Alright, people. Make up your minds. Should we be for illegal immigration and open (or rather, keep open) the floodgates or are we against it and should build the Great Wall of Mexico on the border?

Illegal immigrants $18 bln boost to Texas-report

The Texan economy would have been almost $18 billion poorer in the last fiscal year without illegal immigrants who added to state coffers but were a drain on local government, says a report by the state comptroller.

The report — billed as the first detailed look by a state at the impact of undocumented immigrants on its budget — is likely to stir further debate on the emotional issue of illegal immigration in the United States.

The Pew Hispanic Center estimates that the United States had 11.1 million undocumented immigrants in 2005. Of these it said Texas accounted for between 1.4 million and 1.6 million.

Many Americans say illegal aliens — mostly from Mexico — take jobs from locals, depress wages and commit crimes. But many businesses say they fill a much needed gap in the labor market.

“The absence of the estimated 1.4 million undocumented immigrants in Texas in fiscal 2005 would have been a loss to our gross state product of $17.7 billion,” said Texas Comptroller Carole Keeton Strayhorn.



  1. Higghawker says:

    Just think of the taxes that could have been made from legal workers. Maybe a hospital or two might have been able to stay open too? This sucking machine is killing America!

  2. Mucous says:

    A wall should be built. The Great Wall of Mexico doesn’t have to be about keeping them all out. It’s simply a mechanism to document who we let in. We can have a wall and a floodgate is we want.

    It should be a real barrier too. 3 walls with two no-man’s land zones. The southern most wall is 100′ high and wide extending 50′ into the ground as well. Topped with electrified razor wire and broken glass. The first dead zone is 500′ wide and filled with land mines both on the surface and at various depths to discourage tunneling. The second “wall” is actually a 100′ wide moat filled with piranhas, alligators and poisonous snakes. The second dead zone is 5 miles wide and is just desert sprinkled with spent nuclear fuel. (Just solved the fuel storage problem too.). The third wall is just a chain link fence to keep people on the American side from wandering into the radioactive zone. (If someone reads the signs, climbs over and goes in, they deserve what they get.)

    Now that the wall’s there, three’s nothing to stop anyone who wants in from coming in as long as they can provide ID and can pass a background check. A wall doesn’t mean a closed border, just a controlled one.

  3. PMitchell says:

    18b doesn’t touch what we in Texas spent on them with welfare , medical and prison cells for the criminals not to mention that a large portion of their supposed 18b was sent back to Mexico for their families

    USA is the second largest source of income for the wonderful country of Mexico thanks to the illegals

  4. Jägermeister says:

    The illegal Mexican workers are doing what the African-American people did in the past… provide cheap labor so that the rest of the population can enjoy cheap produce. I’m pretty sure it would be a lot of whining if you had to pay twice as much for your food in order to get these illegals into the system. But hey, there’s a new wave of cheap food coming your way… Chinese produce… enjoy.

  5. Edward DiNovo says:

    This blog ran a story about how $100 billion is annually wired back to South America, taking that money out of the American economy.

  6. joshua says:

    #4…..it’s not just the produce pickers/workers. Hell those people were coming here for 100 years without a problem.
    The problem comes with this *new* illegal….there are far more out and out criminals in the waves that are coming in. Plus, they now take building and home construction jobs, from the Americans who WOULD do that work, as well as meat packing(they have almost eliminated non-hispanic workers in this field in several states), they have taken what used to be entry level jobs in fast food, and sit down resturants in 15 states, there seriously is no longer any non-hispanic yard maintenice or landscappers in 4 states of the southwest.
    Yes, employers are complicent, because most of these workers buy fake social security documents and then obtain drivers liciense’s and apply for and get regular jobs. The employers check for the SS card and then forget it, knowing full well that the 40% of their employee’s that don’t and can’t speak English are illegal. They rarely buy health insurance, instead using the emergancy rooms of the county hospitals, tying them up with colds and upset stomachs and using what amounts to hundreds of millions of dollars in care costs that the hospitals must suck up(ever wonder why the insured are charged 5000.00 dollars for a 2 day stay??….to help defray the cost of free care to illegals). Their kids fill classrooms all over the southwest and even as far north as Rhode Island, where districts must put out another hundred’s of millions for ***english as a second language** instructors(mandated by the feds, but paid for by the state), they get free lunches(and breakfasts) causing that program to triple in cost, in California, Arizona and New Mexico.
    California has the largest prison population in the country…..34% are proven illegal hispanics…..Another tax payer burden.

    I could go on and on and on for pages and pages listing the out go from illegal aliens in this country.
    The only thing that makes out from this is business and the Federal goverment, and of course Mexico…….by allowing these people in we keep them from open revolt at home, their goverment and ours knows this.

    I’m the most open minded person you will ever find when it comes to other cultures and people, but to be honest, I don’t feel like I live in an English speaking nation anymore. The cultural divide is growing and it’s bad for this country. Even Hispanics that are citizens are upset and alarmed by whats going on.

