kabar, I know this is a pet issue of yours and you’ve done a vast amount of research. I’ve read it before.
All I’m saying is:
1) There is no downside to coming illegally at present if you can make it. Nobody does anything to you, not even if you are a criminal (I mean deportation)
2) None of the possible benefits illegals get here (and I know they get many) are the main factor in their coming.
They come because they can. No ranting and raving about what they get here that they shouldn’t get will do any good unless we close the border.
However, I agree with you that loopholes should be closed, although it may well be heartless.
Nonsense. Obama claims over 400,000 deportations last year. There are 55,000 criminal aliens in federal prison and another 300,000 in state and local prisons. Since 9/11 over 50,000 residents of this country have been killed by criminal aliens and hundreds of thousands more are victims of their crimes. 22% of all felonies in Maricopa County, AZ are committed by illegal aliens. Yes, there is still a price to pay, but we are not doing enough.
2) None of the possible benefits illegals get here (and I know they get many) are the main factor in their coming.
There are "benefits" to coming here or we wouldn't have 12 to 20 million illegals in this country. I gave you the data on use of welfare programs. And illegals are using our ERs as free health clinics to access the finest healthcare system in the world. I have no idea what you classify as "benefits," but there are plenty here ranging from jobs, education, a generally lawful society compared to the Third World corruption they came from and Mexico is having almost a civil war with more than 40,000 killed during the drug cartel wars. Did you know that the official unemployment rate in Mexico is 5.1%?
They come because they can. No ranting and raving about what they get here that they shouldn’t get will do any good unless we close the border.
Do you comprehend what I have posted to you. 40% of all illegal aliens come here legally and overstay their visas. Closing the border only solves part of the problem. Comprende? And prohibiting benefits to illegals and making life as uncomfortable as we possibly can for illegals will cause them to self deport. We have data and anecdotal information to prove that. Attrition thru enforcement works. It also creates jobs for Americans. There are an estimated 8 million illegal aliens holding jobs in this country while 22 million legal residents of this country are looking for fulltime employment.
However, I agree with you that loopholes should be closed, although it may well be heartless.
Heartless? You are beyond salvation. If the laws are "heartless," then change them, don't selectively enforce them. And as someone who has lived in 11 countries and travelled to more than 70 others, no country on the face of the earth treats people who violate their borders and laws as well as the US. And we take in 1.2 million legal immigrants a year, more than the rest of the world combined.