How about doing border security first? That is hardly a position held only by the boxcar/landmine crowd (as you like to refer to us) - Krauthammer agrees, and he's for allowing the illegals already here to stay.
Any legislation dealing with illegals already here, from forced deportation to amnesty to a guest worker program, will fail as long as illegals can continue to come across the border by the millions.
That is the problem with Bush's current stance - sending a few thousand NG troops to the border for part time non-enforcement duty does little to improve border security. But ever since Bush started talking seriously about a guest worker program, illegal crossings have jumped. That right there is a solid indication that we need to have security in place before changing any existing laws.
Why not both? Your case was not convincing.
I don't mean to bust your bubble, but i keep hearing this statement made continuously and it is disingenuous.
The border crossings did spike, but they spiked because of the use of the "Amnesty word" which did not come from Bush. it came from the detractors of the "guest worker program and from nowhere else.
Once the press picked up on it, and printed that word in virtually every story, now numbered in the thousands for the past two years, it is no wonder that people in Mexico have erroneously come to the conclusion that amnesty will be enacted shortly and they better get moving or they will lose the opportunity.
But we both know that just ain't so, don't we?