About 200,000 Americans have already signed a petition asking the federal government to secure the borders. Information on that available on billoreilly.com.
Now, I want to be very clear about one thing. I'm not asking you to sign the petition. That's entirely up to you. We're just bringing the vehicle to your attention. Now, I did sign the petition because I believe we're all in danger and the government must fulfill its duty to protect us.
"Talking Points" has uncovered some stats that illustrate the problem. According to research done at Columbia University (search), illegal immigration is now costing the USA $68 billion every year. So the next time you hear somebody mention the deficit, hit him with that.
California alone loses $10 billion a year from its treasury because of the illegal problems. Spending on illegals in Arizona costs every household in that state $700 each. Last year, about 7 million illegals worked inside the USA, comprising 5 percent of the work force. The U.S. Justice Department (search) estimates that almost 300,000 illegals served some jail time in the year 2003, most for crimes other than legal entry.
Last year, almost 1.5 million pounds of illegal drugs were seized at the borders, most coming in from Mexico. And as we reported earlier, more than 11 million illegals are living in the USA right now.
Now, faced with that information, it's simply stunning that our government will not secure the borders. There are about 280 million Americans right now. But how many of us really care about this problem? Even if three million Americans sign the petition, which would be an enormous number for an enterprise like that, that's only 1 percent of the population.
The old saying is people get the government they deserve and the old saying is true. At this point in our history, Congress and the president simply will not enforce the immigration laws, period. And the only force on this Earth that can make them do it is the American people. Will they?
And that's "The Memo."
The Most Ridiculous Item of the Day
One of our rivals at CNN, Aaron Brown, took some shots at us in a speech he gave at the University of Washington.
(BEGIN AUDIO CLIP)
AARON BROWN, HOST, CNN'S "NEWSNIGHT": As soon as I heard about the professor at the University of Colorado, I went, man, that's a FOX story for a month. You know?
I mean, O'Reilly did about two weeks on taking the Christ out of Christmas. Who the hell is worrying about that? But their core audience, that was a great story for them.
Is that news? No, it's entertainment with news as a component. That's what it is. OK? I don't even think of them as competitors in that sense.
(END AUDIO CLIP)
Well, with all due respect, Mr. Brown, you might want to rethink that statement, as Greta Van Susteren is kicking his butt all over the place.
By the way, the promoted story on Brown's broadcast this evening is a goodfella tells how he survived the witness protection program. Wait, I thought Aaron Brown was in that.
Just kidding. His comments were ridiculous.
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