Thanks for the article!

Can you please share your sources? I don’t really care about illegal immigration but am interested in your data because I think there is a little more grey surrounding the issue than presented.

For instance, fact #1, illegal immigrants may not be eligible for certain welfare benefits but their kids are. Any money saved by aid to the children is money that would have come out of the parents’ pockets. Food and medical assistance for the children and emergency room medical treatment for the parents is not insignificant.

Fact #3, who knows. There is a lot of contrary data out there: http://www.breitbart.com/big-journalism/2015/08/08/illegal-alien-crime-accounts-for-over-30-of-murders-in-some-states/

Anne Coulter says the data is incomplete because the govt refuses to count.

Who to believe? The Internet is filled with misleading and dishonest sites reinforcing already held beliefs but the government does not have a stellar track record of being open, transparent, and forthcoming. Ever. And 9/11, Benghazi, NSA spying, Fast and Furious, IRS harassment, lobbyist exceptions, etc. all come to mind just from the past couple administrations.

Ideally people wouldn’t have to trust anyone but when they are forced to pay taxes can we blame them for being interested in how their tax dollars are spent?

I am curious about fact #5. Does this mean the other half of illegal immigrants are Canucks fleeing the great white north across the Canadian border? Or people crossing the Atlantic and Pacific? Just wondering.

Fact #9 is exactly what a lot of people believe and why they are so upset. They simply believe in legal immigration and that if people do not respect immigration laws they will most likely not respect other laws. That may not be true but it is a logical and consistent conclusion. Also, US immigration laws are less strict than our neighbors. Mexico is stricter than the US and treats its illegals horribly. Canada takes mostly phd’s. Again, in that context, Americans resenting the sentiment that other countries have the compassionate moral high ground is another logical conclusion.

Fact #10, maybe the number of illegal immigrant voter fraud is statistically insignificant but the fact that there are anecdotal examples means it happens. So the claims are perhaps more negligible than “fact-less.” That word is a bit too strong. And “conspiracists” is so strong and charged it is basically poisoning the well. You might as well have called anyone against illegal immigration a racist.

On the other hand, it might be statistically significant: http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/monkey-cage/wp/2014/10/24/could-non-citizens-decide-the-november-election/

And when states are being sued by the current administration for requiring identification to vote, another logical conclusion would be that someone somewhere wants illegal immigrants to vote, especially when that demographic has a strong tendency to vote favoring said administration:

http://www.thenewamerican.com/usnews/constitution/item/21172-supreme-court-refusal-protects-illegal-immigrants-right-to-vote

Again, who knows…but the country is divided on the issue and name-calling and harsh challenges to people’s beliefs never change minds. It only causes people to cling all the more strongly to their beliefs (and then we never solve anything). Studies have highlighted this aspect of human nature and Mormons “know” it better than anyone.

Thanks again!