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Does Sean's use of the word "asinine" constitute flame-speech?

At the very least, his comment is not part of any constructive discussion of the issue.

The existence of millions of illegal aliens who work for very little money and are part of our economy is a cold hard fact. It's all very well to bleat about "getting control of our borders" or "enforcing the law", but it is unrealistic to believe that we are just going to eject every illegal alien -- even if we could.

They are here is such large numbers because:

- They want to earn dollars
- There are jobs for them (mostly low-pay) that others can't or won't fill
- American like eating strawberries and enjoying other fruits (pun intended) of the illegal immigrant labor pool.

In other words, we want them here. We've voted with the almighty buck.

Since they are going to be here anyway, reform of the immigration laws to regulate guest workers and improve security is a perfectly valid solution. I would say that it's asinine to assume that enforcing the current laws (which are not enforceable anyway) is the ONLY solution.

"The existence of millions of illegal aliens who work for very little money and are part of our economy is a cold hard fact. It's all very well to bleat about "getting control of our borders" or "enforcing the law", but it is unrealistic to believe that we are just going to eject every illegal alien -- even if we could."

The way to get a handle on the problem is to de-incentivize the law-breaking by punishing--via hefty fines--the employers who hire these illegals at the cut rate. This would dry up the income potential for the illegals and induce them to join the guest-worker program. Those who refused to do so would be assumed to be criminals and rounded up to the best of our ability.

FReegards...MUD

I would say that it's asinine to assume that enforcing the current laws (which are not enforceable anyway) is the ONLY solution.

Hannity's point was to not change the law untill you can enforce the current ones.

We don't know the laws aren't enforceable, no one has ever tried.

The law against murder isn't enforcebale before the fact either, but we have no problem bringing consequences down after the fact on those who commit it.

Maybe we can't keep them from coming across the border, but we should reduce, not increase, the incentives that draw them here and als we should round them up and ship them back after they do come.

As for strawberries, we have a farm near where I live that you can pick your own. If I want some bad enough, I'd rather do that than reward law breakers.

"They are here is such large numbers because: They want to earn dollars. There are jobs for them (mostly low-pay) that others can't or won't fill. American like eating strawberries and enjoying other fruits (pun intended) of the illegal immigrant labor pool. In other words, we want them here. We've voted with the almighty buck."

That's spin. The money we save on cheap strawberries is no match compared to what we spend on welfare, higher insurance rates for us, and special programs for them to maintain their existence in our country. And who cares if "they want to earn dollars"? I want a lot of stuff that I'm never going to get.

I agree. Allow me to point to two other issues pretty close to conservatives:

1. Gun control. I don't think the laws work, and a number of the ones the gun-controllers want cannot be enforced without serious infringements upon civil liberties (search and seziure, self-incrimination, etc.). They should not be passed, and a fair number of the laws (like the AW ban) should be repealed, with the rest simplified and made to apply uniformly.

2. Environmental laws. Remember all the horror stories from the Clean Water Act (specifically, the wetlands nonsense) and the Endangered Species Act/Marine Mammal Protection Act (which went so far as to cause severe restrictions on military training and the testing of a sonar system)? Congress made changes to the law to end the military's problems, and in effect gave them an exemption.

We are a nation of laws, but if there are bad laws, or misapplications of the law that are causing problems, then they need to be changed, and if necessary, people need to be cut some slack. Respect for the law goes downhill unless bad laws and misapplied laws are dealt with in an expedient fashion, and I've come to the conclusion that immigration law is one place where that needs to be done.

That said, some things need to get tougher. Cities that prohibit local cops from reporting illegal immigrants to the federal government need to be told to change the policy or lose federal funds. No objection to that - heck, why hasn't that been done? We need to tighten control of the borders more so as to prevent future illegal immigration. And we need to kget rid of the welfare programs except for those who are here legally.

I want this issue dealt with, but at this point, I'm more inclined to follow the Wall Street Journal's proposals on this as long as they are coupled with increased security at the border. It's not a perfect solution, but I think it should be good enough.

In other words, we want them here. We've voted with the almighty buck.

The federal government is taking a lot of our "almighty bucks" away from us in the form of taxes in order to pay for services to illegal aliens including free public school education for their children, free unlimited medical care for the whole family, welfare, food stamps, WIC, etc. That's some deal us Americans are getting. We pay 79 cents for a head of lettuce at the grocery store while at the same time paying thousands of dollars in taxes to subsidize the "cheap" illegal alien labor used to pick the lettuce.

"There are jobs for them (mostly low-pay) that others can't or won't fill - American like eating strawberries and enjoying other fruits (pun intended) of the illegal immigrant labor pool"

What a load of hooey.

We allow a certain amount of LEGAL immigrants into this country each year, WAY MORE than enough to absorb all those low paying jobs.

We certainly don't need an additional 12 million illegal immigrants clogging up our courts and jail, and believe me, a large percentage of them do exactly that.

Each and every day, I travel through cities on the East Coast where thousands of ILLEGAL immigrants live in ghetto housing, and I am certain that less than 1 percent of them have work picking strawberries, or any type of fruit or vegetable.

I feel empathy for police in most every mid to large city where they spend countless hours doing additional paperwork each and every time they arrest some illegal, many of whom are too busy stabbing each other and/or selling drugs to even fill out the necessary paperwork to become citizens.