Texan of the Year?

The Dallas Morning News, a BELO publication, has decided to select the Illegal Immigrant as the Texan of the Year. Now maybe I am just naive, but it seems that someone who is here illegally isn't really a part of the fabric of the society. I am tired of the naivete that fuels this politically correct rhetoric and I think we should all DEMAND that the candidates address this issue. If you think this doesn't impact you, let me clue you into a few facts.
-Illegal immigrants use public health facilities, often giving bogus names for services. This means that if they use false ID, the people with the real identity end up having to deal with the mess. In a 20/20 episode last year, people who crossed the border were bombarded with offers for fraudulent documentation before they had even left sight of the border.
-The average live birth costs $7K. Dallas' Parkland Hospital has the highest live birth rate in the country with upwards of 70% being to women who are undocumented. How many of those bills do you think get paid? And if the users don't pay, who do you think gets stuck with the bill? (Hint: Taxpayers)
-City and county taxes pay for infrastructure, education and services based on the total number of residents in existing housing. When you have older properties managed by absentee landlords, you end up with multiple families living in single family homes. So the rate for supporting things like police, streets, water and schools are divvied up where they actually pay less per person than the other residents. Add to that the fact that having multiple families in single family homes drives down home values making taxes rise just to cover current expenditures. Now add to that the fact that these are often in older communities where retirees count on their home as their main asset. Can you imagine the double heartbreak of seeing sinking values and rising taxes?
-Security is perhaps the most serious issue. In state public schools every teacher, every volunteer is required to have a criminal background check. Yet school districts seek to save money by contracting services for food, tranportation and maintenance. The service companies allegedly do checks, but who is monitoring this? And even if they do checks, I have heard many of the hired staff at my school discussing how they avoid being caught by ICE. This isn't secure or safe.

In short, this is an issue that the candidates want to go away. Tancredo is out, but I still have hopes for Thompson, who seems to be the only guy interested in holding people to some standards. Mark my words, there are going to be activists pushing for illegals to vote simply because they are here.