"_Three-fourths were illegal immigrants and most were Hispanic: 59 percent were from Mexico and 28 percent from other Central American countries..."
That pretty well substantiates what most of us have been writing and consistently so for a while now, despite being called "racists" and whatnot. Looks like the stats support the by-far majority of illegal aliens are from Mexico. It's a fact, and raising that point does not make anyone guilty of a pejorative (or more of them), to state the obvious.
Another thing, rhetorically: if these guys (the one quoted in this article, who seems on average about of the same situation as many others I've read of) feel so outraged at conditions based upon a responsibility to their family/ies, why are they leaving their families (wives, children) and making illegal entrance to another country, many hundreds of thousands of miles away, and, remaining here all these years...if they're so worried about their families, why aren't they home with them.
Does not ring true, sincere, to my read. I think a lot of these people are just here. They bring "families" into the explanations but their actions certainly don't bespeak of a highly responsible relationship to "family."
The expenses for living in the U.S. are far higher than living in Mexico and if they have substantial settings enough in Mexico (and whereever else) to actually HAVE "families" (a wife and children), it seems to me that they are very likely to also already have established homes in Mexico (and whereever) and, sneaking into the U.S. and remaining here for years on end illegally certainly does not seem realistic, nor responsible, for anyone who DOES have a wife and children. I think it's often a ruse, is my point, to try to make Americans feel guilty about an organized society otherwise (immigration requirements, the fact that one is supposed to apply for permission to enter the U.S./any other country, legitimacy in general).
I place the blame squarely at the feet of the US government, past and esp. present with President Bush's lax attitude towards this isue.
IMO, it's hard for many Americans to appreciate how poor much of Mexico is; by comparison the economic prospects of a illegal worker in the US sending money home can look pretty attractive - and not only can such workers do this, large numbers in fact actually actually do so.
As a group Mexicans living and working illegally in the US not only manage to pay their living expenses but also manage to send around 15% of their total earnings back to Mexico, the Pew Trust study estimates this flow at around $10,000,000,000 a year - a pretty vivid demonstration that such work is a common and realistic way to support family members remaining in Mexico.
Given that this is a contribution to the Mexican economy at least as large as total earnings from tourism, such numbers suggest that not only individual Mexican families but the Mexican economy as a whole derives a significant portion of its activity from the savings of Mexicans working illegally in the US.
To stop illegal immigration of such workers by penalizing the workers rather than their employers you not only have to make their lives unpleasant, you have to make it more unpleasant than at home - which if home is Mexican poverty and unemployment is pretty tough to do.
So IMO if you wan to slow illegal immigration for economic gain you have to penalize someone who actully has someting something to lose... that is, their employers.