Illegals have always been given a defacto legal status. If that can make it past the capture zone, arrive at their final destination, get a job, keep their nose clean, and stay in the shadows, they will be allowed to stay. If there are women and children involved, they will be entitled to certain benefits.
If they contribute to society, society will accept or tolerate them.
A surprisingly large number of them go on to become citizens.
There can be an exception to the defacto legal status. During recessions, they are blamed for the recession and taking jobs. Many will call for their deportation.
Once the recession has ended, the economy starts cookin', and workers are needed, all is forgiven, and everyone says "we need more mexicans".
What part of defacto legal status don't you understand?
What part of illegal don't you understand?
The American people have never granted legal status, "defacto" or otherwise to illegal immigration as our democratically enacted immigration laws for the past few decades attest. It is our elected representatives who, despite putting the laws on the books, have refused to demand that our Presidents enforce the laws.
George Bush has, however, reached a new height in his absolute refusal to perform his constitutional duty in enforcing our laws and in his willingness to display his total contempt for the American work ethic and for our rights to self-government.
Unless you are willing to give up on our system of republican self-government we must hold our Presidents accountable to enforcing the policies that our duly elected representatives have enacted in response to our will. No amount of dereliction of their constitutional duty on the part of our elected officials justifies the acceptance of (or abdication to) arbitrary government -- or what our founders called a "tryanny." What such dereliction of duty calls for is a renewed effort by the people to reassert their legislative authority and their rights to have this authority respected by our President. This is exactly what is happening in this debate. The American people are pressuring their representatives to uphold their obligations to our republican system of government won for us over 200 years ago and demanding that our laws be enforced.
Benjamin Franklin warned us when the constitution was being debated that it would be up to the people to preserve a "republican" form of government. The founders understood that the right of the people to govern themselves would always be under attack from those who wanted to promote their own private and commercial interests over the common good. This issue of illegal immigration is a perfect example of the substitution of the financial interests of the political and commercial elites for the will of the people. The ultimate question is whether "we the people" value our liberty and right to self-government enough to demand that our President act in ways consistent with our democratically enacted laws and "republican" principles.
There is no such thing.
Do you know the difference between de facto and de jure?
You probably should not be throwing meaningless and/or contradictory terms on this forum of all places. It probably works at your reagular hangout at DU, but not here.
And what part of "illegal alien" don't you understand?
Attempting to rename an "illegal alien" a "defacto legal" ain't gonna fly, Ben.
By all means keep on trying, though. You might actually convince somebody.
But I doubt it.