Last week in my commentary I wrote about illegal immigration and the fact that many of the City of Santa Clarita Council members were side stepping the issues that erupted around Councilman Kellar’s remarks several weeks ago. It was amazing the comments that piece generated especially from local liberal gadfly Tim Myers. Normally I would not waste time on Tim Myers but his ridiculous comments are typical of a small-minded group of people that don’t engage in a fact based dialogue on a topic or issue. Instead they launch into personal attacks and/or trying to brand individuals they don’t agree with disparaging labels.      

After Tim accused me of Catholic bashing, being a ‘lapsed’ Catholic, and being insensitive to Jews. Ridiculous! I responded that it was unfortunate he would rather focus in on anything other than the real topic that was being discussed; illegal immigration. It appears that he would rather brand anyone that speaks out about a group of individuals that is blatantly breaking the law as “racists” and/or “bigots”. It’s truly sad that some people are incapable of having a real engaging discussion about illegal immigration.

The facts are very clear; there are people that are coming to this Country illegally and many are draining resources from those that are here legally. They are breaking existing laws that were passed over the years which layout a process for citizenship. Laws and processes that were made to be followed not ignored or only followed by some and not others. If enough people don’t like those laws then they can work to change them or revise them.

There are plenty of good, hard working individuals that do come to this Country legally and follow the rules and laws and became productive members of our society. This means that the current process does work and is beneficial for those that choose to follow the rule of law.

Last year Los Angeles County spent well over $1 Billion dollars of our tax dollars supplying medical, social and educational services to people that are here illegally! More than $500 million dollars on welfare and food stamps alone.

Multiple that Billion dollar number by many the dozens of counties across California, Arizona, New Mexico, Texas, Florida and a myriad of other states and it quickly adds up to real money! I would much rather see those tax dollars being used for people that here legally that genuinely need the help. I would much rather see those tax dollars used to enforce the current laws so that we are not viewed as some gullible rubes that can be taken advantage of by anyone that wants to enter this Country illegally.

None of that makes me insensitive, a racist or a bigot.

To the contrary, I am the product of immigrates that came to this Country legally a century ago through Ellis Island; who learned the language and made their children learn the language; who worked hard and endured hardships early on to save for a better life; and who ultimately made successes out of themselves not by breaking the law or from handouts or charity but from lift-yourself-up-by-the-boot-straps hard work. That is a wonderful thing!

America is the land of opportunity and there are countless success stories to prove that. Many of those stories start out with an individual arriving in this Country as an immigrant with little money or material possessions to their name. The one thing that they all have in common is a dream, a burning desire to succeed and the sweat equity to invest in themselves which includes becoming a citizen legally. That is the right way to do it; that is the legal way!

Tim Myers couldn’t or wouldn’t respond to my comments because after he tried desperately to claim that I was bashing Catholics and then being insensitive to Jews the truth proved him wrong. His flaccid attempts to divert from the topic and to make baseless claims showcased his ignorance of the facts. 

It’s time to focus on the real issues of illegal immigration and stop trying to deflect from the facts by labeling or pigeon-holing people as something they’re not in order to shut down the real discussion. We saw that with the pummeling that Bob Kellar has had to endure even though his only fault was a poor choice of words which were then taken out of context.

It seems anytime that the immigration topic is brought up there is nasty attacks or slanderous name calling by those that cannot debate the topic with facts. There is a solution to the illegal immigration issue and it starts with having an actual discussion about the problem and enforcing the current existing laws.  
 

Dave Bossert- Commentary 

Dave Bossert is a community volunteer who serves on a number of boards and councils. His commentaries represent his own opinions and not necessarily the views of any organization he may be affiliated with or those of the West Ranch Beacon