    Hell, our ranch is 110 miles north of the border, yet we have illegals killing our cattle, stealing our cars and dumping their bodies (other illegals) on our property(11 in the last 16 months)……and you think it’s all wonderful…….geez

  7. Jägermeister says:

    #6

    As long as there’s a demand for low pay labor, they will come… it’s the American way… cheap, cheap, cheap…

  8. JToso says:

    Build wall. NOW.

  9. meetsy says:

    Build a wall, get lazy American’s to get back to work, and let’s fix the system. We NEED healthcare, we need city services, we need welfare for OUR REALLY POOR and ill.
    Geez, let Mexico deal with Mexico’s problems…if they have that many motivated people (as evidenced by the border crossers and “illegal workers” here…..they should be able to do just fine in the world market once they go home.)

  10. ECA says:

    Think of all the Under paid workers, that live 10 in 1 house that have made US employers MONEY… higher profit margins, then paying for someone at $12-15 an hour..

  11. traaxx says:

    Yeah, right lazy American Workers,

    Study history, JP Morgan, Carnegie, Rockefeller were Robber Barons, they had their own form of slavery. But they believed the same thing everyone was lazy except for themselves. Dawin Economics in practice, in theory it might seem different but in practice it’s just like communism and feudalism

    They worked everyone until they couldn’t work anymore, and when they wore out they just went and got a new immigrant. I didn’t matter whether you had any skills or not they could always hire more immigrants to do the job of a skilled worker. The cost labor went so cheap that they could hire 10 labors to for the cost of one skilled laborer. For every illegal or legal H1B that comes into the country the available wage for those of us that either make a salary or hourly wage goes down, that’s economics.

    What brain trust believes that with all the concern over the global environment that India and China are going to ever become consumer economies, and even if they did since they can produce cheaper than the US they’ll simply buy their own stuff.

    Again you are seeing the same thing, this time with Mexicans, and H1B Indians being imported to under cut those jobs that can’t be outsourced. This is our country and it’s our decision as to whether or not we want this, but now is the time. Everyday we spend trying to the loving and kind Great White Lord on the Hill is another day we come closer the Globalist vision of a World Government. It’ll start with the NAU and swiftly go on to the UN Global Government. Once the NAU takes over we won’t have anymore say or ability to influence the decisions concerning our own lives. Just like in Mexico and Canada the elites control everything and it’s pretty much that way here. The only thing we have left are the lobbying groups from the grassroots, but they are closing that.

    Time is almost up, if you want to have a living standard similar to Mexico’s then go ahead the be the Great White Lord and give everything in the country away. If you want to preserve anything, the time to stop the invasion is now.

  12. Higghawker says:

    There are so many sheep, so few to stand up. Already someone on your block has probably lost their job. People say to themselves, “It wont happen to me” It will take, sadly, people realizing they can’t afford to put food on the table to step up, but by then, it’s too late!! This problem is sooooooooooo serious, WAKE UP!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

  13. Franco says:

    Don’t forget, 76 million baby boomers are going to be retiring in the next decade or so. Who’s going to pay all the Social Security taxes? I say let them in, let them support our geezers.

  14. ECA says:

    As I mentioned before…

    In the end it comes to one point…
    how many jobs?
    If they replace US workers, YOU will soon be working LABOR jobs, and THEY will be in the RISH homes making MORe money.

  15. B. Dog says:

    Here is the interesting part: “The report — billed as the first detailed look by a state at the impact of undocumented immigrants on its budget –”

    Why is it the first, eh?

  16. Angel H. Wong says:

    If you guys wanna blame someone, blame your forefathers who thought that f**king up ALL latin american nations was good for the status quo.

  17. Lou says:

    I think there is a kernel of truth in the fact that illegals do jobs that Americans won’t (but as a country we need), but the vast majority of illegal and undocumented workers outside the farming sector are not *required*, and in general amount to the subsidizing of the rich and upper middle class.

    For example, the construction and landscaping industries here in the northeast are completely based upon illegal help. For what: The construction of McMansions so people can have ridiculously huge houses? For people who are too lazy to mow their own lawns?

    The poor of this country don’t use the services of the illegals, and anyone who believes that every house renovated by a contractor (using illegals) is not taking a job away from an American is crazy.

    The sense of entitlement that Americans have regarding cheap houses (not meaning real estate), manicured lawns, inexpense consumer/electronic goods, etc. worries me. We will have to one day realize that while it may cost more to buy American, and employ Americans, in the long term, we will pay the price.

    Here in the northeast, the vast majority of

  18. ECA says:

    yep its true,
    There are jobs that US kids dont want. esp at Min wage…Farming Min wage is about $0.50 LESS then min wage.

    whats funny, is you would think they would raise that up abit. why not? because big corps want Profit… that Can of soup cost about $0.08-0.20 and you pay $0.50-$2 for it.

    If Business WONT compete. If those on top want so much money…
    LET them…
    Let Walmart WIN.
    Let our business end of in other countries..

  19. faustus says:

    http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=4094926727128068265&hl=en

    can’t remember where i saw this… i might have been on this blog but it should be required watching for all….

