Illegal Immigration

1. 66

   benjamin franklyposted 14 years ago

   Considering the current state of affairs with regard to our country, how can anyone suggest that we need to pass major legislation like comprehensive immigration reform.  Both conservatives and liberals agree that the budget is unstainable,  unemployment is frightenly high and our trade deficit is growing exponentially.
        Now is not the time for more legislation;  instead its time for our country to have an examination.  What are the root causes of our nation's crisis.  What legislation needs to be reversed,  what agencies are none functional and what policies are poisoning the patient (The United States of America).
        Now is not the time for major legislation of any kind (i.e. healthcare reform, financial reform bills, etc.)  It is time to determine what is making the patient sick, before we decide to give him more medicine it may be poison!
        For now, keep it simple, enforce our laws and secure our borders.  Put our patient on a diet and and heal from within.

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   1. 59

      dutchman1951posted 14 years agoin reply to this

      Benjamin...NO!
      
      Because of everything you state above, NOW is the time to pass major immigration law, to get it under control. It is breaking City budgets etc...
      
      If it does not stop, then it will be a major cause of economic crashes for our cities. We do not need an entire new immigrant class on welfare!
      
      With School taxes soaring to care for all the immigrant children, Welfare food programs expanding, costing a fortune. Free Housing expanding to where we can not afford to support it. A homeless population growing across the US.
      
      Job markets are depressed in the US, we have sent 80% of our Factories off shore or across borders to accommodate world competition and costs of Labor. We can not support jobs for a mass influx of folks, regardless of nationality.
      
      As for Medical, we need Insurance company reforms, not Medical reform. The care level in the US is exceptional, it's the Insurance companies that are the problem, not the Medical Core. Policy fraud, loop holes, refusals that should not happen. Allowing Americans to shop for a policy and not be forced to minimum choices just because of the state you reside in. Allowing poor folk to be covered, yes!
      
      As for Diets, you or anyone else will NOT tell me what to buy or eat. You care for yourself, I will care for me.

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2. 77

   psycheskinnerposted 14 years ago

   How would the borders be secured without making changes, which would require legislation.  For example, hiring more border patrol officers=changing the budget=legislation.
   
   It seems to me that if things are not going well, changes may be needed the most to fix the problem.  It is when things are going well trhat you don't mess with things.

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3. 59

   Evan G Rogersposted 14 years ago

   i'm trying to figure out why we hate mexicans so much.
   
   Why don't we want them coming here to start a better life? It don't make no sense!

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   1. 68

      lrohnerposted 14 years agoin reply to this

      Why do you think the focus is on Mexicans? Mexicans, like all nationalities, are welcome to become a U.S. citizen using the proper channels--not sneaking across the border at night or taking a surreptitious boat ride.

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   2. 61

      couturepopcafeposted 14 years agoin reply to this

      The focus is on Mexicans -  God love their hard-working souls - because 3million? illegals is considered a glut.  It is a drain on public schools, hospitals and taxpayer dollars to say the least.  Have you been to the border lands?  Who's responsible for cleaning all the filth they've left behind?  We (the collective we) don't hate Mexicans.  What we hate is the fact that we have to support their free ride, non-taxpaying, ungrateful, "we want to take our land back" butts.  Oh, and while we're at it, let's vote to make Spanish the official language of the U.S.

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   3. 51

      joe scaliseposted 14 years agoin reply to this

      the issue is not immigration (people moving to America to better their families lives)..the issue is the process that leads to a legal status for immigration.   if u are undocumented you are illegal.  If youare driving your car unlicensed you are illegal. Illegal means a law was broken.  That is not the way to begin your citizenship.  I don't care how far an illegal has infiltrated our society jobwise or scholastically if they didn't get in line and go thru the immigration process than they must be deported.

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4. 77

   psycheskinnerposted 14 years ago

   Interestingly, when the UK opened their Borders to all of Europe, more people left than entered.  I would what would happen in the US.

