It bugs me that this debate is beginning to morph “Immigrants” and “Illegal Aliens” as identical concepts: they ain’t.
If you went thru border control and did the paperwork and made the sacrifices, then you are an Immigrant.
If you sneaked across and cheated your way in, you are an Illegal Alien.
Two different animals.
I am proud to be an Immigrant to New Zealand. It took bloody hard work to get here. I had to earn the right. And now I am a Citizen. These are *achievements* that took *effort* and *commitment*, and I had to jump thru reasonable hoops to get here, and make sacrifices, and go thru processes that were, at times, inconvenient. But all in all, this was worth doing because it is something that I wanted, for my family and for me.
An Illegal Alien sneaks his way in, and cheats, stealing from the rest of us who have jumped thru the hoops, and from those who were born here and whose citizenship is theirs as a birthright.
So it really brasses me off when these two concepts become blended. I earned my right to be a Citizen, and earlier to become an Immigrant, and how *dare* somebody jump the queue and seize by cheating what I had to earn!
My two-cents worth anyrate.
*DieHard*
Your two cents worth is worth far more than you may think.