CASPER — Illegal immigration carries not just economic costs but political and cultural ones as well, the president of the John Birch Society told an enthusiastic crowd of about 70 at the Oil and Gas Commission in Casper on Thursday night.
“There are many costs to illegal immigration ... there is a cost in the amount of money that is being spent for the welfare and the education and the housing, and there is a cost in hospitals closing because they have to treat people who can’t pay and don’t pay,” society President John F. McManus said in an interview before his presentation, a point he reiterated in his speech. That cost, according to McManus, is $36 billion annually.
McManus is on a nationwide tour, outlining society’s stance on the immigration issue. His presentation — “Stealing the American Dream” — discusses how society believes illegal immigration affects the country.
He touched on topics including proposals for amnesty for those in the country illegally and the path to citizenship.
“The anchor baby thing (is) absolutely wrong. Totally wrong. Then the baby gets to invite the whole family — the relatives, the aunts and the uncles and everybody. It’s ridiculous; no other country does that,” McManus said. The term anchor baby refers to children born in the United States to parents who are in the country illegally. The Constitution provides that anyone born in the U.S. is automatically a citizen...
