Illegal immigrants are a burden on our public resources | The Smartest Man in the Room | Courier-Herald – Enumclaw Courier-Herald
Readers, I have an American success story for you. Years ago, I visited Magadan, Russia, a former Joseph Stalin gulag. During my sojourn, Sergey was my interpreter. Sergey was an extremely bright lad of 17 who spoke impeccable English. His mother was an accomplished seamstress; his father a laborer whose hands were permanently contorted from a lifetime of shoveling coal at the citys main power plant.
On the second day of my tour, while visiting The Mask of Sorrow a memorial to those unjustly imprisoned Sergey asked if I could help him immigrate to America. The sincerity in his request was as evident as that Siberian winter in February, which I envisioned as his powerful incentive to seek an alternative living arrangement.
I sponsored Sergey so he could obtain a student visa he was admitted at the University where I taught. As part of the visa process, he was required to list a sponsor, prove that he or his sponsor had adequate resources so as to not be dependent on the American government, and show that he or his sponsor could cover any future medical needs.
Sergey moved in with my family and four years later, graduated with honors as the top student in his program. He then lived with my mother in Enumclaw until he obtained a job which allowed him to receive his green card. Sergey is now a United States citizen, working for the United States government, with a wife, two wonderful kids, a Range Rover and a nice home in the suburbs the American Dream!
I share this true Horatio Alger story to illustrate that Americas immigration system works for those who are willing to abide by its rules. Our immigration system is generous, allowing more foreigners to enter, stay, work and seek a pathway to citizenship than any other nation. Some claim the system is broken, but its not broken merely because everyone who wants to come to America cannot. America is not the lifeboat for an entire drowning world.
Americans do not despise fair immigration practices nor do they detest immigrants.
The Americans I know are the product of an America which has developed in its people an innate sense of fairness. What Americans do categorically reject, however, is the conundrum created by an immigration system which allows migrants to obtain more rights and rewards by doing wrong then if they had simply done whats right. Most Americans do not object to our immigration laws but instead, take offense to the manner in which our government operates our system in applying those laws. Incompetence has produced unfair, unjust, and simply wrong immigration results, has incentivized more illegal immigration and Americans are simply fed up.
For comparison, take Klaus from Moldovia. Klaus bucket list includes a visit to Cawker City, Kansas, to personally view the Worlds Largest Ball of Twine. He fills out the online visa application, DS-160, pays his fee, and is interviewed by a U.S. consulate official. During his interview, Klaus explains his Moldovian drivers license has been suspended due to drunk-driving. His visa is denied. For Klaus, theres no appeal or reimbursement of his application fee. For now, his bucket remains empty and at least for a time there is no twine in his future.
Now take, Sam, from El Salvador. Sam desires to live with Daniel, his brother, a resident of Washington state. Sam doesnt bother with a visa. Instead, Sam pays a nighttime transit tour guide to help him navigate our southern border.
Successful in his crossing, Sam resides with Dan. He obtains a drivers license by showing his Salvadorian I.D. and proof of residency and, like his brother Dan before him, obtains a fraudulent social security number in order to work. Sam obtains a job because the employer can accept at face value the validity of the false information Sam included on the IRS I-9 form.
Sam is on his way. If he is injured on the job, he is entitled to workmans compensation. He has access to emergency medical care, as no medical facility receiving federal dollars may turn away any patient and no facility in Washington state may inquire as to Sams immigration status. Moreover, despite the assorted crimes he committed in crossing our southern border and working without legal right, Sam is entitled to due process of law before he may be removed. He now has access to our courts, can claim asylum, and may even receive free legal representation from one of the many non-governmental organizations funded in part by your federal tax dollars to plead his asylum case.
If you doubt the validity of the prior example dont, for in numerous legal consults I have encountered just such a scenario under similar situations.
So, are you not troubled by the fact that Sam received more rewards from our government by doing wrong than Klaus, who tried to do things right?
