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Half of Mexico Wants to Move to
the U.S.
By Jim Meyers.
Nearly half of Mexican adults would move to the U.S. if they could – and
one in five say they would do so illegally, new surveys reveal.
These same surveys suggest that America's problem with illegals will
only get worse in the years to come.
Waves of illegals continue to wreak havoc on America's southern border,
and this past weekend New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson ordered a state of
emergency in four of his state's counties that border Mexico "because of
the urgency of the situation and, unfortunately, because of the total
inaction and lack of resources from the federal government and
Congress."
Arizona followed suit and declared a state of emergency on Monday.
Whether Mexico Gets Better or Not
The surveys of Mexican citizens by the Pew Hispanic Center also found
that increased education and an improved standard of living won't dampen
the stampede of illegals coming across the border.
The two surveys conducted in Mexico asked: "If at this moment you had
the means and opportunity to go to live in the USA, would you go?"
Almost half - 46 percent - said yes.
When asked if they would be inclined to work and live in the USA
"without authorization," meaning illegally, 21 percent said they would.
Showing that interest in emigrating isn't confined to the poor, more
than one-third of Mexican college graduates said they would move to the
U.S. if they could, and more than one in eight said they'd be willing to
migrate even if they had to enter the country illegally.
"People with college degrees believe they have greater economic
opportunities by migration to the U.S. – even illegally – than they
would staying at home," Roberto Suro, director of the Pew Hispanic
Center, a research group in Washington, told USA Today.
Mexicans wishing to come to the U.S. are "distributed across the whole
breadth of Mexican society," he added.
A Difference of Perspective
Six in 10 Hispanics born in the U.S. favor requirements that people show
proof of citizenship or legal residency before they can get a driver's
license, but only 29 percent of foreign-born Hispanics agree.
An estimated 10 million Mexicans now live in the U.S., more than half of
them illegally, according to Suro.
The unfettered movement of illegals across our southern border is
costing American taxpayers dearly:
Americans pay an estimated $8 billion annually for educating the
children of illegal aliens.
The Center for Immigration Studies in Washington has estimated that
illegal aliens have cost U.S. workers $133 billion in job loses.
Food stamps and medical benefits for undocumented immigrants cost
Americans some $65 billion annually. Illegals have been running up a tab
of $2.5 billion annually for Medicaid alone.
The American Hospital Association has said the cost of uncompensated
care for patients, many of them illegal aliens, amounted to more than
$21 billion in a recent year.
More than 75 percent of the illegal drugs in the U.S. come across our
porous borders, according to experts.
More than one-quarter of the inmates in federal prisons are illegals –
costing taxpayers $900 million a year to feed and house them.
"Millions of people are going to keep coming every decade unless we
restrict it," said Steven Camarota, director of research at the
Washington-based Center for Immigration Studies, which favors strict
enforcement of immigration laws.
"That's the bottom line."
Source: NewsMax.com
Thursday, Aug. 18, 2005
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