We need to get rid of all the illegals. They cost us more than the war in Iraq, and kill over twice as many Americans yearly than the number of U.S. soldiers killed in Iraq.

There’s only one surefire way to get rid of them. Explained here:

http://adiosillegals.blogspot.com/

Maybe, just maybe, if Texas, New Mexico, California and Florida (am I missing some other state?) had not been taken over by force from the Mexicans and Spaniards by the United States of America the US immigration controversy wouldn’t be an issue now. On top of that many illegal aliens pay their income tax which, by the way and as far as I know, they never try get a refund out of it for fear of being deported.

Some American Indians are commenting on the fact that illegal aliens are coming here to work, and not just work but work in the jobs nobody wants, not to kill or take over their land like it happened to their ancestors when the English came here with no social security, green card, visa or any other permit, just their brute force. Are you able to see the difference between the two kinds of illegal immigrants??????? I hope you do.

We have never needed illegal immigrants and never will. This nation, the United States of America, is a nation of LAW. Illegals are a liability not an asset. They cost American tax payers way more than they are worth. They are in our government run and paid for schools. Meaning tax payer funded schools. They get free medical care, free for them but not American tax payers. Someone has to pay for all they get for free. The tax payers pay for it. Since they do not pay taxes they get it for free. They are rewarded for breaking our laws, or to make your feel better the laws of the United States of America. Illegal aliens are a huge burden to all tax paying American citizens. An unwelcomed and un-necessary financial burden!

Whomever wrote “This is a labor issue”, right on.

Gotta love the idiots who want to define what an “AMERICAN” is..  and go on about “MY COUNTRY”, etc., as if they owned it and only English has ever been spoken here.  Christ.  Get some history books and read about Texas. California. New Mexico. HAWAII for crying out loud.  Alaska. And the 4 million AMERICANS from PUERTO RICO.  Next time you hear someone not speaking “English” (in quotes because true English is from England), think twice before your going ‘oh, nope, thats’ not American!’.

Let’s kill a 3 birds with one taco. Make all the deadbeats on welfare work at the jobs illegals now do and use the money the gov. saves to help develop more opportunities in Mexico and Central America. Of course we’ll have to have some kind of legal program for Mexicans to pick our crops because there’s no way farmer Jones is going to be able to trust some yankee ex welfarista to pick fast enough before the crops rot on the tree.

Your website says that;
“At a local QFC, Red Delicious apples go for about 99 cents a pound. Of that, only about 7 cents represents the cost of labor, said Tom Schotzko, a recently retired extension economist at Washington State University. The rest represents the grower’s other expenses, warehousing and shipping fees, and the retailer’s markup.”
But what it doesn’t say is how much more it would cost to fill those fields with workers who refuse slave 7 cent wages, or any of the other slave labor costs getting it to consumer. What are the steps in making apple pie from those apples? preparing it, (food industry factories) packaging it, (package factories) labeling it,(lable factories) (after delivering it with “legal” people) heating it, (kitchen staff)(and after serving it with “legal” people) bussing the dish it came in, cleaning the dish it came in, at night the cleaning crew arrives to clean the restaurant it was served in, and the grease trap crew works the drains it stuffed up.
Go figure all of these costs and tell us how much more a pie will cost us, let alone everything else we touch.

this is not spam.  These are facts I have researched.

More than 7 million illegal immigrants are working in America but only about 3.4% are agriculture workers.  Here is my reference:

http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/localnews/200326 5139_imprices19.html

Most of the illegals are not here to pick the crops.  As pointed out in the article below there are fruits and vegetables rotting on the trees and in the fields because not enough workers can be found.  So what are the 7 million illegal immigrants doing in America then?

http://www.cfbf.com/agalert/AgAlertStory.cfm?ID=668& ck=192FC044E74DFFEA144F9AC5DC9F3395

About 30% of the illegal aliens are on welfare.  See reference here:

http://www.theamericanresistance.com/articles/art2004j an04.html

http://www.cis.org/articles/2004/fiscalexec.html

Contractors are telling me that illegals are being used to build houses and do all kinds of work skilled Union American Citizens used to do.  The fact that there are crops rotting in the fields, and millions of illegals in the United States proves that they are not here to pick crops.  We only need about 300,000 people to pick crops.  The rest of them are here to take away other jobs or to go on welfare or to cause trouble in gangs.

