An amnesty does not address the problem of illegal immigration, therefore it cannot be a solution to that problem. It becomes the solution to the problem from the point of view of the illegals and thus promotes even more illegality.
It simply addresses an underclass of millions of illegal aliens we have done nothing about for decades.
You mean for a single decade? What happened to the last amnesty.
We must either enforce our existing immigration laws, or modify them to a state we are willing to enforce. The status quo is unacceptable.
The status quo is complete disregard for the rule of law and the constitution. Amnesties have been key in creating this problem.
Having grown up in So Cal, I can say that illegal immigration has been a big problem for decades. That it builds up over time is not that hard to discern.
So you've been around it longer than most. But the numbers have recently gone up drastically and the crime rates and the costs. We havent had emergency rooms closing down for decades. The construction industry in my area wasnt taken over by illegals for decades. etc... There is a whole world outside of So Cal.
The 1986 amnesty legalized some 3 million illegal aliens. Did that correct the problem of illegal immigration? No. We find ourselves with millions of illegal aliens once again. Conclusion? Amnesty does not solve the problem of illegal immigration.
I think we can all agree that the rule of law should be enforced regarding immigration laws, and that it is not currently being enforced.
Therefore, to uphold the rule of law we must either enforce the existing immigration laws or change them to reflect what we are willing to enforce. In either case, illegal immigration on the scale we are talking about would cease. That is the important point in this discussion, how to stop the massive illegal immigration we have been allowing for decades. Yes, decades.
Once illegal immigration has been effectively curtailed, the only question left, is what to do about those illegal aliens currently in the country? To uphold the rule of law we must either round them up and deport them, or we can grant an amnesty. The amnesty would be granted to legalize those illegal aliens we did not effectively deter from coming into the country. Any future illegal aliens would be deported according to the immigration laws.