White House Plan on Immigration Includes Legal Status

Originally posted by Sestias

As was mentioned earlier in this thread, many illegals are already paying into social security --often under false names and numbers, but nevertheless paying in. They also pay sales and other taxes. Arianna Huffington, in her book, cited several billions that are coming into the economy through illegal workers (see my post on page 1, and also Nixie Nox's).

But something has to be done with all the illegals that are already here. Some of them would be productive, contributing members of American society. Many have already proven their willingness to start at the bottom and endure hardship in order to realize the American dream.

Or not.

Each had crossed the border years before, smuggled across the desert by a coyote, never imagining the journey would lead to a drab and dusty clinic on the ninth floor of Grady Memorial Hospital in Atlanta.

Some knew before the crossing that they had diabetes or lupus or high blood pressure, but it was only after they arrived that their kidneys began to fail. To survive, they needed dialysis at a cost of about $50,000 a year, which their sporadic work as housekeepers, painters and laborers could not begin to cover.

And so they turned to Grady, a taxpayer-supported safety-net hospital that would provide dialysis to anyone in need, even illegal immigrants with no insurance or ability to pay. ... Like other hospitals, particularly public hospitals, Grady has been left to provide costly treatments to nonpaying illegal residents who most likely could not have obtained such care in their home countries. American taxpayers and health care consumers have borne the expense.

Over time, the mounting losses have compromised Grady’s charitable mission, forcing layoffs, increases in fees and the elimination of services. Officials at Grady, which will provide more than $300 million in uncompensated care this year, estimate that as many as a fifth of its uninsured patients are illegal immigrants.
In Mexico, it’s different. There, you have to pay.

There is no way the meager contributions and tax payments of those illegals you presume to be doing so could ever offset the costs. Amnesty will not change it one bit.

jw
www.nytimes.com...