Regarding the article in the March 6 issue of My Sun Day News “The View from Planet Kerth,” I recognize that Mr. Kerth is a storyteller, not a journalist. I generally enjoy his observations, but not this time. His attempt to compare immigration and the issues surrounding government policies on immigration to a baseball game is gimpy at best. While I remain concerned about his use of hate-like references to the President of the United States and to the “privileged whiners” who support government policies on immigration, I am confused by the point that Mr. Kerth was trying to make.
If Mr. Kerth was making a plea that we should be sensitive and supportive to immigrants in our community, then we are in violent agreement. We are a nation of immigrants. In 2013, immigrants represented over 13% of the nation’s population. I have friends in Sun City who are first generation American citizens from Hungry, Italy, Ireland, Poland and Germany. As a nation, we currently welcome over a million immigrants per year as naturalized citizens of the United States and another half million as Lawful Permanent Residents. I have contracts with immigrant business owners to perform work at my house. I have never met an immigrant that was not friendly and industrious.
However, if Mr. Kerth is urging support of illegal immigration, then we are opposed. In this case, it is not a matter of a person being well-intentioned and friendly. Illegal immigration is fundamentally an issue of law violation. Just being poor and wanting to come to the United States is not a valid reason to violate the national sovereignty of the United States. As a country, we already devote considerable resources to our resident poor and uneducated citizens. That should be our priority.
The illegal immigrant population in the United States is estimated at over 10 million people. While we can argue about affectivity and morality of our immigration policies, illegal immigrants represent a serious burden because the limited taxes paid by the illegal alien population are insufficient to offset their net fiscal cost. So, they are net consumers of taxpayer-funded services. The 2017 study by Fairus estimates that cost at $2746 per illegal alien per year. You can do the math. It is a staggering amount and growing year over year.
If my support of government policies to curtail illegal immigration makes me a “privileged whiner,” so be it. I have already been called “deplorable” by others more renowned than Mr. Kerth.
Joe Marmion
Sun City resident
