Waking up to the problem

As the son of Jewish Polish immigrant parents who entered the U.S. legally through Ellis Island after over a 12 year wait for a visa, I have always felt empathy with all immigrants -- even illegal immigrants. Like so many Americans at that time, I rarely made the distinction between legal immigrants and those who immigrated illegally -- until I married a woman who was an illegal alien when we first met.

I was an unencumbered divorcé in 1989, when I bought a large home in the Van Nuys district of Los Angeles to be used as a rest home for my late mother who was afflicted with deteriorating Alzheimer's Disease. Needing a care-giver for my mother, I hired Ines, an illegal alien from Mexico with whom I fell in love and married in 1992. As a result, I became an insider expert on the subject of illegal immigration.

In 1986, under then President Ronald Reagan, Congress passed the Immigration Reform and Control Act (IRCA). This law granted amnesty to illegal aliens in the U.S. who could show that they had been in the U.S. since 1982. There was another one-year period to apply for benefits between May 5, 1987 and May 5, 1988.

Under IRCA, nearly 3 million unauthorized migrants (most of them Mexican) gained legal residency. That was billed as an answer to end illegal immigration. But after a pause, illegal migration mostly from Mexico resumed its upward climb. In retrospect, but not surprisingly, IRCA actually encouraged others to take the trek north in the belief that eventually they too would be granted amnesty.

At the time, the government argued that since the principal reason migrants immigrate illegally to the U.S. is in search of jobs, that enforcement of workplace sanctions would discourage further illegal immigration and would even have unemployed illegal aliens who did not qualify for amnesty, scampering back to their country.

This all made sense to me. In fact, in 1987, my mothers house cleaner, Lola, an illegal alien from Honduras, asked me if I would write a letter on her behalf to the INS as evidence that she had been in the U.S. for the required time to make her eligible to apply for amnesty. I was happy to do so.

According to the former INS, about 2.7 million people received lawful permanent residence during the late 1980s and early 1990s. Since no one from the INS had ever called me to verify that the information contained in that letter I wrote for Lola was truthful, it is highly probable that many of those 2.7 million aliens who may not have been present in the U.S. for the required time, presented the INS with concocted letters.

The Census Bureau estimates that there are 11 to 12 million illegal immigrants currently in the U.S. But because illegal aliens tend to be reticent about providing information to the Census Bureau, other estimates indicate the number to be as high as 20 million and climbing. The Census Bureau estimates a net increase of 500,000 illegal immigrants annually (that compares to approximately 1 million people who receive legal permanent residency annually). The Pew Hispanic Center reported in September, 2005, that there are now more illegal immigrants coming to the United States than legal ones -- the majority of illegals migrating from Mexico.

My conversion to an anti-ILLEGAL immigration activist should not be considered a cause to bash immigrants.  It is important to note that there is a difference between illegal immigrants (officially known as illegal aliens) and illegal immigration. It is not an oxymoron to like illegal aliens and at the same time be opposed to illegal immigration. As for my wife, I deported her (so to speak.) She went back to Mexico while I petitioned for her to come legally.

This essay about my involvement in illegal immigration issues is about an impending demographic disaster due to out of control illegal immigration -- a disaster that could not happen without the help of our government.

Clearly, the vast majority of illegal aliens are basically hard working decent people who illegally enter the U.S. looking for a job. The problem is that there is no way to know the "good" illegal aliens from the "bad" ones. The presence of 38,748 illegal alien inmates -- 23 percent of the Los Angeles County's jail population attests to the fact that our government's wish to NOT enforce our immigration laws is not only an invitation to "good" illegal aliens to cross our borders, but also some who are criminals, deadbeat dads, and terrorists.

California has for many years held the distinction of being the state of the greatest rate of illegal alien population growth, mostly from Mexico. But as the over supply of cheap labor in California and other border states grow, illegal migration is spreading across the U.S. like a wild fire.