Illegal Immigration: Too High a Toll

Legal immigration is a vital and necessary resource to enhance our economy and culture. Illegal immigration is an affront to those who follow the law.

While Mexico relies on more than $20 billion in annual remittances from Mexican expatriates in the U.S., illegal immigration continues to cost Los Angeles County taxpayers alone nearly $2 billion a year and siphons resources away from vital municipal services for legal immigrants and county residents ....

In public safety, 25 percent of our county jail inmates are illegal – and the cost of illegals on our county’s justice system is $550 million per year, including incarceration, prosecution, defense and probation.

More important, however, is the human toll of illegal immigration.

Jonathan Del Carmen Refugio, arrested for the murder of USC graduate student Xinran Ji, entered the country illegally – yet the victim’s parents were delayed in entering the country legally to claim their son’s body ...

In addition to vigorous border enforcement and an end to no-cost, cradle-to-grave federal and state benefits for illegals, as well as reimbursement for costs incurred by local governments, effective immigration reform must include a comprehensive approach to fix our broken system.

To address the costly impact of illegal immigration, I have proposed to federal and state officials effective solutions including: the establishment of cooperative medical clinics on the Mexican side of the border employing both American and Mexican medical personnel; a federal guest worker program that requires workers to be “bonded” to cover any cost they incur while working in the United States ...

Rather than amnesty and continued programs that incentivize illegal immigration, our nation needs comprehensive reform to restore justice and public safety to improve the quality of life for our citizens and those who come here legally ...