Yeah. I agree. But what are you going to do with 10 million people? Do you comprehend what you're proposing?
This is why we have this problem. The left half of the country doesn't think we have a problem. And the right half of the country says "what is it you don't understand about the word 'illegal'". Neither answer will ever work. Some third way is required, or we really will lose a great deal of this country to "North Mexico".
Some elements must be border enforcement. A Guest worker program. And *real* assimilation for those who stay.
if we had employer sanctions - real ones - a natural process of returning to their home countries would come as their employment dried up. that would take care of alot of it on its own.
we don't need a guest worker program. we may well need more legal immigration, and that's fine. legal immigration gets you a pool of new americans who assimilate better, make less use of public assistance, are less likely to commit crimes, etc, etc. legal immigration works.
but US businesses don't want legal immigrants. they want a second class tier of workers to come into the country illegally and through a guest worker program, to whom they can pay a lower tier of wages given their status. and that's whose driving this push for a guest worker program.
If it even looks like there's a serious chance that an amnesty bill will pass, that number will swell by millions as people rush into the country to take advantage of it. It's happened before.
It also means that we are accepting whoever happend to come here illegally without concern if they have skills or a job. It means that we the taxpayers assume the responsibility of providing for millions that are not providing for themselves.
Mexico is not a poor country. Mexico's wealth is concentrated amoung a small number of people. Instead of their country providing for their people they are exporting their problems to the US. Mexico is a soverign country. We can't just go in and demand that they provide for better economic development and give their people a better chance to earn a living. We can't and shouldn't demand that they redistribute their wealth. However, we also shouldn't just provide for their people when they break the law and come to our country.
There are a lot of hard working people in Mexico with skills we need that are willing to come here to work. Let those who want to come apply and then we should match the ones we need with a job and invite them in for our mutual benefit.
This is why we have this problem. The left half of the country doesn't think we have a problem. And the right half of the country says "what is it you don't understand about the word 'illegal'". Neither answer will ever work. Some third way is required, or we really will lose a great deal of this country to "North Mexico".
Amnesty has been tried and failed and it made matters worse. I do realize the magnitude of the problem. I also realize that the longer we wait to address it, the harder it becomes.
This is going to be hard. It's going to be painful. It's going to be fought in the courts all the way to the supreme court. Opponents will do everything they can to delay it. They will claim that it's inhumane to deport people that are here illegally. All kinds of countries that treat their own citizens horribly will make bogus claims of human rights violations.
I don't think theire's a chance of the American people having the will to follow through on it without a guest worker program to provide legal immigration options. However, if we just grant amnesty we are accepting all to problems that are already bankrupting our state and federal governments.
We've let the problem go too far to just accept the mistakes we've made and start from there.
Even if we allow those here currently to apply, we can't allow people to stay in the guest worker program that cannot support themselves. We cannot allow their families to stay here if they can't support their families. It isn't just a problem of them breaking the law, they are also bankrupting us because we haven't restriceted immigration to people who are providing a benefit to our society.
Part of any meaningful immigration refore will need to be the requirement that we actually deport those that overstay visas and deport those unable to provide for themselves.
Neither those here illegally or those here on a guest worker program should be elligible for welfare or medicaid. If they need emergency medical care that they are unable to pay for and do not have insurance to cover, we should provide it, and then deport them.
Some elements must be border enforcement. A Guest worker program. And *real* assimilation for those who stay.
Immigrants that become citizens should be assimilated into our society and treated as everyone else in our society.
Guest workers should be treated with the same respect, and treated equally by employers, but they should not be treated identically to citizens by our government.
If you are a citizen we have safety nets of welfare and medicade in case you fall on hard times. Guest workers are not citizens and should not receive such benefits. There are here as guests and if they cannot provide a benefit to our society, that invitation should be revoked.
We should provide a path to citizenship for those that excel. However we cannot take on the problems of other governments that are not providing oppertunity for their own people unless it benefits us in the process.