What you are missing is the real picture. Illegal immigration is not just Mexicans searching for a job:

http://www.wnd.com/?pageId=156441
http://www.wsbtv.com/news/23436627/detail.html

but don't worry, I'm sure every single one of them is here for the American Dream in the fastest churning economy...


>What you're skipping are the geographic and economic realities. You would have to go to some serious effort to enter and live in France or the Czech Republic as an illegal. And you would not be entering the world's fastest churning economy. To enter the U.S. from Mexico all you have to do is walk or swim across an invisible border. That's the profound difference.
>
>I do not advocate flaunting the law. But in this case I understand it totally.
>
>>The thing that I just can't seem to wrap my brain around:
>>
>>US immigration laws - probably some of the most loosely enforced in the world - encourage illegal entry with a very favorable risk/reward ratio. And yet it is seen as emblematic of some kind of police state we want to even make token gestures toward controlling our borders.
>>
>>It would never occur to me that I would have the right to enter France or the Czech Republic or Mexico or Yemen without the permission of that government, to work there without a proper work visa or to overstay a visa. And if I snuck into France with a pregnant wife to give birth I don't think I'd expect French citizenship for my child.
>>
>>If I were in Britain and was asked for identification or proof of legal entry I really wouldn't see it as a violation of my "rights" even though I have ancestors buried all over the place there going back a *lot* further than many of the present legal residents.
>>
>>Entry into a country in violation of its laws makes you a violator of that country's laws. I don't get where this is an ambiguous legal concept.
>>
>>I am all in favor of immigration and virtually unlimited work visas. But over-staying a visa or entering or working illegally is a crime just as it is in ever other country I've ever heard of.
>>
>>Certainly there is no point in any sanctions other than deportation if the only violation is of immigration law, but I don't see "but I've been here for ten years" as mitigation.
>>
>>An alien who is in the US legally *has* proper documentation.
>>
>>
>>
>>>>My son heard on the radio that in the United States they want to declare it a criminal act, for an alien to be in the United States without documentation, or something of the sort. He asked: "Wasn't it a criminal act, already?" To the best of my knowledge, I answered that I assume that aliens can be thrown out of the country for being there without a permit, but that they can't be otherwise prosecuted and thrown into prison. Is the news he heard correct? Is this my understanding of the situation correct?
>>>>
>>>>My son heard this news in Spanish; would the word "felony" be used in English?
>>>>
>>>>TIA,
>>>>
>>>>Hilmar.
>>>
>>>I wouldn't trust any media report that stated "The U.S. wants" because frankly, it is almost never the U.S. but rather political groups or even at times fringe groups. One thing I noticed while in other countries is that most news is reported as though the entire country or the government is planning something when in fact, it is one political group or one special interest group trying to get a bill passed - which seldom happens. Yet the media in other countries will report it as "The United States..."
>>>
>>>Rather than trust the inaccuracies out there in the media, best to just read the facts:
>>>http://www.illegalimmigrationfacts.com/illegal-immigration-to-the-us/
>>>
>>>Immigrants can be classified as illegal for one of three reasons: entering without authorization or inspection, staying beyond the authorized period after legal entry, or violating the terms of legal entry
>>>
>>>Laws:
>>>http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_United_States_immigration_laws
>>>http://www.uscis.gov/portal/site/uscis/menuitem.eb1d4c2a3e5b9ac89243c6a7543f6d1a/?vgnextoid=02729c7755cb9010VgnVCM10000045f3d6a1RCRD&vgnextchannel=02729c7755cb9010VgnVCM10000045f3d6a1RCRD