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That they are here the way they are here: there is in fact NOTHING they can lawfully do ... except possibly leave as quickly as they can.

Then this is magic.

In your description, this is more serious than murder (since the statement you made is not true of murderers, who can enter contracts to appear on television shows). In mine, it's a traffic ticket, a citation. But I'd put it another way, too. Why, knowing as I do that 819,000 Americans are unemployed who might get minimum wage jobs, do I look at an unemployment rate of 4.5 percent and say that it would be bad FOR AMERICA to send the 11-12 million "illegals" back? Perhaps because I know that 12 million is a much larger number than 819,000. It really is. And it doesn't matter if that 819,000 does two jobs: they still won't replace the ones you kick out.

Which brings me to my final point. In your description, I would suggest that America doesn't have an illegal alien problem. It has a citizenship problem. How can we assimilate and regularize these people to remove any remaining barriers to their profitable employment? (I know, that's not an easy question. But it's worth thinking about, and we have done it in bigger percentage terms before.)

This country is pretty empty. I've driven across it enough to know just how empty some parts are. We have room.

Arnold, we have lost control of our borders and immigration. We have allowed the poor and uneducated from Mexico and Central to self-select themselves to enter this country. We are not selecting the immigrants we need to compete in the global economy. Couple that with a legal immigration policy that allows six times more immigrants to enter annually than was the case before 1965 and you have a major problem.

It is not a matter of having enough space to accommodate this burgeoing population, but rather, the infrastructure to support them. We are adding 1.5 to 2 million immigrants [legal and illegal] annually. They consume services and resources. Our economy will not always be operating with an unemployment rate of less than 5 percent. We have entitlement systems that are going down the tubes within a decade without major reform. There are 50 million people on Medicaid today, many of them illegals. Our schools, hosptials, prisons, and social welfare systems are being stretched to the limit. We can't permit this invasion to continue.

Arnold, here are some official US census population figures for you to chew on:

1900--76 million

1920--106 million

1940--132 million

1950--151 million

1960--179 million

1970--203 million

1980--226 million

1990--249 million

2000--281 million

Present--300 million

2015 [Projection]--322 million

2020 [Projection]--336 million

2030 [Projection]--364 million

During the 56 year period 1950 to 2006, we doubled the population of the US, i.e., added 150 million. We will add another 64 million in less than 25 years. And the numbers may be larger than that since illegals don't comply with the census requirements.

The example of the traffic citation you gave is spurious because of what an officer of the law may "judge" for himself: it doesn't present the possibility of one going to where there is an emergency but rather presents the possibility of someone engaged in extraordinary actions during an emergency.

If there were someone bleeding in the passenger seat––or a pregnant woman––an officer could (and indeed will) provide escort since the literal obligation to act in protection of a life supersedes the obligation to enforce an inferior law.

This is why we treat people entering our country illegally because they are fleeing persecution or worse differently than those who enter illegally for any other reason.

A comparable straw-man argument is made by the Pro-Abortion folks who speak of times when the physical life of the mother is endangered. I say this is a straw-man argument precisely because even IF ALL abortions were illegal, there would still be a circumstance under our Common Laws where an abortion could occur without legal ramifications: the Common Law right to "self defense" or the obligation to come to the aid of another whose life is endangered supersedes other considerations.

But Pro-Abortion folks improperly act as if this "life of the mother" special case is their knockout punch when in fact it is no such thing.

While I cited shop lifting or reckless endangerment as examples of laws which persons may feel they shouldn't obey: the truth is that illegal immigrants put themselves in a position similar to that of a squatter.

A squatter is one who illegally assumes residence in an abandoned or long disused structure. There is even a form of squatting where one stops paying lawful rent and then refuses to leave.

The difference between an ordinary squatter and what might be termed an 'illegal squatter' is that the latter takes up residence in a structure that is neither abandoned nor legally in long disuse.

Consider if your family owned a beach house that you visited every so often. One day a person acquires entrance to this home and takes up 'residence' as a squatter. Your home is neither abandoned nor legally disused so these are outside of the normal definition of being a squatter.

Now, suppose that these invaders on your property actually were otherwise respectful of it and did nothing worse than live there and subject to to ordinary wear and tear––a cost that you'll ultimately have to bear. In such an extraordinary case––where they do not tear the place to bits or leave it a foul mess where the "brown goo" in the bucket in the living room scampers when your insurance adjuster attempts to take a picture of it for evidence (something I've actually seen ... roaches everywhere)––when you arrive for your annual vacation what will you think about their presence?

Especially if the local government has an asinine law like New York City that accords squatters "rights" to be where they are if they've been there long enough?

True, you will eventually be able to prove that the structure was neither abandoned nor did these 'tenants' ever have a legal contract with you so that they could be in residence; however, that doesn't negate the fact that you'll not only bear the final cost of their presence but that you will also bear the legal liability for same (at least till they are lawfully removed).

Illegal Immigrants are like these pseudo-squatters. They operate on the basis that their needs or wants supersede the rights and desires of those who are citizens or else lawfully here. They are stealing their residency.

Or are you now going to argue that just because there is a lot of empty land out there that the United States of America is abandoned or legally disused?

Are Illegal Aliens really acting in contempt of our laws so that they can settle in these vast, open spaces? If so, then what of the vast, open spaces of Mexico?

Such an argument is spurious.

Likewise, your assessment that there is an economic need for these people to be here is spurious. It is so precisely because they disallow it by the terms of their entry: we are not talking folks who came here legally and then overstayed (which would be akin to a normal form of squatting where one has an agreement to pay rent that has ended even though residency continues).

If there is an economic need that requires immigration, then it is our privilege to set the terms for that immigration and not the privilege of those who impose themselves on us.

You are really arguing for nothing less than a national form of assigning "squatters rights" to people who are invading our homeland––which is neither abandoned nor disused.

Maybe someday you'll find that allowing people who hold the laws that should govern them in contempt the leeway to set the terms of any debate about them and their illegal behavior is a bad idea.

Or else why not be consistent and demand for the cause of social justice––"justice" rendered to groups or legal entities––that true justice rendered to Persons be finally and fully done away with?

P.S. Just for clarification, the "demographic group" of which I've spoken is Illegal Immigrants irrespective of their race or place of origin.