More than 7 million illegal immigrants are working in America but only about 3.4% are agriculture workers.  Here is my reference:

http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/localnews/200326 5139_imprices19.html

Most of the illegals are not here to pick the crops.  As pointed out in the article below there are fruits and vegetables rotting on the trees and in the fields because not enough workers can be found.  So what are the 7 million illegal immigrants doing in America then?

http://www.cfbf.com/agalert/AgAlertStory.cfm?ID=668& ck=192FC044E74DFFEA144F9AC5DC9F3395

About 30% of the illegal aliens are on welfare.  See reference here:

http://www.theamericanresistance.com/articles/art2004j an04.html

http://www.cis.org/articles/2004/fiscalexec.html

Contractors are telling me that illegals are being used to build houses and do all kinds of work skilled Union American Citizens used to do.  The fact that there are crops rotting in the fields, and millions of illegals in the United States proves that they are not here to pick crops.  We only need about 300,000 people to pick crops.  The rest of them are here to take away other jobs or to go on welfare or to cause trouble in gangs.

To 57657:

Do not count of Lou Dobbs to inform you about Mexico’s history.  He has made himself into a millionaire through his new role as hate mongerer against Hispanics.  Read Mexico’s history for yourself and you would not blame the average Mexican people for the problems of their country.  Moreover, you are misinformed about the Clovis Point.  There has been no conclusion made about who made the Clovis Points.  The people that the Europeans found on our shores when they discovered America were not their fellow Europeans.  And if you want to go back that far anyways, why not go back to humanity’s origin in Africa?

You people have got to be kidding! Take a look at why the immigrants leave Mexico, a GOOD look and you will see what this country will look like in 50 years No middle class we could not go about it any better than we are doing. Watch Lou Dobbs, read their (Mexico’s) history and our’s. You must all be stuck in Left wing Liberal Limbo. And for your imformation, there was a spearpoint found that greatly predates any (native American) artifact found in this country, called Clovis spearpoint found in Carson Va. which matched those from Europe, So that also strongly suggest that Europeans were here first. You people really need to read up!

To #6041

Through the Monroe Doctrine and its implementation, the US has supported regimes south of our border that, in effect, held the poor under slave conditions.  As just one example, look at the history of Guatemala and the US role in maintaining a horrible condition of life for the poor, especially the Mayan people.  And, unbelievably, the US is still at it.  Why the demonization of every
leftist politician or leader in Latin America whose first priority is to redress the horrible inequality of land ownership, opportunities, health, etc.  And why is the US resuming military training of the Latin Americn military?  Against whom?
If we want to control other countries in our hemisphere then we are responsible for the consequences.  Moreover, outsourcing and companies moving off shore have done more harm to the American worker than the immigrants.  They are made the scapegoat and some attack them for reasons other than “protecting American workers.” Where were these protectors when US firms were moving jobs overseas?

#40369:

You are right that the US should be far more concerned about terrorists in our midst than with people who will risk their lives for their loved ones.  I believe that “national security” has been used as a cover for pure racism and hostility towards Latinos.  Now all types of people with their own agenda can come out and feel free to act out on their prejudices.  The prejudice against Mexicans is an age old one.
I know you are not a heartless person but you should know what the Guatemalan people have suffered thanks to the United States.  They should not be trapped in the hell that their country still is and Mexico is their only way out.

I think they are all making $90,000 now base plus bonus and commission.

