Quote:
Originally posted by ktsnake
This site's goal is anything but to present an objective view of illegal immigration. I would seriously call into question the validity of any figures that they profess to be factual. I'll admit that I don't have anything to disprove them, however, this dot-org site has a very specific agenda, and those numbers seem to paint a rosey picture that may or may not be the case.
As for the figure you cite about 3/4 of all illegal immigrants paying into medicare, I find that claim to be dubious at best. 3/4 of immigrants, maybe, but illegal ones?
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I'll agree with the site's lack of neutrality, it was merely the first I found - however, the data given was purported to come from the SSA, and showed up often in the google search. Take it for what you will, but it was specifically about
illegal immigrants.
Quote:
Originally posted by ktsnake
I do not suffer from xenophobia. I suffer from the belief that these illegal practices cause considerable harm to our economy. Further, I never alleged any American citizen was turned down for health care, etc. due to illegal immigrants. Of course, if you wanted to get technical about it, many public hospitals do attribute their closings or financial distress to the fact that they received many illegal aliens that did not pay for the services they received. I'm not sure how sound a statement that is, but I certainly have heard it enough times that I suspect there may be some substance to it.
Also, for every American that gets rich off this, there are taxes going unpaid insurance premiums not paid, other legal employers that are unable to compete due to unethical practices by their competition, etc. Most of this is described in the first link I posted.
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Unless you have a cite for these claims, I find them dubious at best - and until you can provide support for them, it inches closer to something less than academic interest. That was my point there, nothing more.
Quote:
Originally posted by ktsnake
The connection exists, but it seems that our discussion has digressed a lot, hasn't it?
Universities are funded by citizens living in a certain state who pay taxes. If an individual's parents do not contribute to the state that pays for that school to exist, and they are breaking the law in the first place by being there, why should they be rewarded?
To me, it appears to be a case of people who disrespect the laws of our land being rewarded. I just don't appreciate being taken advantage of like that.
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This is the only point I can really get behind - it's tough for me to unilaterally deny in-state benefits, though, because until widespread reform takes place, it feels like I'm hiding my head in the sand (the 'ostrich mentality'), if that makes any sense - I guess my point is that I see where you're coming from in a strictly legal sense on the whole, but it seems that there may be some strong benefits to this specific program.