continued to receive aid for a period ranging from four to 10nyears, “raising the possibility that a permanent welfare classnhas emerged,” according to the Los Angeles Times (Februaryn9, 1987). As many as 75 percent of those on welfare alsonearn unreported cash incomes in side jobs.n—A spot check conducted by the Illinois AttorneynGeneral revealed that 45 percent of the aliens who appliednfor jobless benefits were illegals.nAside from the costs of welfare and education, America isnbeing victimized by new gangs of alien criminals. The NewnYork Times (March 21, 1987) reported that “As the Mafia’snrole declines, the multi-billion-dollar heroin trade is increasinglynbeing conducted by criminal organizations thatntogether sound like a United Nations of drug smugglers,nincluding Chinese, Thais, Pakistanis, Indians, Iranians,nAfghans, Nigerians, and Israelis.” These new ethnic criminalnorganizations pose a major challenge to law enforcement,ngiven the diverse languages and cultures represented.nThe President’s Commission on Organized Crime, in anfinal report issued in the spring of 1986, warned thatnChinese and Jews from the Soviet Union were among thenbest organized crime groups. Jamaicans have been tied tonhundreds of murders as well as gunrunning and drugntrafficking across the United States. A Nigerian recentlynarrested for involvement in a large credit-card fraud ringntold reporters that he especially liked Americans, “becausenthey are so trusting.”nCalifornia, dubbed by Time magazine our first “ThirdnWorld state,” is experiencing a new crime wave fostered bynillegal aliens. Donna Coultice, INS deputy assistant regionalncommissioner in Los Angeles, reported this spring thatn”Illegal aliens are involved in one third of the rapes andnmurders and one fourth of the burglaries in San DiegonCounty. In Orange County they account for over half ofnthe homicides. . . . Aliens are responsible for about 90npercent of the narcotics trafficking in Santa Ana (CA) andn80 percent of that in Fullerton (CA). . . . Four hundrednillegal aliens a month are added to the California prisonnsystem for various crimes.”nSome of the “prosperity” enjoyed by Miami and otherntowns in Florida, Texas, California, and Hawaii has beennfueled by funds pouring into these areas by foreign-bornncriminals. As many as 40,000 hard-core criminals werenwelcomed by President Carter with “an open heart andnopen arms” when Castro initiated the Mariel exodus inn1980. In late April of this year, it was widely reported thatnCastro is organizing a new “boat lift.” The WashingtonnTimes of April 16 noted that among the potential newn”refugees” are Cuban troops who have caught AIDS innAngola.nOur country is now faced by serious health problemsnrelated to immigration. The Third World is a culture flasknfor pathogens. Diseases previously unheard of in the UnitednStates, but prevalent in the Third World, are making theirnappearance here. Diseases once practically eradicated arenbreaking out again.nJ. Michael McGinnis, deputy assistant secretary of thenU.S. Department of Health & Human Services, told annational dental convention that “Along the border, we havena prevalence of diseases that we shouldn’t be seeing much ofnin modern Western society. We have higher rates of suchnthings as malaria, tuberculosis, measles, rubella, rabies,nand pertussis (whooping cough).” The recent reversal of thensteady national decline in TB can be attributed almostnentirely to the flood of immigrants. Dr. Shirley Fannin,nassociate director of Communicable Disease Programs fornLos Angeles County, has pointed out that “All of thesenimmigrants and refugee areas—Mexico, Central America,nand Southeast Asia—are high endemic TB areas; so theynliterally bring the disease with them.” Over 90 percent ofnour several thousand lepers are refugees or immigrants fromnAsia and Mexico. Dr. Barry Dorfman, chief of refugeenhealth programs for the state of California, advised in earlynMay of this year that the U.S., especially the Westernnstates, would experience more cases of leprosy as a result ofnrecent immigration patterns.nUnfortunately, diseased aliens have ample opportunitiesnto spread their illnesses to the general population. Aliens arenheavily employed in the food and beverage sector of theneconomy. Few states and municipalities require personsnemployed in food handling to be examined for parasites ornother potentially infectious health problems before theynbegin working. For example, last fall, eight people innsuburban Washington, DC, came down with typhoid fever,ncaught at a well-known fast-food restaurant. Local healthnauthorities tracked the typhoid to a salad prepared by annalien employee from a Third World country. And thenJournal of the American Medical Association has reportednon the high rate of AIDS infection found among both malenand female Haitians residing in our country. Many of themnadmit to having participated in voodoo rites, where thenbisexual priests spread the virus during the sex orgies thatnare a frequent feature of voodoo ceremonies. The threat tonIn the forthcoming issue of Chronicles:nThought Pohcen”I believe there is some kind of a natural law (probably anmatter of hydraulics) which keeps the level of corruptionnjust about the same in every given area of human endeavor.nNo matter what you do or don’t do, the naturalndepravity quotient will remain roughly the same. ThenArts are an exception, attracting more than an averagenshare of scumbags. But please remember we are an open,nfree society. And one good working definition of freedomnis they can’t make you be an artist and you don’t evennhave to pretend to appreciate Art.”nnn-George Garrett’s John Towne delivers “A (Pardon thenExpression) Baccalaureate Address”nAUGUST 1987 /19n