As a Canyon County
commissioner in rural Idaho, I live every day with the consequences
of our hypocritical immigration policy. Federal officials say it is
our policy to block illegal immigration, but our southern border is
so open that millions of people manage to come through, overcoming
the desert’s hazards of killing heat and rapacious “coyotes”
who lead them to this country for outrageous sums of money.
What we have established is a cruel gantlet for young
Mexicans and other migrants from central and South America
desperate for work. While that may be cheap labor for many farmers
in my part of Idaho, the downside is a culture that has become
lawless. I say all this as a Mexican-American myself, the grandson
of a Mexican immigrant.
I have sounded the klaxon horn
about the hazards of this flood of illegal aliens for nearly 15
years, long before I entered public service and at a time when it
was even less popular to do so. I have been called a racist, a
bigot, a hate-monger and a turncoat.
But there is nothing
racial in my analysis. The only color involved in this issue is
green – the color of money. I continue to protest this
onslaught of illegal aliens because I believe in America and the
priceless value of U.S. citizenship, because as an American citizen
I have an obligation to my fellow citizens to warn of any danger to
our nation’s security and sovereignty.
There are
estimates that 11 million or more illegal aliens live in the United
States, and though we spend billions of dollars on border
enforcement, nothing stems the tide. The result: America is flooded
with illegal aliens intent on taking American jobs. They are
willing to work for rock-bottom pay, driving down wages for other
workers — many of whom are minorities.
Illegal
aliens export U.S. dollars to Mexico, contribute to the bankruptcy
of our health care system, siphon off limited resources from our
social service programs, force American schools to accommodate the
presence of children whose parents are not committed to the
community, and they relieve the political pressure on Mexican
President Vicente Fox for much needed reforms.
Because I
believe that employers should be held accountable for knowingly
hiring illegal aliens and taking jobs away from Americans, I have
spearheaded a lawsuit, joined by my fellow county commissioners,
against four major agricultural companies and the nonprofit Migrant
Council. We charge them of conspiring to hire and aid undocumented
workers in violation of the federal Racketeering Influenced and
Corrupt Organizations Act. Better know as RICO, the law was
designed to target the Mafia, but I think it is appropriate here.
Meanwhile, others do nothing, proposing and debating
various weak bills in Congress, while here in Canyon County,
population 151,000, the sheriff’s office has uncovered two
methamphetamine distribution rings fueled by illegal immigrants.
The first group was broken up in 2004, after an
investigation of a murder in nearby Gem County. There had been a
struggle for power in the drug ring, which had been operating in
Canyon County for over a decade.
The second group, broken
up in April 2005, consisted of 12 people, 11 of whom were illegal
aliens from Mexico. They were distributing cocaine and marijuana.
A major problem in my county this year resulted from the
arrest of an illegal alien who suffered from an active case of
tuberculosis. A quarantine had to be issued after the man exposed
several jail officers to the disease. Canyon County contributes
$680,893 to the Southwest District Health Department, but what we
paid because of that one person who came here illegally was a
disproportionate draw on our resources.
I have tried
repeatedly to call attention to these problems, even attempting to
have Canyon County declared a disaster area. I have also sent a
bill for more than $2 million to the Mexican government for the
county’s cost of serving Mexicans who live here illegally.
Though the Idaho Statesman recently
called my politics “hate speech,” many people I talk to in Idaho
tell me I am one of the few elected officials willing openly to
address the problems of what feels like an invasion.
Robert Vasquez is a contributor to Writers on the Range,
a service of High Country News in Paonia,
Colorado (hcn.org). He is a Canyon County Commissioner in Idaho who
is running for Congress in the state’s 1st congressional
district.
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