For all you who have been reading the papers and watching the news, Arizonans are sorry that we have had to go to such extreme measures to finally get the Federal Government's attention regarding our borders. Az has more illegal immigrants than any other state and consequently, we have taken on most of the nation's financial burden. As a result, soon we will be voting on a 1 cent increase in our sales tax.
As we stand today, our neighborhoods have a glut of foreclosures and short sales. How did this happen? Because of our temperatures and our open borders more and more people moved to AZ, so we built more and more houses. Anyone with a pulse could get a job as a construction worker. Many were immigrants who sent a portion of their wages to their remaining family members in Mexico. Eventually, many of them purchased homes and managed to get their family members to also cross the border. Typically, these people do not participate in paying income tax. Many were given housing loans with payments 50-75% of their monthly income. Now they are abandoning their homes and abandoning the housing debt they helped create.
As result of this swell in population, our schools are bursting at the seams. School districts had to hire additional teachers and have additional resources such as English as a SEcond Language Classes in every school. Many times, multiple, extended families lived in one dwelling which meant multiple students and yet only one property tax was paid. Our school districts can no longer balance the budgets. In our own high school district, it was announced last week, that 176 high school workers, i.e. teachers, assist. principals,janitors etc., would not have their contracts renewed and four sport programs and various clubs would be completely eliminated due to budget constraints. Our elementary school is now serving free breakfast and lunch to more than 65% of the school's students and we thought we were living in an mid to upper level middle class subdivision. In addition, our elementary district serves a free meal all summer long to families who claim they otherwise would not have a daily meal.
Our hospital emergency rooms are overrun with non emergencies because all recognize that if they seek emergency medical treatment, one does not need to have medical insurance to be treated. To balance out the deficits, hospitals and doctors are raising their prices and passing the costs on to those who have insurance.
Az's violent crime statistics are up and we are number 2 in the world for kidnappings. Why? Because illegal immigrants pay smugglers thousands of dollars to get them across the border. They house up to 100 immigrants in a house in AZ and then hold the immigrants ransom until their family members pay extra for their release. Consequently, Home invasions are up. What about those immigrants who dont' have the money? They agree to strap 50 lb bundles of marijuana on their backs in exchange for a guided trip thru the desert to AZ. Drug related violent crimes are up. Our prisons are so crowded we house criminals in tents. Soon those criminals with less than 1 year left on their sentences will be sent to county jails because our state cannot afford to keep them...and the counties cannot afford it either.
Az has had it. Our neighborhoods have 1 of 7 homes in foreclosure. Our state coffers are empty. We thought our previous governor, who is now the head of Homeland Security would help us when she got to Washington, but no. So, sometimes you have to aim high to hit the target. Is the law a bit extreme? Yes. But did it hit the target of gaining the Feds attention. Yes, it did.
I think that all the people marching at all the cities across the country could greatly help AZ by passing the hat for our state at these events. If each state's citizen gave just $1, then we could begin to recover from the burden that we have been carrying for the entire nation. Did we aim too high? Perhaps. But, from where I am sitting, AZ is now right on target.
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