Hi Alex,

Long time no see. I hope you have been well.

To some extent I am willing to defer to your opinion given that you are an immigrant and I am not. Alex Feldstein expressed similar thoughts. (He hasn't been seen around here much either).

But there is one thing that concerns me, and that is your blithe discussion of shutting off immigration completely as one viable option. To me that would be a horrible move. Immigration has been the entire history of this country (repeating myself). Everyone except the remaining "Native Americans" came here from somewhere else. We see ourselves as the world's #1 destination, its #1 symbol of liberty. We should now say forget it, everyone please just go away, we'll go it alone? I don't think so. If we were ever to do that we might just as well pack in all the lofty talk about democratic ideals and admit we are just another closed, insular society. I don't think that is an America I would even want to live in.

Well, that concern plus the characterization of immigrants as bus boys, maids, and agricultural workers. That's quite a negative stereotype there. Not that there is anything new about it. Historically this has been characteristic -- a new group moving to the U.S., assimilating, and then wanting to pull up the drawbridge behind it. You say we used to want immigrants and now we don't. That is inaccurate. AFAIK *every* immigrant group has been initially disliked and subjected to prejudice and ugly stereotypes. Name a group, it's the same story. Irish, Italians, Germans, Japanese, Chinese, Latinos, Russians, etc. They have all assimilated, although in every case it was said that they would not. And it is happening again with Hispanics. Something like 85-90% of second generation Hispanic Americans speak English as a first language.

Respectfully disagreeing, then. I understand the argument about legal vs. illegal immigrants and would agree with it if not for the particular geographic circumstances. We are a free and prosperous nation which shares a 2000 mile border with a poor nation. Of course people are going to come north, like iron filings to a magnet. This is basic human nature. I am sure many (not all) of the immigrants would move here legally if they could, if we didn't take the position that we can only absorb a few.


>Hi y'all!
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>I'm an immigrant. For the record, I'm here legally.
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>The moment someone enters this country ilegaly, s/he's breaking the law here, so that makes him or her, by definition, a criminal. Maybe not a "hardened" criminal, one that you wouldn't feel comfortable sitting next to in a bus, but a criminal nonetheless.
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>The way this argument started is pretty absurd to me. That a college refuses to admit illegal immigrants shouldn't even be in the news. Why? There's a law (Federal, btw) that states that in order to be a student in this country, you must be legally residing here (with the appropriate status or as a US citizen).
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>The fact that many of these illegal aliens are here because their parents brought them in as children, without a say in the decision, to me is no more than tough luck. This, strictly from a legal standpoint. That it hurts us as a society that a talented student who is willing to pay for tuition is refused, is a totally different story.
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>Immigrants, illegal or otherwise have no bearing on the ruining of this country. Politicians insist otherwise, but it's just propagandistic BS. Yes, some of us do jobs that US citizens could have done, but we also do jobs that US citizens do NOT want to do (that on one end of the scale), and others CREATE jobs that otherwise wouldn't exist (that's the other end of the scale).
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>People that are willing to risk humiliation (at the very least), harassment at the border, or even death while crossing, and still decide to enter this country illegally, are obviously in a desperate situation. In other words, they have absolutely nothing to loose. Those of you who do not see it that way, should think hard about what would you do if you saw no future for yourself. If you're able to reach a level of desperation and despair high enough, you will do anything to change your situation.
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>We live in a country of double-talk. On one hand, we want to get rid of all the immigrants, but on the other, for various reasons, the goverment insists on doing things for their benefit (bilingual schools, for instance). People who come to this country should know that even though they won't be hated for being from abroad, they must adapt. "Press 1 for English" is WRONG WRONG WRONG. They should also be very aware that nobody asked anybody to come. Nobody put a gun against my head and made me come here. I did because I saw a better future for myself here, and I gave up on a lot.
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>Likewise, "Give me your poor, your tired, yada yada yada" should also be deemed as something stated at on particular moment in time, when this country was open to immigrants. That simply isn't the case anymore.
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>Would an absolute ban of immigration change anything? I doubt it. People in this country would make as valuable contributions as they have done so far, and local criminals will continue to keep the crime rate where it stands (I'm talking about murder, robbery, etc. here). There would be a bit of a hassle replacing millions of buss boys, maids, agricultural and factory workers, but after that's done, life would be normal again (maybe some inflation would ensue also, because capital owners would complain about increased costs).
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>The immigration situation is far far far more complex than a truly idiotic news piece about something that is a non-issue. This is what happens when journalists find an "angle" in any story regardless of its true relevance. My hat off to the idiocy of the press.
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>Have fun!
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>Alex