[stevie_d_64]

Ok...

This new plan doesn’t look like its going to work...

Anyone got a plan “B”???

[Puppage]

Illegal immigrants refrain: 'Leaving America is not an option'

Well, why WOULD they? They are rewarded for breaking the law now. What makes people think they'll abide by more laws in the future?

[SittinYonder]

"I don't really understand that much about the bill, but I'd have to be crazy to go back to Mexico to apply for visa now that I am already in the US," he says. "They wouldn't give me a visa there."

Don't worry Mr. Gimenez ... you don't have to go.

[P-40]

Once any new law is passed the fines will go away, the requirement to leave the country and come back will go away, the requirement to learn English will go away, and so forth. It will be 1986 all over again.

[umgud]

He can stay as long as he wants with the Z Visa. He would only have to return home to apply for the path to citizenship.

[Fitzcarraldo]

M E X I C O reform,
not immigration reform!

[oh8eleven]

As Rush has commented - these people not only act like they’re entitled, they make it look as if we’re the ones doing something wrong/criminal.

[Schatze]

"They wouldn't give me a visa there."

Of course they would. They'll also give you maps and all kinds of literature about how to abuse America's entitlement programs, too, Francisco. No worries.

[socialismisinsidious]

"I don't really understand that much about the bill, but I'd have to be crazy to go back to Mexico to apply for visa now that I am already in the US,"

"I would love to go back and live in Mexico but I can only make money here," Gimenez said.

"For me the important thing about the legislation is if I can visit my country or bring my family here legally without the danger of them having to try and cross the border."

Gimenez' employer, Jose Luis Rojas, an illegal immigrant who acquired permanent residency and citizenship after Ronald Reagan's 1986 amnesty, is confident that a solution is only a matter of time. "I came to America as an illegal worker and now I'm a citizen," Rojas said. "That's why I say to them just be patient."

"I'm not worried about immigration raids," the 46-year-old said.

"And anyway, a Mexican farmer who comes here on a 10-month permit is going to stay here permanently anyway."

[rbosque]

They wouldn’t be looking over their shoulders if they had done things right to begin with. They knew it was illegal to come here without permission. They shouldn’t be rewarded for breaking the law.

[kcvl]

Gimenez, who paid 3,000 dollars to a smuggling gang to help get him across the border in Arizona in 2003, sends back 400 dollars a month to his wife and two children in Mexico.

His salary of just over 1,400 dollars a month is roughly 10 times what he would earn for the same job in Mexico.

"I would love to go back and live in Mexico but I can only make money here," Gimenez said.

"For me the important thing about the legislation is if I can visit my country or bring my family here legally without the danger of them having to try and cross the border."

[kcvl]

Gimenez echoed: "a Mexican farmer who comes here on a 10-month permit is going to stay here permanently anyway."

In other words, screw your laws!

[AD from SpringBay]

We should fly them back first class to the capital city of their nation of origin and deduct the costs from that nation’s yearly ‘foreign aid’. If we did that, I can guarantee it would be Mexico building the fence.

[beethovenfan]

I think it’s definitely an option.

[MrB]

Let’s see...

Say I rob a bank, then get caught, and say “going to jail is not an option”.

Or, I get pulled over for speeding, and say “paying this fine is not an option”...

[montag813]

Don’t worry, Senor Gimenez, we will never enforce the $5,000 fee or require you to go back to Mexico.

[alloysteel]

Leaving the US is an option - if all the other options are much more harsh.

Mexico, by its geographical location (temperate to subtropical to tropical climate, high desert to coastal Mediterranean localities, jungle to desert landforms) has a sufficiently wide diversity to appeal to virtually everybody, and has natural resources to match. So why are the Mexicans living a Third-World existence?

A history of graft and corruption in politics; an economic system that tends to form into two classes, the very poor and disenfranchised, who have little access to property ownership, and the very wealthy, who have no interest in changing the status quo; and tolerance for a degree of lawlessness that could only be compared to the days of the Wild West in the 19th Century. Plus an internal racism and xenophobia that is only matched in the Middle East or Africa.

I see no other course of action, than to invade Mexico, establish occupational rule, and impose an entirely new social order. Then, as each Mexican province achieves various benchmarks (literacy in English, workable legal system compatible with US constitutional law, and decent infrastructure development), allow the citizens of that province to petition to become an additional state in the United States.

Wouldn’t have to leave the US - the US goes to Mexico.

[Publius6961]

Illegal immigrants refrain: 'Leaving America is not an option'

Can't argue with that!
Mexico is in America.
Back you go.

Leaving the U.S.?
A certainty, it's just a matter of time. The "leadership" may be susceptible to pressure, but 100 million American legal citizens and residents are not.

See ya, Pedro...

To all Mexican legal residents: welcome. Join us?

[Not_Who_U_Think]

“For Pete’s sake, would you please just accept my gift of citizenship?”

- T. Kennedy

[Not_Who_U_Think]

Or, another -

“Gang members reluctant to accept amnesty...”