It's always amusing to hear liberal Democrats like state Sen. Luz Robles raise concerns about the expense of a specific government program they don't like. Invariably, when cost is mentioned by liberals, their real concern is something else. At a national level, liberals and progressives are quite eager to cut defense spending and the construction of border fences, but they are utterly opposed to reducing the real budget-busters like federal entitlements. At a local level, liberals often fight road and highway projects, but their opposition is typically more about environmentalism than fiscal responsibility. Indeed, their environmental advocacy in projects like the Legacy Highway greatly increases the ultimate cost to the state.
When Sen. Robles starts talking about reducing runaway education costs and trimming state payroll costs, perhaps we can take more seriously her supposed anxiety about the cost of curbing illegal immigration. While she publicly deplores a possible rise in the costs of policing in Utah, she fails to mention the enormous cost to the state of providing education, health care and many material benefits to those who have chosen an immigration path outside the bounds of American law.
Steve Fillerup
Salem