Problems with Illegal Immigration

Problems with Illegal Immigration

"According to a combined study conducted by three US government departments, immigrants entering the United States illegally are responsible for an extremely high number of crimes. The study was based on a sample of 55,322 illegal immigrants incarcerated in US prisons. Members of this group were arrested 459,614 times—an average of eight arrests per person. About 45 percent of the arrests were for drug or immigration offenses. Another 15 percent were property related—burglary, larceny-theft, motor vehicle theft, and propertydamage. About 12 percent were for violent crimes, including murder, robbery, assault, and sex offenses. The balance of the arrests were for fraud, forgery, counterfeiting, weapons violations, obstruction of justice, and traffic violations, including DUI.23

Another rising problem with illegal immigration is its effect on social and government services, which include medical care, education, welfare, policing, and incarceration. Hospital emergency rooms have become the primary care facility for those here illegally. By law, hospital ERs cannot turn away anyone in need. Yet the sheer number of immigrants often clog ER waiting rooms in metropolitan hospitals. When ER beds are filled, ambulance patients are often diverted to more distant hospitals, which can result in worsening conditions or death.

Dallas' Parkland Hospital offers the second-largest maternity service in the United States. In one recent year, sixteen thousand babies were born at Parkland, and 70 percent of them were to illegal immigrants at a cost of $70.7 million. Because few of these patients speak English, the hospital now offers premium pay to medical employees who speak Spanish. This need has forced the University of Texas Southwestern Medical School to add a Spanish language requirement to its curriculum."

The cost of educating the children of illegal immigrants in the United States was estimated at $52 billion in 2010, while the overall cost of all services combined was estimated at $113 billion. This says nothing about the cost in educational quality and efficiency when schools must make special accommodations for significant numbers of students who speak no English.25

Many US cities, counties, and states are facing severe financial shortfalls—even to the point of looming bankruptcy—brought on by the cost of providing free social services to illegal immigrants. This drain on resources may well reach the point that we no longer have the means to provide the blessings that immigrants come here to find. One of the most disturbing aspects of illegal immigration is simply that it is illegal. The apostle Paul was quite emphatic in commanding Christians to obey governmental laws (Romans 13:1-7). He explained that God ordained governments to keep order and protect citizens.

Undermining the Legacy of Dr. King and the Civil Rights Movement

My wife and I were finally able to view the film SELMA. Overall, it was a very moving movie with a great cast.  As I watched the film I thought to myself, "Self, I hope you would have had the courage to join/support the peaceful march from Selma to Montgomery had you been alive and pastoring in 1965."  By the grace of God I believe I would have.

 

In this vein, my former pastor John MacArthur, was personal friends with John Perkins.  Perkins was one of the original Civil Rights leaders from the 1960's (Mr. Perkin's brother was murdered by the Ku Klux Klan).  Because of these associations MacArthur was refused meals at "white restaurants" while visiting the deep South.  In fact, John MacArthur was preaching the gospel in Jackson, Mississippi when Dr. King was shot and tragically killed in 1968.  MacArthur and some of his ministry friends drove through the night to Memphis and witnessed the MLK crime scene with their own eyes.  According to historian Iain H. Murray, "The experiences in Mississippi confirmed the truth to John that he already knew: the gospel alone could abolish the racial division, and he saw something of its power in the numbers of young people who were converted; some of them were to train for full-time Christian service;" but now I digress.

 

Back to Selma.  The only thing I did not appreciate in Selma was the theme song that was played near the end of the movie. The music to "Glory" was absolutely beautiful but some of the lyrics were fundamentally flawed.  In my opinion, one of the best ways to undermine the heroic work of the Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. is to connect his Civil Rights legacy with the recent (violent) protests in Ferguson (and Baltimore).   Unlike so many martyrs in the original Civil Rights Movement Michael Brown was not killed because he refused to sit in the back of a bus, nor was he targeted simply because he was black.   Mr. Brown had just robbed a store and had roughed up a fellow minority in the process.  Brown fled the crime scene and was eventually shot and killed by a law enforcement officer (note carefully Romans 13:1-7).  According to news reports Brown was facing other criminal charges as well.   If true, this was not Mr. Brown's first felony arrest.  More importantly, even though the "hands up, don't shoot" narrative was disputed by several witnesses, it remains a dominant mantra among many activists today.  MLK reminded us, (quoting Jesus), that it is the truth that sets men free.