IMMIGRATION

Immigration, in the news and being used to intimidate the unsuspecting. This subject has been beaten to a pulp but still requires defining. Recently there have been several articles in the Eagle expressing how we should welcome immigration.  We do, if it is through the selection process like so many of our ancestors accomplished.  Many, blow off the harm that illegal immigration creates.  It destabilizes our economy, the employment opportunity, our medical, educational and welfare programs.   Illegal is not just against the law it is erratic and cannot be controlled toward stabilization.  It is erratic because it cannot be rationed on the needs of the country.  Again, it is expressed that the country can absorb it.  The “Boomers” are moving into retirement at the rate of ten-thousand per day.  Living longer than ever before and will require resources that there is not an adequate supply of.  Social Security, Medicare, Senior Housing, etc. are under-funded now and unsustainable in the future.  The Boomers are on a direct collision course with amnesty and are destined to lose.  Our poor compete every day for low income housing with the illegal guests.

I have mentioned several times, the number of undocumented citizens that we have is greatly underestimated.  Not by a simple amount, when the true figures come in we will realize the dilemma before us.  We are missing the count by millions.  The closest evidence is the amount of Non English speaking residents versus the alleged amount of illegal residents.  If they are not able to speak English they are not citizens.  We hear of the harm caused by amnesty and still it is sought by many.  Amnesty is a very forgiving word.  It was granted under the Reagan Administration in the 80’s and has formed the night-mare we are living now.

This opinion will get the usual disagreement from people that will boast how immigration built this country.  They are not accounting for the shortcoming of every government program that includes our illegal guests.  They will exclaim they are needed for menial jobs that nobody else wants to do.  Well, I see many menial jobs in the Want Adds and still there are many illegal guests on our welfare rolls, this presents a conundrum.  Some of the people condemning illegal occupancy are the first to hire them, saving money.  Much of the money the guests make is sent Western Union back to their home country.  Observe the Price Chopper service desk on a Thursday or Friday night.  There thousands of dollars are being sent to foreign countries,  a fact of life.  The part that nauseates me is the fact that so much of the money sent is taxpayer subsidized.  They are here for opportunity, earning a wage or having it given to them. Their allegiance is to their family in their former country.  The baloney we hear about escaping political abuse is hogwash it is like most crime and tied to monetary opportunity.  Of course, there are some that are escaping persecution. If the situation was reversed, we were the ones living in the foreign country we would want family members to go where it is the most lucrative and share whatever bounty they achieve.  

Amnesty, is the slap in the face we give legal immigrants that have played by the book.  We are a nation of laws that protect the citizenry although this is not recognized by politicians seeking the immigrant vote.  The silent majority remains intact and I wonder how much harm they will endure before they get off their duff and stand accountable?

Before chirping how bigoted this opinion is, walk a mile in a senior citizen’s shoes and the prospects for their future.  Many have paid into a system they can only hope to benefit from.   The Obama Burger, get the large, the guy behind you pays for it, in this case the guy behind us is our grand children.

Peter Risatti