THIS IS IN RESPONSE TO COMMENT #40248

THAT IS VERY SAD TO HEAR BUT I DID NOT SAY SEAL THE BORDER I SAID SECURE THE BORDER FOR WHATEVER REASON THE GOVERNMENT FEELS THE NEED TO TRY AND DO THIS I ONLY SUGGESTED THE GUATEMALAN BORDER BECAUSE IT WAS SMALLER NOT TO BE MEAN OR DISRESPECTFUL TO ANYONE I PERSONALLY FEEL THAT IF PEOPLE COME TO THE UNITED STATES TO WORK TO HELP THEIR FAMILIES TO BETTER THEMSELVES ETC. WE SHOULD JUST LET THEM BE IT WOULD BE DIFFERENT IF THEY CAME HERE TO KILL PEOPLE OR DO VERY BAD THINGS THEN DO WHATEVER IT TAKES TO GET THOSE PEOPLE OUT OF HERE
I BELIEVE THERE IS GOOD AND BAD IN ALL PEOPLE IT DOESN’T MATTER WHERE YOU COME FROM WHAT COLOR YOUR SKIN IS OR WHAT RELIGION YOU ARE AND I FEEL IF PEOPLE ARE JUST LIVING THEIR LIFE LEAVE THEM ALONE
SOMEWHERE ALONG THE WAY THE GOVERNMENT HAS STARTED WORRYING MORE ABOUT THE ILLEGAL ALIENS WHO ARE HERE WORKING TO HELP THEIR FAMILIES THAN THE TERRORISTS WHO COME HERE TO DESTROY OUR COUNTRY
I CAN’T SAY FOR SURE IF THIS IS TRUE BECAUSE A FRIEND TOLD ME ABOUT IT SHE SAID SHE HEARD A MAN PURCHASED AN AIRLINE TICKET USING THE NAME OSAMA BIN LADEN AND BOARDED A PLANE IN INDIANAPOLIS AND FLEW TO HIS DESTINATION WITHOUT INCIDENT
IF THIS IS TRUE THAT IS VERY SAD BECAUSE I DON’T THINK THERE IS ANYONE HERE THAT DOESN’T KNOW THAT NAME AND IF THIS IS TRUE MAYBE THE GOVERNMENT SHOULDN’T BE WORRYING SO MUCH ABOUT SPENDING MILLIONS OF DOLLARS TRYING TO BUILD A FENCE AT THE BORDER AND HARASSING THE ILLEGAL WORKERS AND FOCUS THEIR TIME ENERGY AND MONEY ON MAKING OUR COUNTRY SAFER FROM TERRORISTS
ALSO:
I AM SO TIRED OF HEARING SO CALLED AMERICANS TALKING ABOUT HOW THE HISPANICS ARE TAKING ALL THE JOBS AND COSTING THE US SO MUCH MONEY THAT’S A BUNCH OF CRAP!!! THERE’S JOBS OUT THERE IF YOU REALLY WANT ONE IT MAY NOT PAY THE BEST OR BE THE KIND OF WORK YOU LIKE TO DO BUT IF YOU WANT TO WORK YOU CAN FIND A JOB

To: Guitarsandmore

Yeah Guitarsandmore...but are they paying him or her $80K like they did you? I bet not.

The last time I earned $80,000, I had to work two years making missiles for the very cold-war a-holes who sent your job overseas, SUCKER.  There never was a communist threat, but there WAS a smoke screen behind which the U.S.A. was manipulated into becoming something very close to what we had offered our lives to defeat in WWII.  Huey Long sure had it right about the fascists coming on “...in the guise of 100% Americanism!”
Now they want to define what an “American” is, speaks, works, and believes.  The so-called
“democracy” that whoosh bush has spawned in Iraq should teach us that without an educated, (NOT brainwashed), electorate, democracy is nothing more than a play toy for demagogues.  But, of course, you knew that.

The last $80,000 per year job I had is now being done by an immigrant from Pakistan who has several degrees.

My response to comment #40230:

