You are correct. No one here has been. To my knowledge, I have never seen you post in that manner in any thread. Let's just leave it there, if we could.
Second, if you truly believe in erecting a fence and enforcing immigration laws, why do you constantly attack people who argue for that very thing?
Because they are assholes. No other way to say it. I make it a point to say that I am pro fence. The big difference is that I want a fence to CONTROL who we let in, not to stop them from coming. Anyone who is on free republic immigration threads more than 10 minutes can see that there is a huge difference between 1) Those who are against immigrants 2) Those who are ambivalent..., that is, they may be pro immigrant in other circumstances, but the loopy out of control border situation has made them say STOP IT ALL, at least for right now, and 3) very small group, including me, who wants a fence more for registering who comes in than shutting down the flow. Although most freepers are, I believe, in category #2, there are many even there who make the most asinine charges against those in group 3. I don't know if they are truly too stupid to understand what we say or deliberately choose to misrepresent it.
Thirdly, you can argue that millions of illegals is a good thing for this country, but you would be in the minority.
Of course not! The question is not "is it good that they are here illegally?" People who put words in my mouth that way should not be surprised when they are mocked and ridiculed. The questions are: 1)"Is it good that they are HERE?" and THEN 2)"if it is good," (you can see my prejudice in the question) " should we allow them to become legal?"
I believe that they should be punished for jumping the border, but that the only punishment is NOT expulsion, but rather a heavy fine, and some type of further penalties to get on the road to citizenship.
I can say after reading your post a little up that I could definitely live with your proposals, even if we might not agree on everything. I can also say that the idea of a guest worker program is not well received on FR at all.
Though we disagree about many things, I think we share some common ground here. And I do apologize for some of my words earlier, I just get very worked up about this topic. I also thank you for acknowledging that I do not post any xenophobic comments.
As far as where we disagree, I do believe that foreign workers, in some cases, are beneficial to the economy here. I am in favor of a tightly enforced TEMPORARY worker program. I can understand why many people here are against, or at the very least skeptical of this type of program. I myself am a bit skeptical, because I question whether it will actually be enforced. I am 100% against the McCain/Kennedy, but, atleast in theory, somewhat supportive of the Kyl/Cornyn Bill, it it were truly enforced. I, like many if not most others, am very confused about which bill, if either, the President supports. If he supports a TEMPORARY guestworker program that pays reasonable wages to foreign workers when no Americans are willing or able to do the job, and the plan does not entail a path to citizenship as McKennedy does, I will support his efforts wholeheartedly.
As to where we are in agreement, I too support a fence and tougher enforcement. I am not in favor of forcing businesses into bankruptcy with fines at this moment because they hire illegals. That would be unfair. I do not, however, believe it would be unfair to do so if we started enforcing employer sanctions consistently and nationally. The market forces wwould then take care of themselves. And if these businesses could truly not find American workers, I would support their wishes to find temporary workers. I also do not dispute that many of these people are good people. Indeed many are very hard workers, and men and women of great faith. I respect that. What often turns me off to their plight is the work of groups like MALDEF and La Raza who clearly have ulterior motives, that are often based in racial superiority and political opportunism. I would be much less cynical and resentful if these groups were not the way they are.
I will also tell you one of the reasons I do not support a path to citizenship for illegals. We need to get at the root of this problem, and the problem lies in Latin American countries(primarily Mexico). It is my opinion that we should do all we can to make life better economically, politically, and socially in these nations, rather then importing the population here. By creating a temporary worker program, we can allow for people to come here and gain valuable skills, and at the same time be able to send more money back home, because they would be making better wages. If we just allow them to become citizens here, it will not help solve the core problem here. I truly believe a TEMPORARY worker program is in the best interests of everybody involved.
It is also hard for me to accept the idea of gangs in this country, many made up of illegal immigrants, reaking so much havoc on the streets and in the towns of this nation. If I were a politician, I would find it very hard to explain to a family why their son or daughter was killed by an illegal alien who had been deported nine times previously.
Furthermore, there are political ramifications to consider. I have seen many polls that show that almost 50% of Hispanics favor tougher enforcement. More than that, vast majorities of African Americans, Whites, and legal immigrants support it as well. If framed correctly, I also think tougher enforcement combined with a truly TEMPORARY worker program would be of great benefit socially, economically, and politically.
In other words you want amnesty. That's how we got 10 million illegals here in the first place. One amnesty after another encouraged the next wave. You must really think we are stupid if you expect us to buy into another program like that.