Public Forum topic for September '09

*Please disregard the 'my partner and I' stuff. This was my actual case. We were quarterfinalists, but remember: I also had my partner debating with me. This is just practice for me. Resolved: United States policy on illegal immigration should focus on attrition through enforcement rather than amnesty. According to the Center for Immigration Studies, a strategy of attrition through enforcement, which includes mandatory workplace verification and measures to curb misuse of social security numbers, could reduce the illegal population by as many as 1.5 million illegal immigrants each year. With our illegal population being 11.9 million in October 2008, and our U.S. population being over 300 million and growing, there has to be something done. This something is to focus on attrition through enforcement rather than amnesty. There are several problems that illegal immigrants contribute to: Jobs, Crime, and Disease. First, Jobs. There are approximately 7.7 million illegal aliens employed in U.S. jobs in 2008, according to numbersusa.com. With this many illegal immigrants working in the U.S., there is a higher unemployment rate, 9.7%, but more importantly, it lowers wages. A 1997 study by the American Academy of Sciences found that the cheap labor of illegal immigrants and poor immigrants caused a 44% decrease in wages among the poorest Americans from 1980 to 1994. With all the immigrants, there are more people willing to work. When there are more people willing to work, employers cut wages. Illegal immigrants who take low-skilled jobs reduce wages and take jobs from both citizens and legal immigrants. A study by Harvard economist George Borjas shows that cheap immigrant labor has reduced by 7.4 percent the wages of American workers performing low-skilled jobs. A report by the Center for Immigration Studies concludes that "immigration may reduce the wages of the average native in a low-skilled occupation by... $1,915 per year." One study estimates that illegal immigrants displace 730,000 American workers every year. Legal U.S. citizens should come first. Americans need these jobs: 17 million adult citizens do not have a high-school degree; 1.3 million are unemployed; and 6.8 million have given up looking for jobs. The percentage of 16- to 19-year-olds holding jobs in the United States is now at its lowest point since 1948. American workers in building, cleaning, and maintenance have an 11 percent unemployment rate, as do 13 percent of those in construction and 9 percent of those in food preparation. Second, Crimes. According to the Center for Immigration Studies, illegal immigrants collectively represent a group that is a significant menace to the public. 80% have committed serious crimes in addition to immigration violations, and 40% have violent crime histories. Illegal immigrants killed Denver Police Officer Don Young and Los Angeles County Deputy David March. There was also a case of an illegal immigrant dragging his girlfriend to death behind his car. Based on a one-year in-depth study, a researcher estimates there are about 240,000 illegal immigrant sex offenders in the U.S. who have had an average of four victims each. According to Deborah Schurman-Kauflin of the Violent Crimes Institute in Atlanta, the study translates to 93 sex offenders and 12 serial sexual offenders coming across U.S. borders illegally per day. Rep Steve King also reports 8 American children are victims of sexual abuse by illegal aliens every day--a total of 2,920 annually. In 2005, Cornelio Rivera Zamites was arrested for the kidnapping, molestation and murder of four-year-old Esmerelda Nava. In 2005, there were 10.5 million illegal immigrants, according to the government, including about 264, 000 in jail and prison for non-immigration crimes. That's an incarceration rate of 2.5%. Third, Diseases. Legal immigrants are required to have a medical screening to ensure that they do not bring any contagious diseases into the U.S. Illegal immigrants are not screened and many are carrying horrific diseases that are highly contagious. These diseases will infect citizens that come in contact with an infected illegal alien. This has already happened in restaurants, schools, and police forces. Two good examples of this would be Leprosy and Hepatitis A. In the 40 years prior to 2002, there were only 900 total cases of leprosy in the US. In the following three years there have been 9,000 cases, and most were illegal aliens. Dr. Terry Williams, who runs a Houston-based clinic serving leprosy patients across southern Texas, said that the bulk of the cases treated by his clinic were immigrants. Health reporter Bill Sardi noted: "Recently an outbreak of hepatitis traced to Chi-Chi's Mexican restaurant, in Pennsylvania. The Hepatitis outbreak infected over 650 individuals, caused 9,000 Americans to undergo immune globulin shots, and killed 4 people. There were 13 restaurant workers who had Hepatitis. They were the likely source of the transmitted infection." As you can see, illegal immigrants bring dangerous contagious diseases. "Hospitals are closing across the country due to the burden of illegal immigration, college students find that summer jobs have dried up due to illegal immigration, and wages across the board are depressed by the overwhelming influx of cheap and illegal labor." -Elton Gallegly. It is because we agree with this statement, the reasons stated above, and the reasons my partner with later discuss, that my partner and I agree with the resolution which states Resolved: United States policy on illegal immigration should focus on attrition through enforcement rather than amnesty.