THE IFIRE INFORMER
March 4, 2005 Newsletter
BAD NEWS: The House Democrats stayed away from the Indiana General Assembly on 3/1/05 to protest bills that would have reduced government corruption and voter fraud. This petulant move prevented some 132 bills from passing this year. Among them, was H.B. 1439 (requiring voters to present a photo ID) and H.B. 1220 (to train state troopers to assist in federal immigration investigation). Also killed was H.B. 1842 which would have established a committee to study homeland security and public safety issues such as driver's licensing procedures; ID's issued by foreign governments; penalties for employers not verifying legal status prior to hiring workers; and procedures for investigating, apprehending, detaining, and transporting individuals who are here illegally.
GOOD NEWS: I have initiated contact with the authors and/or sponsors of these good pieces of legislation. Rep. Cindy Noe's staff has indicated that the issue of immigration and safety is very important to her and she wants to find a way to pursue this. I said we would like to work with her and hope she uses IFIRE as a resource. On the positive side, I said we can help her put together a dynamite bill in time for the next session. I told them we are sending a newsletters to activists around the state who can help lobby state lawmakers and educate the public through letters to the editor. I told them we can connect them with expert witnesses such as 9/11 Families for a Secure America. I left them our website address and told them we know of existing federal programs that will solve some illegal immigration problems if Indiana participates.
Phone Indiana House Democrats at 1-800-382-9842 and House Republicans at 1-800-382-9841
How many illegal aliens are living in the USA?
U.S. Census Bureau estimates total illegal population at 7.7 million in 2000.
The Bear Stearns report (http://www.steinreport.com/BearStearnsStudy.pdf ) issued in January, 2005, shocked people by estimating the actual number of illegal aliens at 20 million.
A Center for Immigration Studies report http://www.cis.org/articles/2004/back1204.html estimates the total immigrant population (legal and illegal) exceeded 34 million as of March, 2004.
FAIR just put out a report (Immigrant Stock’s Share of U.S. Population Growth, 1970-2004) stating that over half of the USA's 100 million in population growth is due to immigration, both legal and illegal.
FAIR's estimates seem to be bourne out in the GAO report entitled Illegal Alien Schoolchildren: Issues in Estimating State-by-State Costs. That report states, "According to NCES, for the 1999-2000 school year, current expenditures by primary and secondary public schools--not including capital outlays--totaled about $324 billion."
If you divide $324 billion by $10,000 (cost per pupil) that means there are approximately 32,400,000 illegal alien children currently being educated "for free" in our schools. If you add in 20 million more to account for their parents, that puts the total estimated illegal population at more than 50 million!! That's like adding the equivalent of 6 New York Cities to our total population!
The GAO report prompted me to write a letter to the editor. It was printed this week in The Washington Times. Hopefully, it was read by many governors who were in D.C. for the National Governor's Association Winter Meeting this week.
As my letter points out, it is constitutional for states to ask illegal alien schoolchildren about their immigration status if the purpose of asking is to seek reimbursement from the federal government. All states should pass laws requiring the schools to do this. Hospitals and prisons should have to do the same thing. (ESL is costing us about $190 million a year. The medical costs for treating illegals must be astronomical! Indiana spends about $28 million per year to incarcerate foreign nationals.)
Boycott Home Depot. Despite protests by Americans from around the country, many Home Depot stores continue to make announcements in Spanish. Now, they have named former Homeland Security head, Tom Ridge, to their board of directors. (On a positive note, Home Depot's stock fell 9 cents per share following this announcement.) They have announced an agressive program to hire Hispanics, supposedly legal ones, who are bi-lingual. No doubt this will help them attract the business of the day laborers who hang around their parking lots waiting to take jobs Americans won't do. (Read Jan Herron's 2/27/05 column, Do Not Support Home Depot.
Tell your state representatives the Indiana Commission on Hispanic/Latino Affairs should be dissolved. Ezola Foster said, "It's a sad day in America when the law makers side with the law breakers against the law-abiding citizens." To see these words in action, read the minutes of Commission meetings. You'll read how your own reps and senators plan to help illegals get driver's licenses and in-state tuition for their children. Worst of all, the taxpayers are handing them $125,000 to do this. Tell your lawmakers that you do not want to fund this anti-Hoosier group.
Register now for "Unite to Fight" immigration Summit in LasVegas on Memorial Day Weekend. For details see www.wakeupamericafoundation.com. The list of speakers keeps growing and improving. So far, it includes Keynote Speaker: Tom Tancredo, Terry Anderson, Ezola Foster, Bob and Bonnie Eggle, Jan and William Herron, Frosty Wooldridge, Tim Bueller, Jim Gilchrist, D.A. King, Glenn Spencer, and Rick Oltman.
Register for "Hold Their Feet to the Fire" a national drive for immigration reform led by talkshow host Roger Hedgecock and FAIR April 23-28, 2005 (See www.fairus.org/Team/Team.cfm?ID=2609&c=41).
Interesting reading list:
Must read: Indiana truckdriver arrested by FBI. He fraudulently obtained US citizenship and an Indiana driver's license. Was he a spy for Saddam? A terrorist? Read the story.
The underground economy is closing in on $1 Trillion.
$3 million to help Illinois immigrants become citizens.
Indianapolis police launch effort to fight Hispanic gangs
How much money leaves your state in the form of remittances? See this map.
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Indiana Federation for Immigration Reform and Enforcement
Post Office Box 297, Valparaiso, IN 46384
www.ifire.org