This is why I'm so against illegal immigration

[Feralpeg]

Great points from VickiVM. Well put.



Actually ... in reality, the opposite argument is probably true. Have you seen the Friday afternoon lines at Western Unions? Many of them illegally immigrate to earn money primarily to send to family back home. The Mexican economy is in the toilet and will in all likelihood remain in the toilet for my entire lifetime (it takes turbopowered brains and educations and access to capital markets and liquidity to run an economy ... as Greenspan, Bernacke. A reasonable economy is not created via protest), also, their government is notoriously corrupt and prone to invalidating elections. Protesting in Mexico is like protesting against ice in a freezer.
Also, regarding the US companies who set up shop in Mexico - there's an incredible international relations story there. Mexico welcomes them with open arms. Go google "maquiladoras".

My sense on illegal immigration - until there is a reasonable way for undereducated and/or disadvantaged people to immigrate legally and take the crap jobs (a guest worker program), I am hardly going to hold it against the 18-year-old Mexican girl in a mud hut who makes a run for the border in search of a better life.

I speak from two points of view here. One, from the point of view of a good friend, who just paid $4K to immigration attorneys in his ongoing effort to earn legal US citizenship. He's healthy, white, college-educated in a desirable field, and English is his native tongue. He is having an impossibly hard time clearing immigration hurdles. I don't know what planet people are on when they begrudge an illiterate Mexican with a sixth-grade education his run over the border, because all of us (including him) know that guy has no chance at legal immigration.

Second, my own perspective, because the luckiest thing that ever happened to me was to be born to healthy privileged people in the American northeast. My shot at a life that means anything was greatly improved by the luck of my birth, which I did nothing to deserve. I didn't earn this country but I'm proud as hell to live in it, and I am in favor of doing what it takes to keep it safe - but I'm totally unconvinced that a total border shutdown and xenophobia is the right approach. Keep in mind, I wake up every morning and look out the window, and what do I see? "A mighty woman with a torch, whose flame is the imprisoned lightning, and her name Mother of Exiles." Then I go home to my mother's and look at the sign my stepfather hung with some humor over the stove, just before he died: "No Irish Need Apply."

We would do well to remember our history

Yes, I feel very sorry for the way people have to live in Mexico. I feel sorry for the way people live in many countries. I am thankful every day that I was lucky enough to live in what I consider the greatest nation on earth. Does that mean I want all of these poor down-trodden folks here? No. We can't solve the ills of the entire world.

I live in an area where the number of Hispanic people rose 48 percent over the past two years. This was already an area with a large poor Hispanic population. If this trend continues, the area will begin to decline. I'm not ready to see that happen. Maybe you are lucky enough to live in an area that has not yet begun to feel the influence. You might sing a different tune when it starts affecting you directly.

I am not a hard-hearted person. I wish there was something we could do for these people, but I can't think of a solution. If we give them amnesty and try to help them, other groups will cry foul.

Maybe we could invade Mexico and oust the current government and turn it around for the people. We could do it on the pretext of humanitarianism. Maybe we could claim they have weapons of mass destruction. Gosh, it's worked so well in Iraq. Or, maybe we should say to all those folk living in Iraq who are poor and hate their government that they can move over here and become American citizens. Gee, we won't even make them learn to speak English.

I'm done with this discussion. You either see it one way or the other. Sad situation.

 

[caitycaity]

So what I hear you saying is that if they paid taxes then you would tolerate them or have a different perception of them?

And I'm not trying to be what is the word - snarky (really, I'm just responding to what I'm reading), but there are plenty of red-blooded True Americans that 'leech' off the system. "My Name Is Earl" wouldn't be so damn funny if it weren't so true!

two wrongs don't make a right.

my thoughts on this whole subject can be summed up very simply. regardless of whether or not their reasons are good, illegal immigrants are breaking the law. i cannot understand how americans would support people continuing to break the law. if you don't like the law, or think it is unfair, work to change it, don't just justify other people's illegal actions because the law is unfair.

personally, i think we need to look out for number 1 first. i am sorry that many mexicans face extreme poverty, but i do not see that as a problem the united states is obligated to address.

 

[caitycaity]

Maybe we could invade Mexico and oust the current government and turn it around for the people. We could do it on the pretext of humanitarianism. Maybe we could claim they have weapons of mass destruction. Gosh, it's worked so well in Iraq. Or, maybe we should say to all those folk living in Iraq who are poor and hate their government that they can move over here and become American citizens. Gee, we won't even make them learn to speak English.

 

[CheshireVal]

So what I hear you saying is that if they paid taxes then you would tolerate them or have a different perception of them?

And I'm not trying to be what is the word - snarky (really, I'm just responding to what I'm reading), but there are plenty of red-blooded True Americans that 'leech' off the system. "My Name Is Earl" wouldn't be so damn funny if it weren't so true!

Yes, if they were here legally, they'd be paying taxes and therefore I'd have no problems with them at all. I have absolutely no problem with legal immigrants.

The Georgia legislature actually tried to pass an illegal immigrant bill that included a provision in which anyone trying to wire money out of the country would have to prove that they are here legally or they'd be charged a 5% fee. I thought it was great-- it was a way to make the illegals pay "taxes," and the government could get back some of the money it's losing on all these people.

However, it got thrown out because it would be too "unfair." Waaaah. Give me a break!

 

[Miss Jasmine]

And do you really buy the fact that Americans won't do the "crap jobs"? That doesn't square with basic economic reality. Look at coal mining - a crap job if there ever was one, and downright dangerous to boot. But Americans do it, because it pays a heck of a lot better than picking tomatoes.

One word...unions. That's why miners get paid what they do, otherwise it wouldn't be this way.

 

[disneyaggie]

As a Christian, I have struggled with wanting to help others, but at the same time, we can't even take care of ourselves! I don't mind helping others, but when I feel like I am being taken advantage of, my kindness goes out the window!

There are so many senior citizens and impoverished Americans who need assistance. But while they can not get the appropriate assistance, we have others who have never paid a dime in taxes, come over here and take advantage of us all. It is frightening to see that we are helping everyone else in the world, but we conveniently can not find enough money to help those who have put years of taxes into the system.

 

[cardaway]

Americans wouldn't take the crap jobs... nobody can say that until we actually give them the chance.

 

[disneyaggie]

Oh, you will love this!

I sent scathing, yet factual, letters to LULAC "leaders" letting them know we as Americans do not appreciate the disrespect of the Mexicans who march with the Mexican flag, holding signs saying, "Viva Mexico". I asked these so-called "leaders", "So where are the American flags with the signs that read, "Thank you America. Thank you for all of our opportunities".

Well, Jesse Diaz, President of LULAC, sent me a very crude response (with lots of grammatical errors, I will add). I have sent his response to the local media to let them see what he sent, which a total embarassment to LULAC. What an idiot!