never hears beyond the myth if FEMA really helped in any meaningful way.

Meanwhile, our illegal friends receive all kind of benefits at the expense of taxpayers (source The Cost of Illegal Immigration to Taxpayers):

• Prior research indicates that 69 percent of adult illegal immigrants have no education beyond high school, compared to 35 percent of the U.S.-born.

• Using the National Academies’ estimate of immigrants’ net fiscal impact by education level, we estimate that the lifetime fiscal drain (taxes paid minus costs) for each illegal immigrant is about $68,000, although this estimate comes with some caveats.

• Illegal immigrants make extensive use of welfare. Based on government data, we estimate that 59 percent of households headed by illegal immigrants use one or more major welfare programs, compared to 39 percent of households headed by the U.S.-born.

• Based on their use rate of major welfare programs, we estimate that illegal immigrants receive $42 billion in benefits, or about 4 percent of the total cost of the cash, Medicaid, food and housing programs examined in our study. However, this is only a rough approximation due to limitations in the data.

• Illegal immigrants can receive welfare on behalf of U.S.-born children. Also, illegal immigrant children can receive school lunch/breakfast and WIC directly. A number of states provide Medicaid to some illegal immigrants, and a few provide SNAP. Several million illegal immigrants also have work authorization (e.g. DACA, TPS and some asylum applicants), allowing receipt of the EITC.

• The high welfare use of illegal immigrant households is not explained by a unwillingness to work. In fact, 94 percent of illegal immigrant households have at least one worker, compared to only 73 percent of U.S.-born households. But the nation’s welfare system is design to help low-wage workers with children, which describes a very large share of illegal immigrant households.

• In addition to consuming welfare, illegal immigration makes significant use of public education. Based on average costs per student, the estimated 4 million children of illegal immigrants in public schools created $68.1 billion in costs in 2019. The vast majority of these children are U.S.-born.

• Use of emergency medical services is another area in which illegal immigrants create significant fiscal costs. Prior research indicates that there are 5.8 million uninsured illegal immigrants in the country in 2019, accounting for a little over one-fifth of the total population without health insurance. The costs of providing care to them likely totals some $7 billion annually.

• Illegal immigrants do pay some taxes. We estimate that illegal immigrants in 2019 paid roughly $5.9 billion in federal income tax, $16.2 billion in Social Security tax and $3.8 billion in Medicaid taxes. However, as the net fiscal drain of $68,000 per person cited above indicates, these taxes are not nearly enough to cover the cost of the services they receive.

New York City Will Stop Giving Debit Cards to Migrants

Mayor Eric Adams is ending a contentious pilot program that gave 2,600 migrant families debit cards to purchase food.

More than 200,000 migrants have arrived in the city since 2022, but the flow of arrivals has slowed in recent months. The program served more than 2,600 migrant families staying in city-funded hotels, said William Fowler, a spokesman for the mayor.

Under the program, a family of four with young children received about $350 per week for a month, with the possibility of renewal. The city has spent about $3.6 million on the program, with $3.2 million placed on cards and $400,000 paid to MoCaFi (Mobility Capital Finance) city officials said. (NYT)

Americans have big hearts, but these situations in small and large towns where illegals are given preferential treatment is wrong. It is creating a whole new wave of prejudice, but perhaps isn’t that what those creating these situations want?

When you begin to see the deportations that will occur with this new administration, remember these ideas.

There’s nothing wrong with America first.

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