>Amnesty blocked: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/19475868/. Reagan did this, and it was wrong then, and it would be wrong now. Any plan that allows illegals to stay here for any amount of time only sends the message that if you can get here and lay low for a while, eventually you'll become legal.

Hmmmm. And President Reagan is the next thing to God himself in the eyes of so many. I guess his great victory in Grenada trumped his immigration mis-fortune.
And, it seems clear to me that your lay low logic is wrong ***IF*** (yes, it's one big IF...) the border is SECURED FIRST. Seems a tad strange that securing the border has such entrenched opposition even as the "war on terror" rolls full steam ahead!

>
>And, legalizing them doesn't mean that Joe Mexican is going to start paying taxes. Why start paying taxes and take home less than before? Becoming legal has no benefit for the illegals because they already have access to all our social services - FREE. Becoming legal would end that for them.

I think you're very wrong here. Legals will get more proper wages with recourse in case of hold-back (I hear its common to not pay them their 'last' earnings, and what can an illegal do about it???). Their taxes would be low anyways and they know they'd still be way way ahead in the long run.
And their incomes may stay low enough to let them qualify for federal programs aqnyway (so no net change?).

>
>
>I just don't understand the issue with immigration.
>
>People who enter the United States, or any country that has laws against it, are
>criminals and should be prosecuted. The cost of this prosecution could be offset by
>taking from the ridiculous amount of foreign aid we hand out to Mexico each year.

I agree with this. But how do you prosecute and punish 12,000,000 law beakers? And how do you prosecute those who make it worth their (illegals) while to stay there regardless???

Why not put managers of companies hiring illegals in jail. Why just fines (below)?

I doubt that people would do the jobs that illegals currently do for the same wages and under the same conditions (including risk of not being paid). It just ain't gonna happen.

It's a real tough issue. and the number 12,000,000 limits the options available. That's what has to be resolved NOW so it can never get like that again.

Just a northerner's opinion.



>
>
>Read this http://www.humanevents.com/article.php?id=8387
>"And immigration enforcement serves the exact same purpose as those locks: allowing us to choose who comes into our home to live with us, and who is kept out. Immigration is a long American tradition, and it can be a benefit to our society and our economy, but not if it is unregulated. Many of us had ancestors that passed through Ellis Island. This was not just a rest stop on the way to the next exit. Ellis Island was an immigrant screening center. America has always retained the right to screen entrants, separate the bad from the good, and deport those deemed harmful. Uncontrolled immigration is ludicrous. A nation without the most basic power of all -- the power to defend its own border -- invites lawlessness and disaster, especially after September 11th."
>
>Companies that employe illegals should be fined heavily.
>
>And for those of you who are thinking, "Illegals do the jobs no one else wants to", I bet you could
>find some unemployed people right in your own town who would love a job.
>
>Living in Southern California I get to see firsthand the effects of the hords of illegals who
>are flooding our nations daily.
>
>I welcome your thoughts.