Illegal immigration should not be encouraged a thought evidently lost on our government and it has not gone unnoticed by the world. Recently, Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador expressed that foreign nationals see President Joe Biden, As the migrant president and as a result, many feel theyre going to reach the United States. Wow!
So just what is the status of illegal immigration under Biden?
Over two million confirmed illegal border crossings in 2021 and another 389,000 undetected gotaways.
Around 836,000 migrants were released into the United States since January 2021, a number larger than the entire population of the state of North Dakota. During March 2022, under his catch and release policy, Biden released more than 80,000 border crossers into the U.S. interior a population larger than his hometown of Scranton, Pennyslvania.
This catch and release policy poses a real problem. According to its 2020 Enforcement Lifecycle Report, DHS notes that only 15 precent of migrants released under the policy will actually be deported, even after a court order of removal. In contrast, migrants detained in ICE custody will be successfully removed 98 percent of the time. One cannot remove what one cannot find and if that migrant resides in a sanctuary jurisdiction like Seattle, good luck and godspeed in trying to enforce the removal order.
This policy has gotten so out of hand that Federal Court Judge T. Kent Wetherell for the Northern District of Florida recently held that the Biden administration has adopted and are implementing policies that contravene explicit mandates and restrictions in the immigration statutes and that the policies have effectively turned the southern border into little more than a speedbump for the hundreds of thousands of aliens who have flooded across the border into the country since January 2021
Moreover, despite this migrant wave, Biden further proposes removing Title 42 Public Health Authority Restrictions which currently allows for immediate removal of migrants caught at the border. If Biden is successful, its estimated another 18,000 illegal aliens could be released into the United States interior each and every day.
In addition to catch and release, your government provides migrants free cell phones and further proposes transferring doctors and nurses from the Veterans Healthcare System to the southern border to treat them. Last year alone, Americans subsidized medical care for migrants to the tune of $18.5 billion including more than $316 million in medical care for those actually detained in (ICE) custody.
Add to that amount the additional costs of free transportation, including flights to the hinterland. Free air travel and bussing has gotten so prevalent that sources within the DHS remark that they are acting as a full service travel agency for migrants all thanks to Bidens policies.
Is it any wonder why migrants would attempt the dangerous border crossing when our government provides free phones, travel, allows them to legally drive, access free medical care, and grants unimpeded freedom within the confines of America until their asylum case is heard which by the way may be years down the road due to the sheer number of such claims being brought?
Then again, as with our government, you too can ignore the fact that almost 90 percent of all asylum claims are denied because economic hardship is not grounds for asylum, but by then the proverbial cat is no longer in the bag. Its a bit hard to enforce a removal order when ICE can no longer locate the party for whom the claim was brought.
All of this mass of humanity is not invisible. Congressman Tom McClintock recently asked DHS how packing classrooms with non-English speaking students, flooding emergency rooms with migrants demanding care, making it harder to deport criminal illegal aliens, and flooding the labor market with cheap foreign labor benefitted Americans.
The silence was deafening.
Some advocate for open borders. For those who believe that everyone has a right to enter America, why not do as I did and sponsor a foreign national? At least you will not be writing checks that the rest of America has to cash.
