There have been two articles published within the past few days that may cause the reader to sit back and think about the consequences of U.S. laws as follows:

• https://www.nytimes.com/2017/02/27/us/immigration-trump-illinois-juan-pacheco.html
• http://www.cnn.com/2017/03/01/us/dreamer-arrested-jackson-mississippi/

On the other side of the immigration coin,  we have the three family members, introduced by President Donald J. Trump during his Joint Session of Congress speech, whose loved ones became casualties at the hands of illegals.

The stories have been on my mind ever since I originally read them.  The good deeds Juan Pacheo did for his community over the past ten years, seem to totally outweigh his illegal status.  And the same is true for Daniela Vargas.  How on earth can she be held responsible for the actions of her parents when she was age seven upon entering this country?

Yes, we have illegal immigrants in this country and actions need to be taken to ensure these people follow the various laws of our country but grabbing them out of their households and tossing them in a detention center doesn’t appear to be the answer because it’s not the American way.

As far as the family members of Jamil Shaw Jr, Daniel Oliver, and Michael Davis, President Trump introduced during his speech, my heart goes out to them for their tragic losses, but their situation is not the norm.

As of July 1, 2016, the United States Census Bureau estimated the population of the United States at 323 million, broken down as follows:

• 61.6%      White
• 17.6%      Hispanic or Latino
• 13.3%       Black or African American
• 05.6%      Asian
• 01.2%      American Indian or Alaskan Native

Our President has continued to use the word “Mexicans” when referring to illegals, so I’ll use their data.  Of the 323 million population estimated to be in the U.S., 17.6% or 56,848,000 are Hispanic or Latino.  If you just deal with the number that are considered “illegal immigrants” in this country you are looking at a total of roughly 11 million.

Somehow or another the number three, as in three dead from illegals, one in 2008 and two in 2014, simply gets lost in the shuffle and do not appear to pose much of a  “National Security Threat” to this country.  Even if you multiplied by 100, that would only be 300, multiply by a thousand and you’re still only looking at a total of 3,000 out of 323 million or a tiny drop in the population bucket.

If only 1.2% of the population is American Indian that means all the rest of us are immigrants or descendants of immigrants.

Are you a legal or illegal?

(c) 2017 PJ