I disagree with you suggestion to seal off the border between Guatemala and Mexico.  That would be heartless.  The poor of Guatemala, mostly the Mayan people, are no better off today than when President Arbenz introduced his much needed reforms in the late 1940’s.  At that time, Guatemala was literally a banana republic which meant that the land and people belonged to American owned fruit companies that paid no taxes to Guatemala, trapped the the Indian population into forced servitude through a permanent debt and, through US help prevented any change to a colonial system.  For all practical purposes, all Guatemalans may as well have been US citizens.  The CIA stepped in to restore the horrible status quo by overthrowing the Arbenz government and when the people took up arms to resist, they were branded communist and that gave an excuse for the US to fund and support a vicious military to crush the rebels.  Ironically, while we take pride in our American Revolution, our government has snuffed them out in Latin America.  Tragically, for all the genocidal butchery against the poor in Guatemala, their condition remains much the same today.  Land reform is dead, they continue to be ruled by origarchs and the violence of the civil war survives the peace accord.  The US is responsible for this and every Guatemalan who wants to flee their country has a right to US citizenship because, as with many other Latin American countries, the poor have been ruled by the US indirectly anyways.  Had the US respected the sovereignty of the Arbenz government back in the 1950’s there is a good chance that Guatemala would be a decent place to live for all, not just for the European descended elite.  By the way, if anyone reads this, look at the proposals of the so called leftists, such as Ecuador’s Correa and Bolivia’s Evo Morales, for example, you would have to agree with their reforms.  Ominously, I read in USA Today (Now. 10-12 issue) that the US military has resumed training the Latin American military due to the trend to the left there.  Against whom is the Latin American military trained for?  The poor who have no other recourse but to block roads or make demands to be heard?  The racist and heartless policies of the United States make it the Evil Empire of the West.  How disheartening!  Don’t hate the immigrants, whether they come across Mexico’s borders or Guatemala’s borders, hate the policy of colonialism that still live in Latin America with US support.

IN MY OPINION MEXICO HAS OIL BUT DOESN’T HAVE THE RESOURCES TO DRILL IT WHY DON’T WE BECOME ALLIES WITH THEM LET THE PEOPLE COME AND GO AS THEY PLEASE [LIKE WE DO WITH PUERTO RICO] WITHOUT GREEN CARDS OR BEING CALLED ILLEGAL AND WE DRILL THE OIL THERE WHICH IN TURN I BELIEVE WOULD SLOW IMMIGRATION DOWN BECAUSE THERE WOULD BE MORE WORK AND BETTER PAY FOR THE PEOPLE IN MEXICO [THEY DON’T REALLY WANT TO BE HERE THEY’RE JUST DOING WHAT THEY NEED TO TO SURVIVE AND TAKE CARE OF THEIR FAMILIES] I BELIEVE THE MAJORITY ONLY COME HERE TO DO JUST THAT WHAT WOULD YOU DO TO TAKE CARE OF YOUR FAMILIES?
AND IF WE’RE GETTING OUR OIL FROM MEXICO THEN WE DON’T HAVE TO DEAL WITH IRAQ AND THE GAS PRICES SHOULD DROP ALSO.
AS FAR AS SECURING OUR BORDER LETS BE FOR REAL THE MEXICAN BOARDER IS HUGE IF WE ARE ALLIES WITH MEXICO THEN WE CAN WORRY ABOUT THE GUATEMALAN BORDER WHICH IS ALOT SMALLER AND EASIER TO SECURE THIS JUST MAKES SENSE TO ME

It never fails to amaze me when I read people’s posts, how badly informed they are. People say regular “americans” would do field work? Not even if they were well paid, I know, I have dual citizenship and I picked for 3 years in California. Everyone said I was crazy for this was not a job for me. I made good money. It was very hard work (what isn’t). Yet there is still this division of “their jobs” and “our jobs” and the questions of “what do you mean there are jobs americans won’t do?” Many jobs are not even considered by white or black americans (fyi: everyone on this continent is an american so this term is used erroneously). Has no one seen the massive exodus of people towards the cities leaving the land unmanned? Kansas, Iowa, Nebraska and other states give free land just so people would move back AND THEY DON’T. States are inviting Mexicans to their areas just so they can have population once again, if you don’t believe me, search for free land and you’ll see. Other people also think that illegals are using all the services and draining our money. NOT TRUE, they contribute or should I say, their money is taken more than they are given by our government(to the tune of 6 billion). Try and get unemployment without documentation, get welfare or medical aid, go get a driver’s license anywhere but California....illegals pay premium prices for everything because they can’t complain, they are misstreated. You think no one is in Mexico illegaly? Mexico is full of illegals (americans, canadians, europeans and all else), the retired move down there, drive up prices on everything and treat locals like slaves there too but they live like royalty, plus they can afford to live on their pensions and social security (which they can’t in the US, plus the weather and area are beautiful), so many gays are moving to Mexico because people are not so judgemental there and are infecting people with AIDS. Americans move to Mexico but complain when everyone doesn’t speak english and everything isn’t like the US, how’s that for a change? How do I know? I’m a Chef and I live in Mexico.

