Border wall costs are too high
Congress estimates a border wall will cost $12 to $15 billion. It’s fair to consider this should be a one-time cost.
The Bureau of Labor Statistics estimates the American government (taxpayers) spend approximately $125.2 billion per year on illegal immigrants.
According to PolitiFact, illegal immigrants paid $11.6 billion dollars in taxes in 2016.
Pew Research statistics also estimate, the United States lost $133.6 billion in remittances in 2015, approximately
$136.9 billion when estimating inflation.
These statistics should also be made known to the American people by the media and our elected officials in the interest of fairness and transparency.
Imelda Coronado, Mission
‘Dreamers’ are not ‘entitled’
I’m having a hard time understanding the “Dreamers” dilemma. The following was published five years ago. “Nearly 60 percent of those eligible for Obama’s new policy (about 800,000) are currently enrolled in K-12 institutions, a quarter of those eligible (about 370,000) are high school graduates or have earned a GED certificate, and more than 15 percent (about 220,000) are enrolled in or have graduated from college, according to recent estimates by the Migration Policy Institute.” Surely some of these “now” well-educated people realized that they should or would want to become proud Americans by applying for citizenship. Please tell me in what other country can 800,000 people go and get a temporary work permit, protection from deportation and a whole list of other freedoms that thousands of American soldiers died to protect? It seems to me they have a responsibility to pay back our great country by joining the military, filing for citizenship, do volunteer work at V.A. hospitals, etc. Do anything! But don’t you dare cry “you owe me or that I’m entitled?” None of us are entitled to anything. We all have to work for everything we have and respect our country by being good, or great, Americans. Last week 200 people were sworn in as U.S. citizens in Brownsville. They were not given citizenship, They worked for it! I know personally all about it. It’s a very proud moment when the judge says “welcome to America” when you’ve worked for it.
Scott Matthews, Mission
