So I see this front page headline, “New Times investigates the economics of illegal immigration,” and on the sister publication’s cover of the same week, “Dollars and Deportations” (June 24). Hmmm, I thought, very interesting, maybe someone is going to shed some light on the situation, especially here in Santa Maria.
Well, upon reading both articles—one and the same, by the way—I’m left wondering: Where are the facts on illegal immigration’s effect on local coffers? They sure weren’t in the articles. In fact, it seems like your journalist was given the same runaround that our local politicians and every one else that profits from the illegals have been doing to the rest of us for years: blowing a lot of smoke up everyone’s ass about how nobody keeps track, there is no way to know for sure, the facts aren’t in yet, etc., etc. Bullshit. There is a portion of local business that wants to keep things this way. They want the illegals here, because they are making big bucks off of them. The rest of us pick up the slack.
I suppose that it is going to stay this way until some local money guy, businessman, politician, or whoever is connected well either gets killed by an illegal uninsured driver or murdered by an illegal—or someone close to them does. Right now, as long as they are making big dollars off of them, everything is just peachy.
How about some real in-depth research, and giving us the real story, not just what the spinmasters are telling you?
This article appears in Jul 1-8, 2010.