Illegals to mow our lawns? remember when our kids or the neighbors kids did it. it gave them an opportunity to learn work ethics and money handling. Illegals send what spare money they get back to their home country, they do not pay taxes, they overload our infrastructure, our schools, medical systems, social services. they are destroying wages and benefits of the American working class jobs. get your facts straight, Krystal, before you start babbling.

Hey..I don’t know why people complain about Mexicans that are illegal or all other illegal people. These people are justlike me and you, there looking for a job, a chance to live the American dream, without them our economy wouldn’t be the same. So why don’t you all stop complaining and face the facts if Illegals weren’t willing to mow ur law and you did want to do it you would have to pay an American doble to do it.

The truth is we have both parties selling us out on this issue.

The Dems want the votes and the support of the unions. The unions want the members(illegal immigrants) ,while the rank file see wages going down and jobs moving overseas.

The Republicans want cheap labor for multi-national corporation that give money to both sides.

Andrew Young and the Clinton’s are just as big friends of Walmart as some Republicans.

It is so annoying to hear Bush talking about jobs Americans won’t do. Did these jobs suddenly pop into existence with the advent of illegal aliens? These are jobs Americans have been doing for decades at decent wages. With illegals pouring into the country desperate for a job at any wage, those job wages dropped precipitously to levels Americans won’t accept. Why pay an American $10/hr when you can get an illegal to do it for $5/hr?  Think Ashley, before you regurgitate Bush vomit.

Bob: I disagree with you about this.
The Hispanics are not well assimilated and they are committing much violent crime,illegitimacy and failure to obtain education. They do not share Western values and often engage in anti social and anti American behavior please, let us not be naive. We need Western values from immigrants who love our country and educate themselves.

To Think as Bush:  He must make money because he and close friends profit threw the rasing of cattle and the processing plants that promote illegals just as the horse plants that slaughter our american horses for the foreigners which profit 41 million and kept the money there and payed no income tax nor tarriff tax on there exports.Cargi and other plants make millions thus contributing to bush’s circus world. Todays illegal here is just a new slavery and to legalize illegals is a slap in the face. They should not be allowed for SSS nor goverment goodies nor paid college educations when many have to work 2 jobs to get ahead.

illegals are nothing more than a drain on the economy!

Secure American borders and Stop Illegal Immigration.

Friends, please look over the petition that I have started for this issue. American needs your help, do not let Congress pass a bill that will give millions of illegal Aliens amnesty and their citizenship without working for it……………….

http://www.thepetitionsite.com/my/dashboard/697399699

please help America

“Ver musten haven lavensraum!” that is German for we need living space. All these dirty people need to be deported from the Motherland.

Plutocratic Fascism

Plutocratic Fascism has deep roots in America. By any definition, the Confederacy was a Plutocratic Fascist regime based on racism. From the very beginning of our Republic, the Rabid Right, backed and financed by the plutocracy, has fought against equal rights; early on only property owners were allowed to vote, women weren’t allowed to vote, indentured servants, and blacks weren’t allowed to vote.

The Rabid Right has consistently blocked social progressivism; child labor laws, minimum wage, social security, Medicare, Medicaid, public schools, civil rights, labor unions, OSHA, pollution laws, anything having to do with the common good, they cunningly labeled as socialism.

Socialism, the enemy of Plutocratic Fascism.

Which form of government comes closest to Christian values: fascism, plutocracy, or socialism?

A labor issue A class issue. Capitalism is all about increasing profits by screwing working people.

Bush and his apologists talk about jobs americans won’t do, but it’s really wages americans won’t work for, if a buisness owner can increase profits by reducing wages they will. It’s as old as capitalism itself. If they can take it further and reduce our affinity towards others of our class by making us hate each other based on national origin all the better.