Read the rest here:
Illegal immigrants are a burden on our public resources | The Smartest Man in the Room | Courier-Herald - Enumclaw Courier-Herald
- Did illegal immigration drive up US home prices? Here's what a Fed study found - The Times of India - July 7th, 2026 [July 7th, 2026]
- DACA Illegal Alien Who Previously Molested a Toddler Sentenced for Immigration Fraud - Department of Justice (.gov) - July 7th, 2026 [July 7th, 2026]
- Cape Town anti-illegal immigration campaign appeals for wider citizenry support - EWN - July 7th, 2026 [July 7th, 2026]
- Some foreign nationals believe govt couldve managed illegal immigration crisis better - EWN - July 7th, 2026 [July 7th, 2026]
- The Birthright Citizenship Dissents and Illegal Immigration - National Review - July 1st, 2026 [July 1st, 2026]
- From teacher pay to illegal immigration: New laws set to take effect in Mississippi - Magnolia Tribune - July 1st, 2026 [July 1st, 2026]
- Anti-illegal immigration activists in KuGompo urge govt to address their grievances - EWN - July 1st, 2026 [July 1st, 2026]
- Mthombeni says Gauteng police have capacity to manage weekly anti-illegal immigration protests - Inside Metros - July 1st, 2026 [July 1st, 2026]
- South Africa deploys police for widespread protests by groups opposing illegal immigration - Ottumwa Courier - July 1st, 2026 [July 1st, 2026]
- ActionSA Ekurhuleni Demands Action on Illegal Immigration and the Township Economy - ActionSA - July 1st, 2026 [July 1st, 2026]
- KuGompo City braces for anti-illegal immigration protest after Igbo king unrest - Daily Dispatch - June 24th, 2026 [June 24th, 2026]
- Illegal immigration: is it worth it? The answer is always NO. - MilitaryNews.com - June 24th, 2026 [June 24th, 2026]
- Are Americans footing the bill for illegal immigration, as Mike Lee says? - NPR Utah | KUER - June 24th, 2026 [June 24th, 2026]
- Government calls for protesters against illegal immigration to march peacefully - South African Government News Agency - June 24th, 2026 [June 24th, 2026]
- Meghalaya BJP Seeks Tougher Curbs on Illegal Immigration Amid Growing ILP Push - Northeast Live - June 24th, 2026 [June 24th, 2026]
- Some MPs blame the Department of Home Affairs for the illegal immigration crisis - EWN - June 24th, 2026 [June 24th, 2026]
- The true reality of illegal immigration - Daily Voice - June 24th, 2026 [June 24th, 2026]
- FACT FOCUS: Trump says illegal immigration increased car insurance premiums. Experts say otherwise - AP News - June 17th, 2026 [June 17th, 2026]
- Trump says G7 united on illegal immigration and drug trafficking - Fox News - June 17th, 2026 [June 17th, 2026]
- FACT FOCUS: Trump says illegal immigration increased car insurance premiums. Experts say otherwise - Northeast Mississippi Daily Journal - June 17th, 2026 [June 17th, 2026]
- Trump says G7 united on illegal immigration and stopping drug trafficking - Fox News - June 17th, 2026 [June 17th, 2026]
- Fact focus: Trump says illegal immigration increased car insurance premiums. Experts say otherwise - The Wenatchee World - June 17th, 2026 [June 17th, 2026]
- FACT FOCUS: Trump says illegal immigration increased car insurance premiums. Experts say otherwise - Herald Bulletin - June 17th, 2026 [June 17th, 2026]
- Fact focus: Trump says illegal immigration increased car insurance premiums. Experts say otherwise - MSN - June 17th, 2026 [June 17th, 2026]
- HSI St. Louis investigation leads to removal of illegal alien who attempted to give baby away to pay debt to smugglers - ICE | U.S. Immigration and... - June 16th, 2026 [June 16th, 2026]
- An illegal immigrant was working as a corrections officer in Maine before he was nabbed by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). ICE officers... - June 16th, 2026 [June 16th, 2026]
- Deportation hits illegal immigration supply. Mandatory E-Verify will address demand - Federation for American Immigration Reform - June 14th, 2026 [June 14th, 2026]
