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Immigration issue affects all Americans

Last week’s workplace raid by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, or ICE, that netted dozens of arrests in Salem in Columbiana County should serve as a strong reminder that this hotly debated topic is not just an issue facing states like Florida and Texas.

As was proven last week, illegal immigration activity does occur in our backyard. It is one that all Americans, including those in Trumbull and Mahoning counties, must be aware of.

Until now, no president has been willing to act on this very unpopular issue.

That fact is, immigrants can and often do represent a net gain for America — when they cross our borders legally. Studies have shown immigrants are far more likely to start a business than native-born residents, for instance, and immigration can help sustain economic growth by adding to the population of both producers and consumers.

But illegal immigrants can add to taxpayers’ already astronomical costs of providing health care and housing to illegal aliens and then education to their children. And that’s not to mention the cost of enforcing laws broken by illegal aliens.

There is no simple solution to this complex and costly issue.

But before we all cry crocodile tears for those jailed in last week’s raid at the meat processing plant in Columbiana County, or for the separated migrant families we’ve been reading about in other parts of America, we must remember this: illegal immigration is just that — illegal. At the end of the day, the flow of illegal immigrants into America is unsustainable, and that affects all of us, not just those along the southern U.S. border.

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