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   1. 61

      couturepopcafeposted 14 years agoin reply to this

      Very interesting posit.  It's probably not as easy to leave, though.  The only place to go is Canada.  You guys across the pond have a host of other countries to go to.  Have I told you I love all things British?

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   2. 61

      couturepopcafeposted 14 years agoin reply to this

      Very interesting posit.  It's probably not as easy to leave, though.  The only place to go is Canada.  You guys across the pond have a host of other countries to go to.  Have I told you I love all things British?

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5. 75

   Mighty Momposted 14 years ago

   Interesting concept -- I wonder what would happen if the US opened its borders to unlimited immigration? It would be crazy!
   And you would NOT find Americans leaving the country in droves. As CPC said, the only place for us to go would be Canada, and it's too cold there .
   
   While illegals in the country is a problem (I live in California), I believe our current emphasis on the issue is a diversion. It is NOT by any stretch the most pressing issue facing our nation. It is a distraction based on fear and frustration. As citizens we can't handle that we are in a recession and have lost jobs that will not come back. Legitimate. But to blame that on Mexicans is insane. They are here doing work that Americans will not do, not taking "our" jobs.
   
   The crux of the problem is anchor babies. Once you come into the country illegally and have kids, your kids are American citizens. I would be very, very curious to hear how our resident defenders of the Constitution (no amendments!) would suggest that be addressed.

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   1. 61

      couturepopcafeposted 14 years agoin reply to this

      mightymom - I agree with you on all but one point - the tired old chestnut about Mexicans doing the jobs Americans don't want.  Probably true in CA with agriculture - and the poor dears are being killed with all the pesticides - but two men in my family alone are REALLY low on work because of the Mexicans doing the work for less money without licenses.  One is a roofer and the other a landscaper.  But people will take the chance of using someone without a license if they can pay less.  Meanwhile, the licensed guys have to pay chemical fees (landscaper) and high insurance rates (roofer) to keep their licenses.

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      1. 91

         wildernessposted 14 years agoin reply to this

         Cafe, I have to disagree with you.  Mexican citizens hold jobs that American citizens don't want, but for a reason.  They are happy to earn enough that, when combined with free food, subsidized housing, free education, free (nonexistent) car insurance, free medical care, free legal assistance and all the other freebies we give them, will allow them to live 3 families to a 3 bedroom home.  American citizens won't.
         
         This benefits a handful of Americans; the person building a home or having the landscaping done, a few that want housekeepers or such, and a few employers getting nearly free labor.  Indeed, it has gotten so bad that most such employers are being forced to hire illegals because they can't compete otherwise - they don't actually bring home that much more themselves.
         
         The cost of this, of course, is born by the rest of the country that do not directly benefit.  Not only do they pay for the freebies to the Mexican (or other) citizens, they must now support the people that have lost their jobs to the cheap labor, as you point out.
         
         Mighty Mom - I don't understand the anchor babies.  It is a problem, but why aren't the parents deported?  They are here illegally, or are they somehow declared immediate citizens as a result of the child (if so, I don't think that would require an amendment)?  If they want to take their child home with them, they are certainly free to do so - if they wish to abandon the child to the tender care of the American foster care system they can do that.  Either way we are free of most of the freeloaders that cannot support themselves.

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6. 60

   mikelongposted 14 years ago

   Passing legislation like the DREAM Act would do tremendous things..
   
   We need to bring people out of the shadows and away from the hidden economies that suck away our system....
   
   The Meg Whitman issue here in California is a perfect case...
   
   These borders that we want to seal are being used against us, and the media consumes the viewer with the northern migration of people while rarely mentioning the southern migration of jobs.
   
   Those who have jobs, whether in manufacturing and logistics (to mention a couple), or in fields that depend on having employed people in their communities to shop in their stores or use their services here in the United States need to look Southward with a different perspective...
   
   This border is used against us.....
   