Importing cheap labor is just the other side of the coin from exporting lower paying jobs to countries that pay lower wages. Or as they say outsourcing. Just like union busting.

All working people need to get together and demand better livable wages for work.

Somewhere I read some drivel about importing people who don’t know “our” culture, hogwash, many western states were a part of Mexico and Spain for a lot longer than they’ve been a part of the US. Los Angeles, Arizona, Nevada, California, Colorado, Tejas, all Spanish words. Where I live if you don’t have an understanding of Latin culture you’re out to lunch.

Illegal immigration is a labor issue, folks!

Businesses use illegal immigrants to drive down the share given to workers out of the wealth created by the use of their labor in the business.

I am all for whatever immigration can be sustained by our minimum wage and fair labor standards laws.

But when workers are afraid to report on-the-job injuries, withheld pay, use of child labor ... then we have to act ... that is if we want to be called civilized rather than simply support a new type slave-like exploitation of fellow human beings.

Thank god as the child of an immigrant I have my Swedish-American heritage to teach me right from wrong on labor issues.

To the author of comment #6282:
You should learn how to spell and punctuate before you accuse someone else of being “not intelligent.”

Many people who are anti-immigration either don’t understand, or don’t care to understand, the whole picture.  Under NAFTA, the United States sells corn to Mexico.  American corn growers are subsidized by the government.  Many Mexicans who come here to earn a living were farmers who can no longer make any money growing corn because of low priced imported corn.

The US has had a very involved relationship with Mexico and the other countries south of the border such as Chile, Guatemala, etc.
Therefore, the people from this part of the world merit special consideration.  The poverty that causes people to endure such hardships and risk of life to come here, is related to the Monroe Doctrine whereby the US decided it has the right to inervene if it does not like the leadership of a country.  Whether people voted in a better leader as in Guatemala and Chile or overthrew a governemtn that deserved being overthrown, the US would send in the CIA, train proxy armies and prolong vicious civil wars.
Those who call these unfortunated people “aliens” have not right to do so because our country has contributed to their poverty and hopelessness.  We are all part of the New World.

Shut the border down, build the Great Wall but then keep out of Latin America.  Let them decide what to do with their oil and other natural resources and quit demonizing their leaders who actually are trying to improve their lives.

I would like to point out that Cesar Chavez testified before congress that immigration is a tool to drive wages down. The first Minuteman project was run by Manuel Chavez , Cesar brother. In 1969 MLK. successor Robert Abernathy, Walter Mondale demonstrated to block the boarders from illegal immigrants. My question are all of them racist ? Can we not have a rational conversation about issues about immigration and trade without racist,isolationist,wages are fine, jobs Americans will not do...? controlcongress.com

Read and get the facts.

http://www.counterpunch.org/roberts02112006.html

I have worked side by side w/ Mexicans & travelled a small bit In Mexico. I live in a State which is proud of its anti-union policies and hasn’t raised the minimum wage in 5 yrs.So naturally, Latinos are fitting right in. But as for their poor educational skills, they seem to do fine laying brick, pouring cement and they work as hard as anyone I see in a crumby job. As for them bringing in disease, what would that be? like AIDS or TB? we get plenty of that from legal migrants. The long tunnel that was recently discovered in So. Cal. wasn’t to transport people, it was to move dope. We could do worse than get our own hse in order.

I heard Mexico has about a 40% unemployment rate.  Why?  Because of NAFTA/CAFTA and the fact that Mexican elites are not investing in their own country.  Mexico is natural resource rich—oil and minerals—there is no reason for the people to be so poor.  Look at Japan?  Japan has to import everything, but the Japanese government does not allow a huge income gap between rich and poor so the wealth does not accumulate at the top.  The governments of Mexico and the U.S. pander to their rich elites and pass laws that increase the income gap.

If we want to stop illegal immigration by people who can no longer find jobs even in maquilladoros (because corporations have discovered cheaper Chinese labor), then we need to insist on new economic and trade agreements; ones that this time require a level playing field.

The European Union requires countries seeking to join to first raise their standard of living; and the EU helps them do that.  The U.S. should do the same with the countries of Latin America (not all illegal immigrants are from Mexico—post-Reagan and his war on Nicaragua, people now come from El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, etc.).

