Dear Editor: During the debate about immigration several points are never discussed: the cost to the taxpayers of this country, especially the middle class, is enormous; free medical and dental; free education, even free tuition at our colleges to the children of aliens, who displace naturalized and native citizens; Section 8 housing, whereby the taxpayer pays 70 percent of the rent. The list goes on and on.

Apropos of Mr. Byrne’s letter (“A Pathway for Immigrants,” Nov. 7), I challenge any serious student of American history to name a particular group, that immigrated here in the 19th or 20th centuries, and received the benefits the illegal aliens receive today. There is none. Furthermore, laws are written so that these payments are referred to as “entitlements.” You break the law, come here illegally and you are “entitled” to a vast array of benefits, courtesy of the taxpayers!

To finance this, billions of dollars, which we have to borrow from China and elsewhere, boost the total of our national debt and will strangle us financially in a few years. And yet, we wonder why we have this problem.

There is every incentive to come here illegally, and none to do so lawfully. And since the vast majority work for cash, and pay no payroll taxes, a further insult to injury is added.

I laugh when I hear politicians say illegals boost our economy. That nonsense I expect from a politician. The rest of us know very little in taxes is collected from any illegals, especially in cities like New York, where no one enforces our laws. Pols are only concerned with garnering the votes of certain special-interest groups, not with the overall well-being of our country.

I hope your readers continue to write and express themselves on this very important issue. I know some readers will say the money spent is a small part of our budget, but let me remind them that this kind of thinking created the massive annual deficits and national debt which threatens our very existence.

ARTHUR J. D’AMATO

Bay Ridge