[judgeandjury]

2) Just how militarized do anti-immigration folks want our borders?

Who are these "anti-immigration folks" that you're referring to?

3) A substantial percentage of Hispanics regard this sort of thing as racist, i.e. 'We don't want any more of THOSE people in OUR country.' What politician in his right mind is going to infuriate the fastest growing bloc of voters in the country?

A substantial percentage of Hispanics living in the United States view illegal immigration as a major problem that needs to be addressed:

40% of Hispanic voters voted in favor of the anti-illegal alien measure Prop 187 in California in 1994.

47% of Hispanic voters voted in favor of the anti-illegal alien measure Prop 200 in Arizona last year.

A Time magazine poll done in August of this year showed that 61% of Hispanics rated illegal immigration as a "serious problem."

A recent survey conducted by the Pew Hispanic Center found that 60% of U.S.-born Hispanics support laws that deny driver's licenses to illegal aliens.

[RebelBanker]

Actually, I agree with the set of suggestions you made in post #117 as a decent start toward controlling illegal immigration. Unfortunately, the incentive to come here would still be strong because life here would still be better (as an illegal) than it is in many other countries.

The problem I have seen is the difficulty in separating legal from illegal immigration. Too many Hispanic US citizens and legal immigrants see anti-illegal sentiment as racist. The liberal media is certainly spinning it that way as it pertains to conservatives and/or Republicans. This is prevalent in the Spanish-speaking media (according to Mrs. Reb, who is from Puerto Rico) which is even more liberal than the English-speaking media.