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Two things. One, the "liberals" do not favor unlimited immigration. As for the undocumented here, it doesn't seem like deporting them all is viable. The solution is to
- deport any felons
- allow a six month period for any illegal to register and receive some sort of resident status.
- fine those who register and after six months anyone who didn't register gets automatically deported.
- put the people who were here illegally at the back of the line for citizenship, except for those who have served in the military or came here as children. They can get an expedited process.
- slam the door shut. From that point on, you come here illegally, you get no preferential treatment.
- Don't allow non-citizens to be eligible for any social welfare programs.
Two, those who want to make illegal immigrants the boogeyman for all problems need to head over to the reality pool and plunge in. The problems the two anti-immigrant people here have listed are so overblown as to be comical. They are not responsible to some incredibly large degree for tax increases, blight, burden on the educational system, crime, American unemployment, revenue shortfalls, a drag on the economy, burden on social services, burden on health care - did I miss anything? Yes, they contribute, but you don't have to be Isaac Newton to realize 3% of the population can't have the kind of impact the alarmists would like to put on them.
This is my last word on the topic on this thread. We need immigration reform, and it has to be serious reform and it has to be intelligent reform. It cannot be based on the perception that solving the problem of existing immigrants solves all America's problems. On the contrary, the extreme solutions proposed by some would ultimately hurt America. The extremists on either side must be left out of the discussion so that the saner voices can prevail.
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