Defraying Illegal Migrant Juan's High Cost On Citizen Ernesto

Earlier this month, illegal migrant Juan Lizcano shot and killed Dallas Police Officer Brian Jackson.

Ernesto T., by contrast, legally immigrated from Mexico to the United States in the mid-80's. Ernesto worked hard to start his own business. He met a young woman whom he later married. Together, Ernesto and his wife and children own a home.

Ernesto is a citizen of the United States of America.  He has the same rights and privileges as any other citizen. 

Ernesto, and his family, have another dubious privilege: they are going to get to pay the bill for Juan Lizcano's expensive ride through our legal system.

The question Ernesto should be asking is, "why can't Mexico pay the bills of its citizens, who are here illegally, instead of those of us who worked hard to get here?"

The answer is: Mexico can, but it would take an act of Congress (literally) to start billing them.

Lizcano, who has a prior criminal history, sits in the Dallas County jail, as the legal system gets prepared to try him for capital murder. According to a March 8, 1992 news story in the Dallas Morning News, Lizcano's ride through our legal system will cost Texas taxpayers around $2.3 million dollars.  Further, according to the Texas Department of Criminal Justice, in the very likely event Lizcano is sentenced to death, he will be there an average of 10.43 years at a cost of $61.58 a day.  This adds another $234,000.

Paying these bills are Mexican citizens turned U.S. citizens.  They pay taxes along with hundreds of thousands of other Mexican countrymen here as legal permanent residents. 

Many of the benefits that Mexico's legal immigrants should be able to expect are literally being vacuumed away from them by their neighbors who stream illegally into the country by the tens of thousands on a daily basis to freeload off of them.

According to California's State Association of Hospitals, many hospitals in the state are on the verge of collapse.  Los Angeles County found that 60% of the county's uninsured patients are in the country illegally.  Last year, Los Angeles spent $340 million dollars treating the uninsured--translating to an extra $1,000 bill per taxpayer.

The problem is so bad, in fact, that Congress recently appropriated $1 billion dollars to be distributed among hospitals to defray the cost of providing taxpayer-funded healthcare for illegal migrants.  This billion-dollar tax bill, which still isn't enough to defray the cost, comes directly from the pockets of American taxpayers.

That isn't all. One in 6 incarcerated inmates in Arizona is a Mexican citizen. Their bills are paid for by American tax dollars.

The U.S. Border Patrol also reports a dramatic increase in border violence and assaults, increasing their costs and putting lives at risk.

In the period from October, 2004 through September, 2005, the Border Patrol registered 687 border assaults on its agents nationwide (Mexican and Canadian borders)--almost doubling the 349 assaults from the year prior. Of those, 686 attacks (all but one) occurred along the Mexican border.

All of this adds up to tremendous costs placed upon the shoulders and pocketbooks of legal American citizens and residents of Mexican origin by an increasing number of "freeloading" fellow countrymen.

MEXICO'S ROLE

So what's the Mexican government doing to help the situation?

Nothing.  Well, worse than nothing. 

The Mexican government actually promotes illegal immigration.

The Government of Mexico produced this 32-page comicbook style "How To" book for Mexican citizens looking to cross the border illegally and freeload off of their legal American counterparts.  The Mexican government is quick to point out that they inform readers that there are legal ways to immigrate to the United States.  However, nowhere in its publication, are any of these legal processes explained or even referenced.

Instead, the guidebook bears illustrations of migrants swimming across rivers and running from U.S. Border Patrol agents. It warns future migrants to avoid drinking and driving, not because they might kill someone while driving drunk, but because they could be deported if caught.

LEVERAGING MEXICO'S ASSETS TO PAY FOR THE PROBLEM

The Mexican government has significant assets that, at some point or another, cross U.S. boundaries.  Though the Government of Mexico as a whole is not well-funded by U.S. standards, there are still assets that could be siezed or levied to relieve the tax burden placed on American taxpayers--especially American taxpayers of Mexican origin.

In order to determine what is available and make levies against it would take action by the U.S. Congress on behalf of U.S. citizens.

In other words: a U.S. citizen can't just sue Mexico to repair the financial damage it has caused.

But Congress can.

Why hasn't this issue been explored?  Because Congress hasn't heard from enough U.S. citizens to force the issue to the forefront.

For more information on contacting elected representatives, please visit:

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[Editorial Comment]

In preparing this story, I contacted several public agencies including schools and hospital districts.  Getting a handle on exactly how many people are illegally receiving services is difficult since many Federal and State laws prevent documenting the undocumented.

In Texas, for instance, school districts are required to educate any child that walks through the door.

And this is the way it should be.

I'm going to go on record and say that I would like to see every child, legally here or not, get (and continue to get) a U.S. education. Our education system is the best in the world, and it may be the best (and only) hope for eliminating poverty, strife and the drug trade that plagues the Northern border of Mexico.

But the Mexican Government must be made to "step up to the plate" and pay for it.

And Mexico isn't the only government. 

Jesse Diaz at LULAC points out that 43% of all illegal migrants are from countries other than Mexico.  Their governments, especially if they're complicit in facilitating illegal immigration, should be held accountable. 

I don't feel like this is too much to ask since some of the hardest hit are Mexican citizens turned American citizens.

Jesse had another novel idea: Mexican oil.

Mexico has a tremendous asset that can be leveraged to defray costs of American social and education services.  And, in case you have forgotten $3.00 a gallon gasoline, oil is an extremely valuable commodity.  So perhaps leveraging Mexican oil would be a good place to start. 

One final thought: there are many more "Ernesto T.'s" living in this U.S. than Juan Lizcanos.  There are many more hardworking Hispanic citizens in this country than there are criminals like Lizcano.

We in the U.S. are always talking about "family values." Some of the highest "family values" are practiced by our Hispanic citizens--and there are many of us who would do well taking lessons from them.

So rather than concentrating our efforts on building billion-dollar fences, or chasing people looking for a better way of life through deserts, why don't we concentrate on a billing system to return the cost to Mexico?

This way, everyone is treated fairly and everybody wins.