By Michael D. Antonovich Posted November 17, 2004

The Claremont Institute sponsored, with the generous support of the Salvatori Center of Claremont McKenna College and Chapman University Law School, a conference, "Reviving American Citizenship: The Challenge of Multicultural Immigration," held March 20-22, 2003. On the panel "What Should America Expect From Her Immigrants" Los Angeles County Supervisor Michael D. Antonovich gave the following remarks, which have been slightly revised for publication. Several of the papers from the conference will be published in a Claremont Institute-edited book on immigration and citizenship.

In any discussion of immigration, we must first distinguish between legal immigration and illegal immigration. When we talk about what we expect from our immigrants, we ought to expect from them, as we expect from all other Americans, that they follow and respect the law. You can only do that if you legally immigrate. Illegal immigrants are a slap in the face to those who are patiently waiting to immigrate legally.

Political decisions coming out of Washington that enact amnesty for illegals provide incentives for continued illegal entry into the United States. People who have been waiting patiently are then penalized because Congress passes laws to downsize the number of immigrants allowed into the U.S.—rewarding those who are breaking the law and harming those who follow it is not in the best interests of our nation.

With ten million people, Los Angeles County is really a diverse nation unto itself.We have the largest Asian, Iranian, Romanian, and Japanese populations in the United States, and the largest population of persons of Filipino, Guatemalan, Korean, Mexican, Salvadoran and Thai descent outside of their native countries. The county is really a melting pot much like the United Nations.

Legal immigration is a positive benefit for our nation—economically and culturally. Unfortunately, illegal immigration has had a catastrophic economic impact on our County. Our health care delivery system has become an HMO for the world. Our education system is basically a voucher program for people of other countries to illegally come here and go to our schools. As a result of those costs, our healthcare system is bankrupt and we've had a meltdown in our public schools— predominately the Los Angeles Unified School District.

Within our health care delivery system, we have approximately 30% illegals who are being treated annually at a cost of roughly $360 million dollars. This includes hospital stays, hospital outpatient services and mental health and health center services.

Our County's Department of Health Services estimates that nearly 26% of the ambulatory care visits were to illegal immigrants. The federal government, meanwhile, is reimbursing us for pre-natal costs.

Every child born to an illegal alien is entitled to full welfare until they are 18 years of age. And in January, we will have the issuing of an official state document, the driver's license, to illegal immigrants.

We are one of the few countries in the world where, if you are born here, you are considered a legal citizen regardless of how your mother got here. Other countries do not allow you to have that opportunity. In fact, in a conversation with the ambassador of China, he thought it preposterous that the United States would grant citizenship and all its benefits just because you happen to be born in the United States.

In our county jail, 25% of our inmates are illegal. The resulting cost to our justice system, just in our county, is $150 million a year. We have to provide room and board, a public defender, district attorney to prosecute, and a probation office to administer justice.

All of these services are costs passed on to county taxpayers. Those who come here legally absorb those costs incurred by illegals who have broken the law.

Even though Los Angeles County has nearly 12% of illegal aliens nationwide, the most of any other county, we receive only 3.3% of the federal money allocated to deal with criminal illegal aliens.

We have made some reforms. One of the programs I initiated with my longtime chief of staff, the late Dr. Tom Silver, took us about eight years to get adopted. The High Intensity Criminal Alien Apprehension and Prosecution program (HI-CAPP) creates an effective interface with the old INS and local, state, and federal law enforcement agencies. This program ensures that when a suspect is arrested and in our County jail, we can find out if they are here legally or illegally. Half of all deported illegal aliens return to the United States—often within twelve months.

The Mexican Supreme Court has created a haven for people that commit these types of crimes and put out a welcome mat for copkillers and other criminals.

Congressman Buck McKeon has introduced legislation to encourage that we make adjustments to our relations with the Mexican government until they begin to apply the law of extradition to people who are committing these types of crimes.

Illegal immigration has impacted the social fiber and the effective operation of our county. Our county is the largest in the United States, and the fiscal drain on the nearly $17 billion budget by those who are here illegally is very difficult to absorb.

One suggestion I have made to Federal officials and legislators on a recent trip to Washington is what I believe is a win-win situation. The border states, working cooperatively with local medical schools and the Mexican government, ought to establish medical centers on the Mexican side of the border. American doctors and medical students and Mexican doctors and medical students can provide medical service while sharing new medical techniques and advancing their mutual clinical education.

Our county hospitals are teaching hospitals where doctors learn how to become qualified physicians. Having these hospitals on the Mexican side of the border would help the Mexican medical students learn skills to be better medical providers. It makes sense and would be cheaper to provide medical service than to have incentives for people to come here illegally. That's a good investment in foreign aid.

Further, a bonded guest worker program would allow an immigrant to work here temporarily while bonded for any medical care he or she may need while in the United States.

The failure to control our borders and the lack of reimbursement from the state and federal government is breaking the back of local government. The costs of illegal immigration in terms of government expenditures for education, criminal justice, and emergency medical care in California approach $3 billion a year.

Illegal immigration is an affront to those who legally immigrate to the United States. It is crime that should not be rewarded. It tears at the moral fabric of our society and its social and fiscal impact is seen in every aspect of American life.

Concerning multiculturalism, it is important that we encourage the ability to speak more than one language. Foreign languages should begin being taught in our elementary schools. Children can learn faster instead of waiting until high school. A multilingual child's educational and career opportunities are enhanced. They are in a unique position to be effective leaders representing the values of the American system—provided by the Declaration of Independence and our Creator.

The term Multiculturalism has been hijacked by the mass media to suggest people should be kept in individual cultures at the expense of the American culture. The United States—the melting pot of the world—is a place where children are exposed to a world of different cultures and languages. Multiculturalism and knowledge of our world and all its different peoples helps our young people achieve and understand themselves and the world in which they live.