- ICE asks officials not to release Mexican criminal illegal alien and alleged drunk driver accused of killing Georgia mother - ICE | U.S. Immigration... - June 14th, 2026 [June 14th, 2026]
- 'You're destroying your countries': Is Europe finally heeding Trump's warning on illegal immigration? - Fox News - June 12th, 2026 [June 12th, 2026]
- DHS releases first VOICE and DHS VINE data reports emphasizing support for victims of illegal alien crime - ICE | U.S. Immigration and Customs... - June 12th, 2026 [June 12th, 2026]
- AFRICA/SOUTH AFRICA - Tightening on illegal immigration policies following a wave of xenophobia. Msgr. Sipuka states that "all domestic problems... - June 12th, 2026 [June 12th, 2026]
- Reconciliation Bill Will Ensure Immigration Enforcement Continues but Statutory Changes are Still Needed to Prevent Future Illegal Immigration Crises,... - June 12th, 2026 [June 12th, 2026]
- Can't we get tough on illegal immigration and still be compassionate to all? - IOL - June 12th, 2026 [June 12th, 2026]
- Illegal Immigrant Who Escaped During Immigration Office Escort Apprehended After About 19 Hours on the Run - - June 12th, 2026 [June 12th, 2026]
- Europe has reduced illegal immigration without goon tactics - The Economist - June 7th, 2026 [June 7th, 2026]
- Nearly 50 detained, 6 indicted in SC illegal immigration operation - WIS News 10 - June 7th, 2026 [June 7th, 2026]
- Lawsuit seeks to halt Tennessee law making illegal immigration a state crime - News From The States - June 7th, 2026 [June 7th, 2026]
- AG, Homeland Security, SLED announce arrests in illegal immigration case - FOX Carolina News - June 7th, 2026 [June 7th, 2026]
- Ramaphosa to address nation on illegal immigration as tensions rise - theherald.co.za - June 7th, 2026 [June 7th, 2026]
- ActionSA Disappointed by Presidents Weak and Reactionary Address on Illegal Immigration Crisis - ActionSA - June 7th, 2026 [June 7th, 2026]
- Another $90M for illegal immigration teed up - yoursun.com - June 7th, 2026 [June 7th, 2026]
- Florida Cabinet Prepares to Award Another $90 Million For Illegal Immigration Enforcement - FlaglerLive - June 7th, 2026 [June 7th, 2026]
- RECORDED | Ramaphosa addresses the nation on illegal immigration - Business Day - June 7th, 2026 [June 7th, 2026]
- Ramaphosa to address the nation on illegal immigration - Sowetan - June 7th, 2026 [June 7th, 2026]
- Ramaphosa vows crackdown on illegal immigration, warns against xenophobia - zimlive.com - June 7th, 2026 [June 7th, 2026]
- Criminal illegal alien arrested in Texas for allegedly opening fire on neighbors with assault rifle over Memorial Day weekend has been deported from... - June 3rd, 2026 [June 3rd, 2026]
- June 2: Sen. Liz Brown's bill on illegal immigration ceremonially signed into law - Fort Wayne Business Weekly - June 3rd, 2026 [June 3rd, 2026]
- ICE arrests 24 illegal aliens during 1-day targeted operation with federal, state and local partners in Texas - ICE | U.S. Immigration and Customs... - June 3rd, 2026 [June 3rd, 2026]
- Government is intensifying efforts to tackle illegal immigration: SA President - Channel Africa - June 3rd, 2026 [June 3rd, 2026]
- Ramaphosa to act on illegal immigration as anti-foreigner protests spread across SA - Daily Maverick - June 3rd, 2026 [June 3rd, 2026]
- Government intensifies fight against corruption, illegal immigration - South African Government News Agency - June 3rd, 2026 [June 3rd, 2026]
- Iran's Khamenei warns US will lose 'safe haven' in Gulf; Amit Shah forms panel on illegal immigration-lin - The Times of India - May 27th, 2026 [May 27th, 2026]
- Centre forms panel to study demographic shifts linked to illegal immigration - The Indian EYE - May 27th, 2026 [May 27th, 2026]
- Call for anti-illegal immigration demonstrators to operate within the law - EWN - May 27th, 2026 [May 27th, 2026]
