I just found out that two of my kids’ friends are in such a case.
Their families came before 2001 and started businesses. They pay taxes, and have kids born here. they’re IN MY DAUGHTERS’ school! Great students!
They did overstay their Visas, granted... but they applied for citizenship, did all the paperwork, and are in limbo as they are used as a political football by both parties.
They had no decent life in their home country, and are very hard working people. It’s just not so simple to ‘send them back.’ They are tax payers, not welfare cheats.
Why do I have to obey the law when your friends don’t?
Oh right - cause I’m white....
Sorry, but they have to go home. They are criminals. Nice criminals probably but criminals none the less.
If this passes America is done, let alone the Republican Party.
Sorry, but the fact that the illegals you know are pleasant people is no reason to support this disastrous amnesty. They made their choices, and they’ve made a lot of money in our country. Their kids born here should have never been granted automatic citizenship. It’s time for them to go home.
About your friends:
There’s a saying, “Hard cases make bad law.”
Without some assessment of how many are like your hardworking illegal friends who are trying to become citizens, versus how many are freeloading invaders, it is very difficult to make a sane policy which is in the USA’s interest.
In my opinion, the default should be towards much tighter borders, combined with a better-run legal immigration and naturalization effort. Under such a policy, there would necessarily be many deportations, as well as a shift from family/chain immigration to merit based criteria (”Ask what you can do for your country”).
Since the primary motivation of many of our legislators appears to be securing the most votes for their party, I have little hope that this new initiative will fix anything.