by Ted Tripp
Sr. Political Reporter
Boston, a city of 667,000 residents, is home to 35,000 illegal aliens according to a recent Pew Research Center Report (http://tinyurl.com/j8avb9v). That means more than one out of every 19 people you see on the street is not supposed to be in this country, no less the city of Boston. And this does not count refugees, which are in a totally different class. According to the Department of State’s Refugee Processing Center, from January 1, 2000 to January 1, 2017, 21,422 refugees from various countries were relocated to Massachusetts, with many going to Boston.
You have to wonder if Mayor Marty Walsh was aware of these numbers when he recently invited the illegals to stay in City Hall – even in his office –
if President Trump’s recent executive order causes federal immigration officials to seek them out for deportation. Has Marty run the numbers to see how many he can fit into his workplace if they take him up on his offer? Does he have plans in place to supply rice and beans to feed his new residents and does he have enough bilingual employees to even communicate with his new tenants? These questions need answers!
But the situation gets worse. If you count the metro area of Boston-Cambridge-Newton up through southern New Hampshire, Pew Research reports the Illegal alien count explodes to 180,000 for those who should not be here.
So what’s the problem? Do-gooders and liberals like to remind us that we are a nation of immigrants. That’s true. But most of our immigrant ancestors came here legally – legally! – through Ellis Island and were expected to be a major contribution to our society, not be a major drain on it. And all this happened before we became a giant welfare state doling out dollars, housing and medical benefits to those who qualify by just showing up.
There are two intrinsic problems with allowing in an unlimited number of illegal aliens: the financial burden to stressed-out taxpayers and the corruption of our democratic system of government. The latter directly threatens the survivability of America.
First, in a 2013 study (http://tinyurl.com/od66dx3) by the Federation for American Immigration Reform (FAIR), an estimated 13 million illegal aliens in this country are found to cost taxpayers $113 billion; that is $29 billion at the federal level and $84 billion at the state and local level. Much of the latter is due to educational costs to the local school districts (the Supreme Court has ruled that public schools must educate the children of illegals). The average cost is $8,700/illegal alien for each one that comes across the border or overstays a visa. Who pays for this? Look in the mirror!
The same study gave a figure of $1.9 billion as the annual cost of illegal aliens in Massachusetts, as has been reported previously in the Boston Broadside.
Opponents of enforcing illegal immigration policy like to point out that many of these illegals pay taxes. However, the FAIR study shows that only a small fraction of illegal immigrants file income tax returns and those that do typically get refunded whatever was withheld from their paychecks. Moreover, many that file tax returns claim tax credits which result in payments from the U.S. Treasury.
In another 2013 study (http://tinyurl.com/h5apvuy), this time by the Heritage Foundation, researchers estimated there were 3.7 million illegal alien households in America costing the country a net $54.5 billion, or $14,700/household. That’s not a trivial amount for a nation $20 trillion in debt and looking to rebuild its infrastructure and military.
The second problem with these illegal aliens goes to the heart of who we are as a country. Despite what the media and liberals claim, a significant number of these illegal non-citizens or foreign nationals vote in our elections. This has been documented on numerous occasions, even though the press doesn’t seem to be able to find any sources. One of the best summaries of the problem was by Hans von Spakovsky and John Fund in the Wall Street Journal last November 30th (http://tinyurl.com/gl62b4r). They report on a (liberal-contested) 2014 study (http://tinyurl.com/hsthnlw) by three professors at Old Dominion University and George Mason University whose survey data showed that 6.4% of foreign nationals voted in 2008 and 2.2% voted in 2010. And the data showed 15.6% were registered to vote. A more recent survey (http://tinyurl.com/hnn63js) by the American Majority Foundation showed that 2.1% of foreign nationals voted in the recent November 8th election; in Michigan it was 2.5%, in Ohio 2.1%.
McLaughlin & Associates, in a 2013 survey of Hispanics (http://tinyurl.com/joxq9mj), showed that 13% of noncitizens said they were registered to vote. This means there could have been up to two million foreign nationals who were Hispanic registered to vote. And the press can’t find any of these people? Note that the 13% registration figure is close to the 15.6% figure reported in the 2014 study above.
More information on illegals voting can be found at http://tinyurl.com/z6pd35h and http://tinyurl.com/hfrcjsy, with links to further polls and studies.
Let me give you a scenario to demonstrate the problem in our country. Let’s say you are employed by a multinational company and are assigned to work in France for two years. You have the equivalent of a green card while you work there. But while overseas the president of France announces a directive you really, really, REALLY don’t like (restricting LGBT rights?). So you decide in the next election you will get even by helping to elect his opponent who has your own views. You go down to the local government agency and register to vote. They don’t ask about your citizenship – or you just casually check the box: French citizen. No documents are required, no picture ID. No questions asked. You are now registered. You then vote against this despicable president that you disagree with and what you know is best for the French people.
How do you think the French people would feel about you, a foreign national, interfering in their own elections?
Ladies and gentlemen, that is exactly the problem we have here. Every time an illegal alien votes, it cancels, it nullifies, it negates the vote of a law-abiding American citizen. A country can’t survive long when foreign nationals are deciding its fate.
That last line cries out to be repeated: A country can’t survive long when foreign nationals are deciding its fate.
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Back to Boston, for a moment. Assuming the McLaughlin data of 13% registration, that means an estimated 4550 of Boston’s noncitizen population is potentially registered to vote.
In 2013, Boston Mayor Marty Walsh beat John Connelly in the mayoral primary by only 1418 votes to move forward to the general election where he again beat Connelly, but by 4908 votes. With these close margins, the 35,000 illegal alien population – if a significant portion votes- cannot be ignored. In fact, it makes good political strategy to gather the allegiance of these foreign nationals for the next election.
So you see how everything neatly falls into place and explains why Marty invited all the illegals into his workplace. He wants (needs?) the votes … but he can’t tell us that. ¨
