I am not against immigration. I am against illegals living here, no matter their ethnicity, with not only impunity, but receiving benefits of any kind, especially those that are designated for citizens and most especially, special preference over and above those who are, and have been, waiting in line and following the established laws and rules for them to get in.
That rewards bad behavior and encourages still more, not only with the person rewarded, but sets an example for others to also break laws, in anticipation of future "rewards" for their illegal behavior...which has been ongoing now since long before President Reagan bestowed amnesty of millions of illegal aliens. It's ridiculous.
I also believe you that you (with most freepers) are not "against" immigration (though I suspect I am for more of it than alot of freepers).
I also share the distatste for fed benefits for illegals (short trip for me, I am against all fed benefits, period).
The big difference between me and many here has to do with what we do with the folks who are here illegally. The position of most freepers is that because they are here illegally STEP NUMBER ONE is to round them up and expel them to a secure border. I strongly disagree for a whole bevy of reasons. I briefly list some of the majors below:
1) fear of police state powers necessary to round up and deport 10 million plus people.
2) fear of police state power emanating from the fed necesary to enforce this on a workplace level (the only way I can see it will work)
3) economic price we will pay for stripping out our biggest source of entry level labor
4) the availability of simple market based alternatives ( I have posted some of these in this thread)
5) the human cost of mass dislocation and sudden expulsion to a non-employed poverty sticken country (in the case of Mexico)
6) the consequent shoving of Mexico and Latin America into the arms of Fidel and Hugo Chavez
7) finally, NOT first, but I have to admit it has a place..... I love these people. Their warmth and kindness won my heart when I was a kid who hitchiked from Brownsville TX to Lima Peru and back (had to fly between Panama and Colombia, no road) and was on the road 8 months. I never really got over it. I have never been treated as kindly by anyone, and I have been all over the world. don't expect you to buy into that one, but for the sake of honesty I had to put it out there.
These are not ALL the reasons, and I don't expect everyone to buy them..... actually, I don't expect ANYONE to buy them on FR, but a reasonable case can be made that there are alternatives to the prevailing groupthink on FR.