IMMIGRATION: Add up the numbers

Are you aware of the influx of illegal immigration into the United States? Do you know where they are coming from? Are you aware of the dollar impact on local county and state property owners?

Here are some facts:

About 60 percent of illegals are from Mexico with another 10 percent from other Central American countries like El Salvador, etc., to about 70 percent (Pew Research Center). The second largest group is from the Philippines with others from India and China. Current guesstimates are about 12 million with others unknown (more like 20 million).

So what are the costs? For the State of Idaho, FAIR (Federation for American immigration Reform) estimates that the about 30,000 illegals in Idaho cost county property owners about $188 million for education, $23 million for health care, $23 million on criminal justice, $11 million on welfare and $19 million in state/local costs.

Idaho, with an unemployment rate of about 7 percent, will see illegals grow from 30,000 in 2012 to about 2.5 million by 2050 (Fair). Illegals are easy to exploit for wages, benefits and working conditions, and are driving down wages while bankrupting the social safety net. Wake up before you are over-run and demand an end to federal incompetence who are required to enforce current laws on the books or go to jail, including Obama and Holder.

DAVID SMITH

Post Falls