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But the whole idea is (or SHOULD BE) to GET THE ILLEGALS OUT OF THE COUNTRY.

I suppose people are going to have slightly diffent goals concerning immigration. Mine is to reduce illegal immigration to the lowest level that is workable. I don't want the current illegals to gain either citizenship or green cards ahead of those who did things legally. And I think the current illegals should pay some price for having violated the law. Basically I'm open to suggestions provided we stick to those principles.

There have been several proposals for penalties on those currently here illegally that fall short of deporting them. There have been suggestions that they pay a fine, or that they get a special visa that delays for several years their option to get legal permanent residence. Earlier in this thread reluctantwarrior suggested allowing them to apply for guest worker visas, provided they go back to their home country to do so.

The bottom line for me is that to have a solution that's politically possible I think we have to have options short of deporting and barring all of today's illegals.

As far as I am concerned, anyone who comes through the front door to this country is welcome to stay and contribute. However, if you come through the back door or try to sneak through the window, you are no better than a burglar or other criminal lowlife. Getting you out of the country is the ONLY satisfactory solution. Prison first... depends on what ELSE you do.

However, being the fairminded guy I am, if you do not get caught and have to be deported, but leave VOLUNTARILY, I would allow you back in after a 5-10 year timeout. IF you stop by and check in with the Border Patrol on the way out the door and give up your biometric info. Then if you sneak back in later and get caught, you are tried, convicted and sent to a prison in your home country to serve your sentence. (I have heard that Mexican jails WILL make you a believer!) Come back again? Perhaps an automatic death sentence or something. If we have to catch and deport you in the first place, it would be somewhere between twenty years and NEVER that you could come back. And the death sentence would be waiting for you if you tried to SNEAK back in at any time.

In other words, you get treated as the vile CRIMINAL you are if you do not play by the rules as established.

And, lest you think me xenophobic or anything, my wife and stepson are immigrants from Jamaica who played by the rules to stay here, jumping through all the hoops they were supposed to. Allowing ILLEGALS to stay for any reason is a slap in the face to me and my family, and to ANY OTHER LEGAL IMMIGRANT.

You want ILLEGAL ALIENS to pay some sort of (unspecified) price. But please don't kick them out or really punish them for breaking the law just to GET here, let alone whatever other CRIMINAL activity they may engage in... So sorry, Charlie, but they gotta GO. OUT of my country. Period. You and yours will NOT be slapping me and mine like that any more.