1-13-08 Letter to the Editor

Making sanctuary ultimately illegal

What if the citizens of Portales considered a few factors before following Geni Flores’ proposal to become a sanctuary city (Letter to the editor, Jan. 6 PNT):

1) Would open-border and free-immigration advocates like to equate sanctuary activities to the pre-Civil War Underground Railroad and civil rights? Nothing could be more different. The slaves seeking freedom were forced to come to the U.S. and minorities seeking their civil rights were first and foremost legal citizens.

2) It doesn’t take a graduate economist to figure out a low-income person is probably paying very low indirect taxes through their rent and sales taxes. A few trips to the hospital and children in school means such a person is being subsidized by the rest of the population. It is great that one group of citizens will help out another group, but why should they support people that aren’t legally in the country to begin with? (Before anyone starts waving their hands and shouting, I suggest they contact the Heritage Foundation. They won’t like the facts, but poorly educated illegals are a net loss to our economy.)

3) We do need comprehensive immigration reform. The interest in moving into the U.S. is such that our country can select skilled and educated immigrants that will start making contributions to the country immediately on their entry.

4) The number of illegals in the country is not going to eliminate the majority view that our country doesn’t selectively obey laws. Sanctuary cities are illegal and it is probable that this will be demonstrated to the offenders in the future.

Richard M. Foster

Portales