A Few Facts on Immigration

Tony Snow preaches a common sense approach to immigration, indicating that 62% of illegal immigrant pay with-holding taxes, 66% contribute to social security taxes. Our nation's unemployment rate is low, under 5%, and hardly anyone can complain that illegals are taking their jobs. Larry Kudlow says that hispanics are opening businesses 3x faster than the rest of the country. Only 5% of illegals are on food stamps or unemployment assistance.

Illegals do have a disproportionate share of our healthcare system, but Snow points out, only in places where cities have granted illegals very lavish benefits.

Crime is a problem that needs to be addressed, but maybe no more so than the general US population with the same demographic income.

The US has been the envy of the world in its ability to absorb immigrants without affecting the dynamism of the economy, without causing mass protests (until now). Europe would love to have the US's immigration problem - their population is in decline and the majority of immigrants are not Christian and maybe for that reason, do not assimilate very well, even after a couple generations.

Europe will most likely be an economic afterthought in 20 years, while the US should continue to be globally competitive in part because of immigration.

So before we do anything drastic (Bush's plan seems more sensible than many), let's look at the positive and the negative of immigration, not just the negative.