- PHOENIX Ð Television
and radio stations began running ads in the Valley last week, paid for
by the Coalition United to Secure America, attributing the 45 percent increase
in homicides and 41 percent increase in home invasions to illegal immigration.
Phoenix Police Department reports confirm those figures and Sgt. Tony Morales
believes there is no doubt that the statistics are tied to illegal immigration.
However, news reports about the ads have brought out comments from Rep.
Steve Gallardo, DÐDist. 13, who was quick to claim the ads were using
scare tactics to promote a racist agenda.
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- They forgot that adjective ... again
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- Actually, the ads were using facts to provide information
to the public and were too short to paint the entire picture. The news
media in reporting about the stir the ads have caused, mentioned Protect
Arizona Now (PAN), once again dubbing it an Òanti-immigrantÓ
group. PAN Director Kathy McKee said she finds it tiresome trying to explain
that there is a difference between immigration and illegal immigration.
Because PAN supporters are opposed to illegal immigration, illegally registering
to vote, illegally voting, illegally collecting benefits, or any other
illegal activities, McKee asks how that became racist and misconstrued
to be some sort of Òanti-immigrantÓ sentiment. PAN supporter
Rusty Childress and others have written letters to the editor of various
news media to explain that distinction, to no avail. Use of the phrase
Òanti-immigrant,Ó as opposed to Òanti-illegal immigration,Ó
to describe PANÕs position, appears to have become an editorial
policy embraced by mainstream news media from coast to coast ... a policy
that seems to also promote the racist sentiments of illegal immigration
and amnesty advocacy groups.
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- Arizona ranks third in country in identity theft
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- But, the numbers donÕt lie. Looking at the crime
statistics provided by the Phoenix Police Department for the first three
quarters of 2003 (all that is available at this time), compared to the
same period in 2002, crime has indeed increased in Phoenix. Homicide is
up by 13 percent; sexual assault is up by 31 percent; aggravated assault
is up by 4 percent; drug crimes are up by 5 percent. However, as crime
rates continue to increase, arrests and clearances continue to decline.
And, according to a census report of law enforcement agencies, conducted
by the Bureau of Justice Services, Phoenix has the distinction of tying
with Nashville, Tenn. for having the lowest percentage (36 percent) out
of the 50 largest police departments in the country for response to calls.
According to a 2001 FBI Uniform Crime Report, Maricopa CountyÕs
crime rates, compared to the rest of the United States in offenses per
100,000 people, were as follows: Murder in Maricopa County was 50 percent
higher; robbery 32 percent higher; aggravated assault 5 percent higher;
auto theft 173 percent higher; burglary 53 percent higher; and larceny
43 percent higher. Rape, the only category where Maricopa County came in
below the rest of the nation was 19 percent less. In 1996, criminal offenses
made up 17.9 percent of Maricopa County Superior CourtÕs caseload.
Criminal offenses have increased each year and in 2002, made up 25.2 percent
of all case filings. The Bureau of Justice Services inmate census data
indicates that violent offenders accounted for the largest source of growth
for all state inmate populations from 1995 Ð 2001. Those serving time
for violent crimes made up 58.7 percent of the white inmate population,
56.9 percent of the black inmate population and 81.5 percent of the Hispanic
prison population. From 1995 to 2000 the number of inmates for all federal,
state and private correctional facilities, by race, increased by 17 percent
for white inmates, 28 percent for black inmates, 53 percent for Hispanic
inmates and 20 percent for other races. Identity theft continues to be
one of the fastest growing crimes in Arizona, which now ranks third in
the nation with 88 identity thefts reported per 100,000 people. Washington
D.C. is number one with 123.1, followed by California with 90.7. Twenty
percent of ArizonaÕs identity thefts are employment related offenses.
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- Mexico and Columbia rising stars of the heroin trade
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- In November 2003, the Executive Office of the President
Ð Office of National Drug Control Policy (ONDCP) issued its Drug Policy
Information Clearinghouse Fact Sheet. Under the chapter on Regional Observations
it reported that during 2002, methamphetamine use by adult arrestees was
concentrated in the Western region of the United States. Phoenix ranked
fourth highest out of 36 sites with 31.2 percent of male arrestees testing
positive for methamphetamine, and third highest out of 23 sites with 41.7
percent of female arrestees testing positive for methamphetamine. The report
also stated that Mexican drug trafficking organizations have become the
dominant manufacturing and distribution group in cities in the Midwest
and the West, taking the lead over outlaw motorcycle gangs. A decade ago,
Mexico was known for its production of poor quality heroin, such as black
tar, and distributed only a fraction of the heroin sold in the United States.
