This is an archived article that was published on sltrib.com in 2013, and information in the article may be outdated. It is provided only for personal research purposes and may not be reprinted.
Lawbreaking in any country comes with penalties. The penalty for foreigners illegally entering the United States is equivalent to penalties for shoplifting. If we shrug off penalties for 11 million illegal aliens, we should equally shrug off penalties for shoplifters.
In 2005, $15 billion was wired to Latin America. Yearly, illegal aliens cost U.S. taxpayers $113 billion in social services, plus billions more for "anchor babies" and chain-family entitlements; Utah's portion is $453 million.
This is money stolen from our most vulnerable workers: youth, minorities, vets, disabled — people with higher unemployment rates than the official rate.
Immigrant job competition reduces average yearly wages for each native-born worker by $1,700. Legal workers then pay less tax to support schools, roads, etc.
In 50-plus years of massive illegal immigration, Latinos (more than half of all illegals) have: the highest high school dropout rate, three times the unmarried birth rate of whites, 3.45 times higher incarceration than whites.
To promote jobs for legal residents, shop only at businesses that use E-Verify.
Vicki Martin
Clearfield