Laelia wrote:
The plural of anecdote is not data, and physical distance is irrelevant to my ability to read statistics. If I wanted to know what the subjective quality of life was like in Texas, sure I would ask you. If I wanted to know what the 20-year trends in crime rates were, I would check a police database designed to answer that question, since the few crimes an individual is likely to experience during that period would be meaningless to the overall trend. You made some very specific claims about the harm illegal immigrants pose. To summarize:
1) Unavailability or difficulty in accessing health care and social services
2) Local tax increases
3) Loss of jobs and decreased wages
4) Increase in crime and drugs
5) Increased traffic and dangerous drivers
6) Fewer classes in local schools due to requirements for ESL classes
7) Decreased property values
All of these can be demonstrated with statistics, and for the most part can't be adequately examined based on anecdotes. Many places have experienced these things, and illegal immigration is by no means the only possible cause. I posted links earlier to 2 peer-reviewed papers suggesting that on the whole, illegal immigration has a positive beneficial economic impact on the US. Surely if what you believe is true there should be comparable data supporting your point. Even you can't prove causality, I would accept that your point is reasonable if you can show a correlation between the population of illegal immigrants and the specific harms you mention. This is such a hot issue in the US that it's hard to believe nobody has done some actual research on the issue.
Before my neighborhood went central american..
There were no wanted flyers posted at bus stops - Apparently the criminal would grab and rape at knife point random women. Hispanic 5'8 170lbs wore white tshirt and jeans. The picture was lol.
There were no streetwalkers or craigslist whores
There werent many 'altered' pos cars.
I could talk to my neighbors.
People didnt have three families or more in a house. Currently there are nine cars parked at a house two doors down to me. It's one thing to have a get together, but these people all live there.
There werent any authentic mexican cuisine food delivery places in the neighborhood, cause like it's residential. There was one running out of a kitchen. Theyd post their menus on the bus stop. Their prices werent very competitive. They'd dump their old grease in a park nearby.
Something that was awesomely funny was the Nielsen ratings guy event.
He was a big burly black man in a crown victoria. He would pull into driveways and knock on the door. The people two houses down from me thought he was the law and all ran out the back and went over the fence.
