Sinema And Kelly Have Failed To Represent Arizonans’ Views Of Immigration

I read an article recently on “Small business economy needs immigration reform” with both interest and dismay.  The distortion of the facts and misrepresentation of the feelings and attitudes of Arizonans is unfortunate.  Border/immigration issues are complicated but it seems that many have lost site of common sense.

I was born in Nogales, raised 19 miles away in Patagonia.  My grandmother and aunt were Hispanic.  I have a pretty good feel and relationship with both border issues and illegal/legal immigration.  As such let me counter a few of the errant points made by the article.

Undocumented?  Is this a politically correct way of saying “illegal”?  My family (from Mexico, Ireland and Germany) all immigrated legally – followed the rules.  This means they learned some American history, the language and what it was to be an American.  I was under the impression “illegal” is criminal.  It appears that this article is endorsing criminal behavior at the expense of undermining legal behavior.  Today, if I were from a different country seeking to enter the USA, I would really question the effort required of me when there are so many who illegally sidestep the procedure.  Words are important.  Using “undocumented” as a euphemism for “illegal” is a disreputable evasion of the truth.

The article says that “Senators Kyrsten Sinema and Mark Kelly should feel confident….” I would not agree with that as both rate an F- on the immigration scorecard and condoning amnesty does not represent the majority of Arizonan’s views.  In fact, the opposite is true.  According to the Rasmussen Report, Arizonans are unsatisfied with the current governments immigration and border policies “Barely one-fifth of Arizona voters support efforts by Democrats to include an amnesty provision for illegal immigrants in the “Build Back Better” legislation currently pending in Congress, and most would vote against a member of Congress who supports the proposed amnesty.”

The premise that the illegal alien helps a worker shortage is just completely erroneous.  Arizona’s labor force participation rate is a dismal 60.4 percent.  In truth, the millions of illegal immigrants are taking jobs that would otherwise go to American citizens, Arizona citizens who both want and need the job.  A recent New York Times article (Black Farmworkers Say They Lost Jobs to Foreigners Who Were Paid More) exposed how American jobs are being replaced by immigrants on guest worker visas.

Cited are numerous financial figures that attempt to say the illegal immigrant contributes to the economy.  However, it fails to reveal the impact in terms of welfare, medical costs, state benefits, law enforcement costs, schooling, etc. which far exceed the “benefit” mentioned.  Even the U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO) in a 1995 report to Congress reported that, “All three national studies concluded that illegal aliens in the United States generate more in costs than revenues to federal, state, and local governments”. Also not mentioned is the fact that thousands illegally cross the border and infiltrate the community without any regard for illnesses (Covid), criminal records or affiliations.  And not all  illegal border crossings are from immigrants.  Not mentioned in the article is the illegal voting propensity to increase the Democratic vote.

Duane E. Loftus is a retired as a principal in an Investment Banking company, ASI Enterprises.

Mr. Loftus is a graduate of Brophy College Prep. He has also completed the Advanced Management Program at the Harvard Graduate School of Business and the Strategic Marketing Management program at the University of Chicago. He is a Viet Nam veteran and former submariner. Duane resides in Arizona USA.