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.
I'll respond to this first, the rest later.
To make this absolutely clear: if we're talking about Mexicans/Latins, it is not my dislike for them that I am against illegal Mexicans/Latins being here.
My first interaction with a Mexican was as a young child, in the Los Angeles area. This man worked with my father at a major vacuum company as a repairman. I don't know if he was born in America or not (let's assume he was). My father later went into his own business, and took this man with him to work for him, repairing vacuum cleaners and sewing machines. He remained employed by my father for many years, up until my father closed his shop. I have very fond memories of this kind man. I was exposed to his language and family. I remember his talking at times on the telephone while at my dad's shop and he would speak in English and Spanish in the same conversation; I was in awe, and amused, at his ability to speak like that, and remember telling him so. Our families did things with each other at times. He was extremely kind to my father, and my family, when my mother died when I was almost 13.
During high school, I travelled to a small town in Sonora, Mexico, with a church group, visiting during Easter week. The people there were very poor and could not speak English. Most of my friends couldn't speak Spanish; because I could fairly well at the time, I was used as a translator. We had a wonderful time there; and it was mostly because of the kindness and hospitality showed to us by the Mexican people; one family hosted several of us for a beautiful dinner in their home, composed of hard dirt floors and metal siding roofs. We were later told by one of our pastors (himself from Mexico), that this family share more food with us than they could probably afford to eat themselves. He refrained from telling this to us until after departed, fearing that had we known or felt we were depriving them, we'd have eaten less, thereby possibly offending this kind family.
As a young adult, I worked at an international banking office and came into constant contact with Mexican bankers flown to Los Angeles for training, and worked with legal immigrants from such places as Cuba, Ecuador, Mexico, China, Germany, Egypt, Lebanon, and the Czech Republic. I've also traveled to Puerto Vallarta, as have my children, who have gone numerous times, as well as to other towns throughout Mexico. My children also very much enjoy the Mexican people.
My antagonism lies NOT with the good folks from Mexico, or other countries. My animosity lies with those who think they're more special than the ones who are following the rules and laws, have had to wait, or are still waiting, for their turn to file the proper paperwork and apply for entry in the proper manner, so that MY country can check out their background, to make sure that criminal elements aren't coming in, to protect everyone else already here. Every country has limited resources; those who are here illegally are stealing those limited resources; they are preventing both U.S. Citizens, and naturalized citizens, and those standing in line for entry, from receiving many benefits they not only deserve, but are entitled to. My animosity lies with those who think that this country shouldn't or doesn't have the right to close and/or monitor its doors.