- Assam urges Centre to seal its border with Bangladesh to prevent illegal immigration - News On AIR - May 27th, 2026 [May 27th, 2026]
- Government convenes urgent meeting over anti-illegal immigration protests - The Witness | Your compass in the community - May 27th, 2026 [May 27th, 2026]
- Big Banks and the U.S. Treasury Have Been Enabling Illegal Immigration for Two Decades - Center for Immigration Studies - May 25th, 2026 [May 25th, 2026]
- Judge Re-Blocks Provisions of Texas Illegal Entry Law - Federation for American Immigration Reform - May 25th, 2026 [May 25th, 2026]
- Ghana High Commission starts repatriation process after tensions over illegal immigration - EWN - May 25th, 2026 [May 25th, 2026]
- ICE arrests illegal alien accused of killing daughter in Arizona - ICE | U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (.gov) - May 20th, 2026 [May 20th, 2026]
- EDITORIAL: Upholding the rule of law against illegal immigration - Colorado Springs Gazette - May 20th, 2026 [May 20th, 2026]
- Three-time deported illegal alien arrested and charged after assaulting federal immigration officers in the Eastern District of Texas - Herald... - May 20th, 2026 [May 20th, 2026]
- Border Control to Stop Illegal Immigration is Necessary to Protect the U.S., but Legal Immigration is Important Too - Daily Gate City - May 16th, 2026 [May 16th, 2026]
- Ramaphosa calls for unity against xenophobia and illegal immigration challenges - Cape Town ETC - May 11th, 2026 [May 11th, 2026]
- ICE lodges detainer on criminal illegal alien in Texas accused of beating victim unconscious, raping him while he was incapacitated - ICE | U.S.... - May 7th, 2026 [May 7th, 2026]
- Second Circuit Breaks with Others on Mandatory Detention of Illegal Entrants - Center for Immigration Studies - May 7th, 2026 [May 7th, 2026]
- New Legal Challenge to Texas Law Criminalizing Illegal Immigration Rebuked by Lt. Gov. Patrick - The Texan - May 7th, 2026 [May 7th, 2026]
- ICE confirms suspect in San Francisco stabbing is Venezuelan criminal illegal alien who entered the US under Biden administrations deadly... - May 7th, 2026 [May 7th, 2026]
- East End Officials Disgraceful Pandering to the Illegal Immigration Mob - Long Island Life & Politics - April 27th, 2026 [April 27th, 2026]
- New York to Further Shackle ICE to Shield Illegal Aliens - Federation for American Immigration Reform - April 10th, 2026 [April 10th, 2026]
- Virginia Gov. Spanberger addresses reporters on redistricting, illegal immigration - Fox News - April 10th, 2026 [April 10th, 2026]
- Bill creating state illegal immigration crime headed to Lee - Johnson City Press - April 10th, 2026 [April 10th, 2026]
- Letter: In regards to illegal immigration and the No Kings rally - Wadena Pioneer Journal - April 8th, 2026 [April 8th, 2026]
- Illegal alien sends 2 ICE officers to hospital after attempt to dangerously evade arrest - ICE | U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (.gov) - April 8th, 2026 [April 8th, 2026]
- Meet one of the medias non-criminals: ICE arrests illegal alien wanted for murder in Virginia - ICE | U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (.gov) - April 8th, 2026 [April 8th, 2026]
- Bill creating state illegal immigration crime headed to Lee - blackchronicle.com - April 8th, 2026 [April 8th, 2026]
- Illinois Poised to Pass Another Bill Shielding Illegal Aliens in the State - Federation for American Immigration Reform - April 3rd, 2026 [April 3rd, 2026]
- Alito invokes Scalia analogy in birthright citizenship case over illegal immigration - Fox News - April 3rd, 2026 [April 3rd, 2026]
- Mass Deportation Coalition Launches Playbook Aimed at Reversing the Harmful Impact of Mass Illegal Immigration - PR Newswire - April 3rd, 2026 [April 3rd, 2026]
- Cesar Chavez fought illegal immigration is that why he was canceled so quickly? - The College Fix - April 3rd, 2026 [April 3rd, 2026]