Over the last decade, Mexico and Columbia have gradually taken over the
lionÕs share of the market from Southeast Asia with improved quality,
bolder smuggling techniques and distribution networks in all major cities
across the country with large Hispanic populations. Mexico also serves
as a port of entry for the smuggling of drugs from other countries.
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- Diseases long gone making a comeback
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- The illegal alien invasion crossing the southern U.S.
border at an estimated average of 800,000 per year has brought more than
drugs and crime across the border. Many bring with them diseases ... diseases
that were more or less unheard of in this country or ones that had been
all but eradicated making a comeback, including: Hepatitis A, B and C,
tuberculosis (TB), including MDR (multi-drug-resistant), HansenÕs
disease (leprosy), Chagas disease, dengue fever, malaria, polio and others.
Illegal aliens coming across the border are not screened for anything,
neither for having terrorist affiliations nor communicable diseases. Illegal
aliens with undiagnosed diseases crossing the border quickly spread diseases
throughout the nation. Reports have also indicated that health-screening
waivers granted in the past, along with amnesty and a green card to illegal
aliens already here, were later found to have TB or other diseases. According
to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), the percentage
of cases of tuberculosis in foreign-born persons, has risen dramatically
in the United States. In 1992, it represented 27 percent of all cases,
with four states reporting more that over 50 percent of the cases were
among foreign-born persons. In 2000, there were 21 states attributing over
50 percent of its cases to foreign-born persons, with California, Hawaii,
Massachusetts, Minnesota and New Hampshire reporting over 70 percent of
their cases were among foreign-born persons. In 2000, 41 percent of the
foreign-born cases occurred among persons from Central and South America
or the Caribbean. Although the number of MDR cases decreased from 3 percent
in 1993 to 1 percent in 2000, the proportion occurring in foreign-born
persons increased from 31 percent in 1993 to 72 percent in 2000. Ordinarily
TB requires six months of a four-drug regimen to cure, whereas MDR-TB can
require up to two years of treatment with a complex regimen of far more
expensive drugs. In 1999, there was a dengue fever health advisory for
an outbreak along the Texas/Mexico border. Dengue fever is not usually
fatal. However there is a strain called dengue hemorrhagic fever that can
be. Last November, 500 people were infected with hepatitis A, after eating
at Chi-ChiÕs in Beaver Valley, Penn. It was the largest outbreak
in U.S. history. Over the last 40 years, about 900 cases of leprosy were
reported in the United States. From 1999 Ð 2002, 7,000 new cases were
reported. Chagas disease, a parasitic bug from Latin American countries,
where approximately 18 million people are infected and 50,000 die each
year, has made its way into the blood supply with no tests available to
detect its presence.
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- ÒThere is a syphilis epidemic in Maricopa CountyÓ
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- While syphilis infections dropped to a historic low in
the United States, Maricopa County saw increases each year as it fought
to keep the sexually transmitted disease (STD) from becoming epidemic.
Between 1996 and 1998 infectious syphilis increased in Maricopa County
by 137 percent. By the end of 1999, Maricopa County experienced a 10 percent
drop in the number of cases reported. However, it was still three times
the national rate. Douglas Hauth, a spokesperson for the Arizona Department
of Health Services Office of Infectious Disease Services attributed the
increase to the growing Hispanic and black populations, a group with disproportionately
higher levels of the disease. Ulcerative stages of syphilis also significantly
increase the risk of HIV infection. An abstract from the 1999 National
HIV Prevention Conference, issued by the Maricopa Rapid Ethnographic Community
Assessment (RECAP) Team stated, ÒIt was discovered that syphilis
disproportionately affected disenfranchised individuals and groups associated
with high risk behaviors. These individuals and groups included sex workers,
homeless persons, jail inmates and migrant workers.Ó In 2001, Superior
Court Judge Mark Armstrong issued an order authorizing and directing Maricopa
County Department of Public Health and/or Correctional Health Services
to draw blood for a syphilis serology test on any person arrested for prostitution
prior to that personÕs normal release from jail, subject to consent.