  20. Illian Morisson says:

    Built with ancient technology, The Great Wall of China is 3,948 miles in length, but took several centuries to complete. Even so, why is it so difficult to imagine a mere 700 mile long fence being built with 21st century technology in just a few years time?

    Not only is it possible. It’s absolutely necessary.

    We cannot continue to allow undocumented people pouring over an unprotected border to the tune of eight-hundred thousand plus a year and migrating unchecked to every urban and rural community in the United States. Despite all the rosy pictures being painted by advocates, even if the majority of border runners are in pursuit of a better life, there are multitudes that are in pursuit of an easy life of crime and/or government handouts. We certainly welcome the former, but by all means, we certainly cannot be so open-armed to the latter. Consequently, we need a system that differentiates between the two, rewards integrity and controls the flow.

    Secondly, in today’s climate of international tensions it is only a matter of time that such a huge security gap will be exploited by a group such as al Qaeda or one or more of its surrogates.

    Another fact we need to face is that deporting 11 million people is never going to happen. But we still need to get control of the border immediately because at 850,000 a year, 11 million will be 15 to 20 million by the time we make up our minds.

    What these people did to get here was illegal. Their staying here is illegal. Their demanding privileges is really immoral. But, America has allowed itself to be pulled over barrel and there really isn’t much we can do bout it… except close the border now! And then assimilate those who are already woven into the fabric of our society.

    Aside from disturbing picture of all the Mexican, Guatemalan, Honduran and other flags I’ve seen on the news floating down American Boulevards protesting American immigration policy, the most disturbing experience was overhearing the comment I heard on the news that at least someone is demanding that no wall be built along the Mexican-American border at all. Another man, I think an organizer, boldly demanded “We are not going to stop until we get justice, equality and pursuit of happiness.”
    In the first place, comparing the waving of those flags in protest to the waving of Italian or Irish flags in celebration, (in case you are wondering, I’m African American), is misleading to say the least. But the comment regarding resisting the wall or fence along the border should really raise some alarms.

    Many times mass coalitions are formed and presented as a group with a single agenda. Only later do we find out that, as is all too often the case in human endeavors, that certain agendas are covert until revealed at a convenient time.

    In high school I wrote a paper on how important it was for the United States to bring Mexico up to American standards for economic and security reasons. I was then confronted with what is at the heart of most of Americas foreign and domestic problems… racism in all its blind, myopic and self-defeating glory.

    Criminalizing facilitation is also a necessary step in my opinion. Employers are a key piece of the puzzle. Firstly, because they are purported to be the one entity that the illegal is in pursuit of, whereas they seek to avoid just about all other officials. Secondly, drying up the well incentives is the second key to drying up the flood waters.

    There is a lot of discussion about floods of illegals bringing wages down, but proponents of that ideology seem have a severe case of one-dimensional thinking? From my perspective the real problem is this: What good is a 20% raise, if your buying power goes down 50%? In my lifetime I have seen gasoline go from 25 cents a gallon to over $2.50. I have seen bread go from 10 cents to nearly $2.00. A first run movie used to cost 50 cents. So, in my book people blaming the people running across the border in however many numbers for sinking standard of life are delusional. Perhaps illegal immigrants are not making it any better, but they certainly are not the reason our economy is not producing more high paying jobs, why high paying jobs are flooding overseas, or why low-paying jobs are all that’s left. There is a much more fundamental problem at work.

    In many respects these are our own chickens coming home to roost. Ad to this mix that America basically stole large parts of Mexican territory. Some may argue that America was justified because states such as Texas and others wanted independence. However, they choke on their words when asked to apply the same standards to Georgia, Mississippi, Alabama, Tennessee, etc, etc… Over a hundred years later, emotions still run high on both issues. So we cannot ignore the sense of entitlement many of those migrating from Central and South America may harbor and why we see Mexican flags flying on American streets.

    They’re here. And they are here to stay.

    Welcome to America… you sly rascals you.

  21. It is a good idea .We really should forget the immigration reform.Because it is belong to past .we should create some new reform,

    Daniel Pennant

  22. diana says:

    If you want a wall built between Mexico and the US to try to keep ILLEGALS out, might as well build one with Canada. Dont forget that the bombers from 911 got into this country from Canada Illegally not THROUGH Mexico. There are millions of immagrants that also come in from Canada unknown due to the lax rules between Canada and United States Borders. If we want to be seclude ourselves from immigrants might as well build both walls while we are at it. I have read several articles where illegal immigrants from Asia, Europe, the Middle East and Russia come into the US from Canada. It is not all about the Mexicans, although the represent the majority, but it is also about ALL ILLEGAL IMMIGRANTS. Just because someone looks WHITE does not mean they are not Illegally in this country. I know of a few hundred RUSSIANS who acquired visitor visas and stayed in the United States far after their Visas expired. So if you are going to bash on ILLEGAL IMMIGRANTS bash on all ILLEGALS and don’t forget that they come in all colors and races!!!!!


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