   That border enables American, Korean, Chinese, Canadian, and Japanese manufacturers to pay their employees pennies to work in a sweatshop amid the NAFTA bolstered boomtowns like Juarez....
   
   That border enables the killers of girls in Juarez...young girls who take the bus from their commmunities on the outskirts of the city to the manufacturers downtown...to go unpunished....
   
   http://www.now.org/issues/global/juarez/femicide.html
   
   And current policies like NAFTA work against both the aforementioned Americans as well as their Mexican counterparts...
   
   NAFTA will be expiring soon, unless Congres votes to extend it.......what will a Democratic or "Teaparty" GOP dominated or split legislature do?
   
   Mexican and American workers of all walks need to find a way to binationally, through governmental and non-governmental pathways, combat the economic "race to the bottom" mentality that is driving development policy in both nations...

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7. 70

   Freeway Flyerposted 14 years ago

   In a perfect world, everyone would wait in line and follow a perfectly efficient, rational, and fair process of determining how many people should come in from various parts of the world. Since we do not live in that world, all that you can do is develop policies that make the most of an unavoidably flawed situation. The United States is wealthier than nations down south, which creates an unavoidable temptation for some people to cross the border. When combined with the insatiable demand for cheap labor in the United States, it may not be possible to shut down the border and enforce some form of a quota system in which an equal number of people come in legally from various parts of the world. People are going to come in from Latin America, legally or not. It's a simple fact of geography and economics. So how do we best adapt to that reality?
   
   I am not advocating open borders, but the laws probably have to be adapted in order to process more people legally from south of the border. Is it fair to aspiring immigrants from other parts of the world? Maybe not. But it is better than the alternative of having people living in the shadows, driving down wages, and collecting money under the table. Fair, unfortunately, is often not an option.
   
   So I agree somewhat with the original post. We do need to look rationally at the current system to see if it makes any sense. Doing nothing, however, does not represent a lack of action. Inaction is a choice that can be more expensive than change.

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8. 60

   Petra Vlahposted 14 years ago

   America’s double standards; the immigrants we want and the ones we don’t. Is this hypocrisy or what?!
   
   While I perfectly understand that immigration should be regulated and immigrants should go through a process, we also have to look at the inconsistencies of the system.
   When it comes to highly educated immigrants America is more than happy to welcome them and “find a way” to expedite their legal status. It is the case of thousand of engineers, physicians and nurses that are being “imported” from ex-communist countries and elsewhere.
   It is obvious that getting the brains (rather than educating our own children makes better business sense and it is cheaper)
   
   When it comes to the less educated, the scapegoat technique works as a charm. The only thing poor immigrants have to offer is their cheap labor and we desperately NEED that; that’s precisely why nothing is being done (except talk). Without cheap labor we will be in an even bigger economic mess and our politicians KNOW this, no matter what they say. 
   Nobody will ever convince me that a country that put a man on the moon can NOT control its borders.

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9. 61

   Pollyannalanaposted 14 years ago

   Is anyone yet aware they are not being screened and are spreading diseases, some incurable across our nation, some location really hit worse but it will get to the rest of us, how can it not? They work in restaurants and in foods all across the nation. Is that what our government had in mind since they can't get our young men killed fast enough in countries who don't want our help?

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   1. 60

      Petra Vlahposted 14 years agoin reply to this

      The disease America suffers from is NOT caused by the immigrants that are touching our food, it is coming from an acute denial of the real problems and from the lies we were fed by the government.
      Using illegal immigrants as the only evil is only a tactic to divert attention from what is going on and create more ways to divide people and keep them under control.
      When running for re-election, all politicians are promising immigration reforms, but never touch the subject again once in power. They know America needs cheap labor and the illigals are the only answer to that.
      Is it reasonable to think that America could put a man on the moon, but can’t control its border? Of course not! The so called problem is just a way to get inflame passion and to use the “divide et impera” once again.

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