As long as the border is open, and many more illegals come across every day there is no way the illegal acts can be a moot point. Any reward you give the illegals already here, encourages many more to come. IF the border were secured, and the flood of illegals were stopped or slowed to a small trickle, then some concessions to the illegals here might be possible. It will seal the fate of this country once and for all if we don't seal the border and we do give any concessions to illegals here now. Most people who live near the border see this very clearly, and those that don't can't grasp the root problem.
This is a crisis that has reached the breaking point, the crisis is the ongoing flood. It is hard for those that don't live near the border to grasp that, but that is the crisis and that must be solved before anything else. If the flood is not stopped, nothing else will work so there is no point even debating the rest of the issue until the flood is stopped. Many of the things proposed, like guest worker or some sort of path to citizenship will make the border problems explode if they are implemented without first bringing the flood under control.
Bush's Guest Worker Program, is going to fall flat on it's face.
I call it a "Guess Worker" program, since it's full of "guesses" to ponder, not the least of which is "Guess when they will go back home"? (never)
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In the meantime, the borders should be locked down tight so that we can get a handle on things.
' This is a crisis that has reached the breaking point, the crisis is the ongoing flood. It is hard for those that don't live near the border to grasp that, "
While the border states bear the financial and social brunt of illegal immigration, I would challenge anyone in the contiguous 48 to find a roofing, restaurant, landscaping, concrete ,construction, meat packing plant or hotel company that does not employ a majority of Mexican workers.
The Washington politicians apparently don't get out much and they think this phenomenon is confined to 4 states-CA, AZ, NM and TX.
The numbers of illegal immigrants quoted have to be off by millions.
I grew up listening to the immigration hardship stories and love of this country from my grandparents.
I have tremendous respect for those that leave their country of origin and come here legally to start a new life.
And as much as I have empathy for those that are trying to better their lives and feed their families- why can't they go the route of my grandparents and enter legally ?
Anyone ??