I have been staying out of this argument, because of some experiences that I had earlier on with some of the very same folks who recently lost their posting privileges, so I think this might be a good day to put my big toe back in the water.
We are all, not supportive of illegal immigration, and have a great interest in security, but most supporters of the Bush initiative, as I call it, have a broader understanding of the nature of the problem.
Our current immigration laws do not reflect the needs for young migrant labor.
Current legal limits are far below the requests by a variety of crucial industries and services.
This is the driving force that brings them in.
Putting a finger in the leak will never work. The methods of entry will continue to adjust. Like when the best method of entry was to overstay a legal visa. And subsequently disappear into the underground economy that has been created for one purpose only. To get around the legal impediments.
To address this we need to address the needs by allowing legal workers to fill those positions currently held by illegals, so that we do not further damage a delicate economy that we rely on.
We need to address the underground that supports them.
We also need to address the amnesty issue, and we need to address security.
With a little help and understanding of the problem, we can do all of this and we can get started any time.
No sense letting Bush carry all the water.
There are millions of illegal immigrants on welfare, in schools and many tens of thousands sitting in prisons. This isn't exactly adding to the well-being of the nation.
"The total number of people officially considered unemployed rose by 27,000 during December (2004) to 8,047,000. Those considered long-term unemployed—out of work and seeking a job for at least six months—dipped slightly in December to 1.6 million (20.2% of total unemployed)." -- Bureau of Labor Statistics
We have roughly six and a half million people moving from one job to the next during the month of December, and 1.6 million who have been looking for work for more six months or longer; we have somewhere between eight and ten million illegal aliens in the U.S. doing some kind of low-end jobs.
We abort one million babies per year, and the baby boom generation is standing on the threshold of retirement. Right now, we don't have enough workers to cover the Social Security bill from the boomers, and the retiree to worker ratio is about to drop to a critical level.
What happens to the U.S. economy if we remove from it more workers than it requires to function?