[BackSlidenDemocrat]

I am amazed at the selfish, self centered envy that races through America today. How quick we forget that immigration is what made America who she is and always will be the source of her foundation tomorrow. If you are depending upon SS to be your primary source of retirement you have fallen into the trap that catches 96% of all Americans. When the system started the payout ratio was 12:1. It is now 3:1 with the start of the babyboomer generation just before us. The numbers don't work....we need new money through new participants to be contributed into the system to continue the greatest Ponsi scheme known to man. Without it the ratio will go to 2:1 with the beginning of the boomers and by mid-boomer retirement it will reach 1:1. That will not work, so the other alternatives are increase the age for the benefit, reduce the benefit, or add new contributors. It's really a numbers game that's all. To blame the effort of solving the problem on immigration is to "Look a gift horse in the mouth" or probably better to say..."shoot thyself in the foot". The above poem is inscribed at the foot of the Statue of Liberty for all to see. It is the motto that has built America into what she is today. If we loose this mission statement we will loose the game. Plain and simple. God Bless all who risk life and limb to come to America for the blessings that are bestowed upon her many.

Backslidendemocrat

[JudgemAll]

No, immigration is not the foundation of America, it is importing good values from abroad, and that means God, not trash.

[rmlew]

America was founded in 1776, not 1886.
Our historical policy is to alternate heavy immigration with restricted immigration.
Go learn history and come back.

[stylin19a]

You talkin about The Statue of Liberty that now is a U.N. designated "World Heritage Site"? Which means we no longer have sovereignty over it ? THAT Statue of Liberty ? </sarcasm off>

[Kozak]

Ask the Indians about how important immigration controls are....

[MissAmericanPie]

Big difference in the amount and caliber of immigrants wanting to be American citizens willing to learn a common language and participate in the best interest of the nation then, and those coming here now for their own selfish reasons.

[Pro-Bush]

You forgot the "barf alert"!

[Little Ray]

Once again, it ain't the immigrant we have problems with, its the ILLEGAL.

[Mamzelle]

You've got the Big Guy in the White House on your side. And not only Rove, but Bush, too!

SO WHAT DO YOU NEED WITH US!?!

What do your lawabiding, taxpaying, fellow American citizens and legal resident aliens matter when you've got Rove on your side.

[Thumper1960]

Legal immigration made this country what it is, today. Stop parsing words and phrases like a Demoncrat.

[ladyinred]

They need to come here LEGALLY that is the point. At least that is what most of us are saying. I am sure there are those here with a hatred for certain ethnic groups who don't want them here at all, but that is not the majority.

[StopGlobalWhining]

How quick we forget that immigration is what made America who she is and always will be the source of her foundation tomorrow.

There are difference between the immigrants of old who built the foundation of this country, and those greedy law breakers who come here illegally today:

• The earlier immigrants came here without any handouts from American citizens forced to support them at the point of a gun.

• Most of the immigrants who came here years ago did so legally. I have witnessed prospective immigrants to America standing in long lines at Sunrise outside American embassies in a number of 3rd world countries, and what these ignorant illegal immigrants have done, is jumped in front of the hard working honest people who try to do it legally, and who are now in effect being spit on by our government.

• Earlier immigrants wanted to become Americans, not hyphenated pseudo Americans who want no part of assimilating into the American culture. Today's hyphenated pseudo Americans are a negative, undesireable drag on American society. They harm our country more than they help.

Don't try to compare the real Americans who came here as legal immigrants and made this country what it is today with the social parasite illegal immigrants who flood our country today and degrade the wages and quality of life for real Americans.

[F16Fighter]

Can you spell I-L-L-E-G-A-L?? Naah, apparently not...

Do you clowns ever tire of being both intellectually dishonest AND delusional??

[Tempest]

Nice idealism. And where as a large part of me supports President Bush's proposal for an immigrant guest worker program. I also have to wonder how do you explain to all the good people who waited in line and entered this country legally. How do you tell them that what they did was good and right but we're still going to let these other people who didn't bother to take the same measures that you did a place in line???

True America is founded on immigration but these are no longer the founding years. These are the established years and we need to come to some terms as to how we intergrate immigrants into this nation while keep jobs and economic balance for those whom were born here and for those whom immigrated here legally.

I'm siding with Bush so far and I'll still vote for him come election time. I'm just curious as to how people (perhaps yourself)would explain justification of this policy to those whom immigrated here fairly.

[livius]

I think you're right, and I believe a lot of other folks do, too. One of the problems is that the anti-immigrant folks become irrational ("kill them all at the border"), so it's a little hard to discuss this.

I certainly think there have got to be controls, but the ones we have now aren't working, so it's time to think of something else. As Rush said, Bush is being a real leader in this matter. He knows this is of no political gain to him: Latinos are Dems and won't vote for him no matter what, and the Pat Buchanan influence is now going to stir up most of the latent anti-immigrant (and anti-Catholic, judging from some things I've read here, announcing that Mexicans were not "Christians") wing of the Republican party so they will probably vote for a 3rd party candidate or not vote at all.

But he has the courage to do something about a problem that nobody has wanted to face, and I am once again really impressed by Bush. And to think, I just voted for him because he wasn't Al Gore - and all of a sudden, he's changed the dynamic in the entire Middle East and is now taking on a problem at home that is so major nobody has wanted to face it for decades.

[eleni121]

Your idealism is refreshing and I agree with the sentiments but I fear that the unenforcable laws and the incompetent and corrupt Mexican government have come together to create a monstrous problem in the southwest, one that this proposed policy is attempting to solve. It won't do the job completely but it is a start. There is no promise of legalization just the security of working legally.

And no matter what many say here, there are not enough native born workers who are wiling to work in low wage jobs (restaurants, construction etc. )

[FITZ]

How quick we forget that immigration is what made America who she is and always will be the source of her foundation tomorrow.

Only it wasn't immigration that did that ---- it was the vision of our Founding Fathers who provided America's foundation.

[familyofman]

No one I know of has any problem with LEGAL immigration - it's the ILLEGAL form that's objected to. If you can't tell the difference you're blind and/or stupid.

[Hila]

LEGAL immigration! L E G A L.

[tapatio]

The fact of the matter is you don't have heated discussions about legal immigration,only illegal.Right now there are immigrants waiting to come to this country,and they are going about it the legal way.The illegal immigration is doing a major disservice to the people who come here legally.Why should the United States give preference to the people who break the laws to get here.What you come across as saying is that we are anti immigrant,when that is not the way it is at all,no we are not anti immigration,we as Americans have laws to abide by,and if people want to come to this country they have to abide by those laws too.

"Give me your tired, your poor, Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free, The wretched refuse of your teeming shore, Send these, the homeless, tempest-tost to me. I lift my lamp beside the golden door!"

Yes, immigrants are still welcomed here,and they must go through the same process as those who came before them.

[usadave]

You seem to imply that we're slamming the door shut on legal immigration. The United States lets in over one million legal immigrants each year. How many more legal immigrants do you advocate that we let in each year?