Immigration or amnesty

Nope, they are here to stay -- legally or not.

 

Then change the law, don't apply it capriciously. That's all I'm saying. What's the point about having certain laws and claiming to be tough on said laws, then not fully enforcing them? Either enforce the law or change it.

But amnesty is a definite slap in the face to millions of Americans and not the right thing to do.

And whether it's an America I'd like to see or not, I'll say this much....when I drive around significant parts of my community and listen to the words being spoken, it's not an America I'm particularly proud to see right now.

'Nuff said.

 

The millions of illegals aren't going to leave, ever. Any position that includes removing them is fantasy. However, any illegal should have no hope of citizenship, and the children of illegals should not get automatic citizenship.

The real plan must include the sealing of the southern border. To continue along this path is like locking your front door, then leaving all your windows open. Locking the door is not making you safe, thinking it is is asinine.

 

This is the most overrated "hot button issue" ever. What the hell has changed on the immigration front over the last 20 years? Nothing. The only reason this is suddenly on everybody's mind now is because you've got a couple of blowhards named Dobbs and O'Reilly harping on it every day.

It ain't 9/11. No terrorists came over the Mexican border on 9/11. In fact, I'd be more nervous about terrorists coming over the Canadian border. I don't envision them suffering through the desert to get here.

 

Christians should remember the Parable of the Prodigal Son's Brother, who felt that his father's actions were a slap in the face to him.

http://www.geocities.com/tbtho/noam.htm

 

I straddle the fence on this issue. Pun intended.

On one hand, I take a very conservative stance and want the illegals to be arrested and deported. I also want their employers to be dealt with swiftly and harsly. I want the laws on the books enforced and the borders sealed.

However, I'm pretty sure that ain't gonna happen.

Number 1: 12-20M people aren't going to be rounded up and hauled off. I think that's a realistic expectation. No. 2: The factory for which my wife is an accountant (which is the largest furniture factory on the earth) would cease to exist if not for illegals, I'm pretty sure. Hell, they even recently had an HR manager fired for running a little Social Security number scam. Coming down hard on compaines from LA to Savannah just ain't gonna happen -- under ANY administration, not just the current one.

I would, however, possibly support some sort of path/amnesty plan that seemed a little more secure than simply registering at the courthouse. I think it's the American thing to do. Don't we have a "dry land" policy with Cubans? (And I know the Cuban situation is different.)

And I don't think this is just a big issue because O'Reilly and other blowhards are harping on it. It's a pretty serious issue -- one that's more complicated than it was when Italians and Irish began landing by the boatload back in the day.

There's got to be some middle ground here, right?

*was that even remotely coherent?*

 

Jack, it's not an issue solely because blowhards are screaming about it. It's an issue because it really is an issue and because the amnesty plan is a hideously bad idea opposed by quite a few people on both sides of the aisle.

 

Unfortunately, thoughtful, pragmatic solutions aren't sufficient for the extremists nor the cable television pundits who incite them.

I am for any solution in which illegal immigrants are registered, legitimized, put on the books, paid fair wages and pay taxes. I am also in favor of strong penalties to companies that employ illegal immigrants as a cheap source of labor.

 

I don't even think there would have been any "plan" being discussed or voted upon had it not been for the blowhards.

Again I ask, what has changed on the immigration front recently?

 

Uhm, what's changed? A president is suggesting an amnesty, shades of what happened during the Clinton years.

 

That's not a change on the immigration front, just the president's response to all the blather.

My question seeks to determine how illegal immigration is affecting us any more today than it was 20 years ago (i.e. why the hell is this suddenly a hot button issue?)

 

There are many problems that are slowly growing: the number of people in this country illegally, the national debt, the temperature of the globe, the price of crude oil, the prison population. We can live with these increases for a number of years, but eventually there comes a point when people start to insist that something has to be done. Now is immigration's time.