Armstrong noted, ÒThere is a syphilis epidemic in Maricopa County,Ó
citing, ÒIn 1999, Maricopa County had 463 cases of early syphilis,
228 late cases and 17 cases of congenital syphilis. ÒIn 2000, Maricopa
County had 394 early cases, 314 late cases and 23 congenital cases. Armstrong
stated that the overall number of syphilis cases in Maricopa County has
increased every year since 1994, a direct contrast to the nation as a whole
where syphilis continues to decline. He also pointed out that syphilis
in Maricopa County was centered in the inner city, urban Phoenix area.
In 1998, Maricopa County reported 29 cases of congenital syphilis, or syphilis
infection of a newborn; 19 cases in 1999; 23 cases in 2000 and 29 cases
in 2001. ÒCongenital syphilis is a completely preventable condition
with prenatal care,Ó wrote Armstrong. However, due to lack of identification
and treatment there is a 25 percent fatality rate. The cost to taxpayers
for each case of congenital syphilis is estimated to run $300,000 in medical
and long-term costs. The cost to taxpayers from 1998 Ð 2001 would be
about $30 million.
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- Hospitals inundated with non-pay emergency room patients
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- During a Dec. 13, 2000 meeting at the Arizona State Legislature
of the State-County Fiscal Committee, Alan Stephens, executive director
of County Supervisors Association (CSA), made a presentation explaining
the complex relationship between the county and the state. Stephens discussed
counties having expenditure limitations based on population growth and
inflation, leaving no room for emergencies. He cited a Òbudgetary
emergency where two counties had to endure a tuberculosis outbreak, which
was terribly expensive.Ó He also cited a capital case in Yuma that
cost 75 percent of its total budget in witness fees alone. Stephens explained
a survey taken by CSA on indigent health care costs. He claimed it was
not thorough and didnÕt include the $66 million that the counties
contribute to the Arizona Health Care Cost Containment System (AHCCCS)
program, or $150 million for long-term care that counties contribute for
the state matching funds. Counties also have to pay for emergency costs
when a person is admitted to a hospital prior to being deemed eligible
for AHCCCS. Stephens referred to it as county Òresiduality.Ó
He went on to say, ÒMany times the counties are subject to litigation
because hospitals submit a lot of claims to the county hoping the county
will absorb a lot of their uncompensated care numbers,Ó and cited
Maricopa County had $200 million in claims submitted in 1999. Maricopa
County Supervisor Don Stapley said that Maricopa County had been settling
those claims at 14 to 20 cents on the dollar, due to poor record keeping,
lack of good records and because of the sheer volume of claims. He said
there were 120 million new claims submitted since January 2000 and nonprofit
hospitals were submitting claims because they were being inundated with
non-pay, emergency room patients. He said the residuality was Òflowering
to a degree that is out of control now.Ó
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- Illegal alien children enter schools without health screenings
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- The Center for Immigration Studies did a report not that
long ago citing immigration, both legal and illegal, as the reason for
virtually all increases in the nationÕs student population. Since
school officials either canÕt or wonÕt ask if a student is
in this country legally or illegally, there is no way to know if that student
or that studentÕs family have had required health screenings. Schools
in the metro-Phoenix area have reported cases of TB as well as meningitis.
School districts will not disclose the nationality or legal status of any
infected child and cite the patientÕs privacy as the reason. So,
critics say, as parents send their children off to school, do they know
or care if the non-English-speaking student sitting next to their child
in class has hepatitis, TB, leprosy, chagas or any other parasite or disease?
How about children or workers at the centers where they drop off their
younger children? What about the kitchen help preparing food in their favorite
restaurants? American citizens are paying to: Build new school after new
school, in order to provide an education for all the children on the planet;
provide free health care for all those who come here illegally; provide
illegal immigrants with food stamps, welfare benefits and subsidized housing;
incarcerate criminal illegal aliens; obtain additional uninsured motorists
insurance because of the increasing numbers of illegal aliens who drive
without licenses or mandatory insurance. When citizens can no longer afford
to provide for themselves and their families because they are providing
for the rest of the world, or they or their family come down with a disease,
previously unheard of, through the blood supply, the impacts of the illegal
invasion may look a little more real.
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