Real slowly now.
HOW COULD YOU POSSIBLY KNOW?
When faced with the worst immigration problem to date in American History, he opted for "amnesty" as you all call it.
How is that different that Bush, being faced with the greatest immigration porblem in American history, seeking an "amnesty".
(I'm only using that word because you seem to understand it)
Or HOW COULD YOU POSSIBLY KNOW that Reagan would be as irresponsible as Bush in pushing amnesties for illegal aliens at a time when our country is at war with an enemy that has as its primary advantage the ability to infiltrate a country it seeks to attack. My opinion is that Reagan is not the jellyfish of a leader that GW is currently showing himself to be. You have a different opinion. The fact is we are both speculating on what Reagan would have done in today's political environment. WHO KNOWS FOR SURE?
Now, do YOU think that all this fuss, all this angst, all this fear ... is about the 3 million illegals, or the 18 million legals? Is this a real concern about illegal immigrants ... Saudis, Irish, Russian, Somali, Chinese, Haitian, Mexican ... well, there's not much chat on FR about all the nervous Irish hanging in Boston pubs or Russian thugs strutting around Coney Island.
It's about Mexican encroachment. The "swarm" can't be the 3 million illegal Mexicans ... they are fungible in the bigger group. The "swarm" has to be the 21 million total.
That's always been my visceral objection to these threads. Illegal immigration IS a vital security issue in the U.S. But even if all 3 million illegal interlopers are caught and deported, that's 16% of the total immigration population. Will these people be sanguine then?
That's a compelling question. If the issue is too many immigrant Mexicans in the Southwest, as opposed to too many illegally resident Mexicans, I would propose that there is a disturbing undercurrent in that issue.
My position is clear: there can NEVER be enough Americans of hope, industry, faith and family within our borders. There are never too many Americans of Mexican heritage, never too many good-faith and motivated Americans of Cuban heritage, never too many Americans of Somali or German or Kenyan or Korean or Hmong or Australian heritage. We need to get hold of the process - but our ship of freedom is open for business.