Brad Knott: “I have heard a lot from the other side about costs, whether it be costs to law enforcement, costs to imprison, costs to…”

“I have heard a lot from the other side about costs, whether it be costs to law enforcement, costs to imprison, costs to society. I want to talk about the costs of open-border policies that is felt in this country. In the year 1990, roughly 5,000 Americans died because of illegal drug use. Since the year 2000, almost 1.5 million Americans have lost their life because of using illegal drugs. Of course, there is involvement locally and domestically in the drug trade, but just about all drugs--statistically, all illegal drugs--come into the country illegally. That is just one category dealing with the cost of illegal immigration. Any criminal code should have three objectives: First, it should protect Americans. It should protect American children. It should protect American families, neighborhoods, and businesses from the ill effects of crime. Second, it should punish illegal activity. When someone harms another American, there should be adequate and reciprocal punishment. It should be efficient, and it should work, again, to protect Americans. Thirdly, it should deter ongoing criminal conduct in that same vein, repeat criminal offenses, or anyone who would want to copy criminal conduct to enrich themselves. When you look at the scale of illegal immigration, when you look at the problems that are being inflicted upon this country across every metric, the criminal law is failing to protect Americans.”