And, yes, the Repubs are using immigration as a way to get us to think about something other than Bush’s failure in Iraq.  Let’s show them we can multi-task and think about both flawed economic/trade policies and illegal wars!

I’d be willing to pay more for a head of lettuce if I knew an American citizen, rather than a criminal alien, was making a living.  Or we could put non-violent criminals in the fields.

Fining businesses that hire illegals $50,000 per immigrant would dry up the demand for low-wage employees as well.

These illegals are the Majority from Mexico, not the good country’s. They are bringing disease and drugs. Their kids are not intellegent. Their parents haven’t a clue about anything. We are so over crowded in CA, they live 10 or more to a house. The lberals are ruining this country, when you own children will not be able to take a small job as a teen, blame all the Mexican’s and the Lib’s who allowed it. I am sick of seeing them everywhere, costing us, our schools are overrun, hospitals are closing and we can look forward to American looking very different in the next 20 yrs and it will not look good. The do not assimilate in to our society, They go in and take over complete towns and if you do not believe that then just take a look at CA, the land of the Liberals. You will see what your towns will look like. Be scared and do something about it right now, don’t believe the open border people or the people who try to tell you there isn’t a problem. I suggest you take a tour and find out for yourselves. America is going to rot and turn into a third world if we do not stop the invasion now. Our constitution states we can protect out borders from an invasion, what do you think Mexico has done to us. Speak up loud and clear and lets take back America and do it now!

“How could anyone think 12 million people, with an average 4th grade education, speaking no English, and with no understanding of this country’s culture or history, could possibly an asset to us? “

Whoever wrote this is absolutely right on. When my father came here from Europe, he did not speak English and had no understanding of this country’s culture or history, but at least he had a 6th grade education. Only 4th grade? A 4th grade immigrant in one on the way to draining our economy though dependence on social services. 6th grade should be a required minimum.

The handwriting is on the wall.  Our government is creating a peasant class and are trying to get us to assimilate. NAFTA was supposed to elevate the Mexican worker to near our standard of living so they could purchase our goods. The reverse has happened.  American wages went down while health care and retirements disappeared. Now they are forcing CAFTA on us.  Americans either rise up in protest or it’s all over.  I hope that at least we all get to take a siesta halfway through our work day.

The insanity here has reached Alice in Wonderland proportions ...

People who appear to be for the workers are saying we should allow a certain class of person to come and work for obscenely low wages under obscenely poor labor standards so businesses can reap obscenely high profits? (And because citizen workers won’t accept these conditions, it proves we have to have this new type of slavery.)

Am I missing something? Oh yes, and the solution is to criminalize this class of workers ... making them even more reluctant to come forward to report illegal treatment by their employers!

Have we gone stark raving mad?

You’re right, there is ANOTHER solution ... forget about what has happened, put the counter back to zero ... reward the illegals who are here and believe it won’t happen again. That IS the definition of insanity!!!

I NEED TO REMIND ALL THOSE THAT DONT KNOW OR JUST DONT WANT TO REMEMBER THAT THE AMERICANS TOOK THIS LAND FROM MEXICO KNOWING ITS WORTH THERE WAS A ARTICLE IN THE REGISTER TODAY THAT SAID THEY WOULD BE GIVEN PERMISSION TO COME AND TAKE LOW PAY JOBS THAT THE AMERICANS WOULD NOT WANT FIRST OF ALL I BELIEVE THAT IF MEXICANS FARM WORKERS GAVE THE OPPURTUNITY TO THE AMERICANS TO GO OUT AND FILL THERE SHOES IN THE FIELDS AMERICA WOULD STARVE IN THE NEWS IT WAS NOT ABOUT THE LAWS IT WAS ON HOW MUCH MONEY WAS LOST BECAUSE THERE WAS A WALK OUT IN SCHOOLS WHY WORRY ABOUT HOW MUCH MONEY ONLY THE HISPANICS WALK OUT AMERICA IS STARTING TO FEEL THE PRESSURE AFRAID THEY JUST MIGHT LOOSE WHAT THEY STOLE FROM MEXICO WE ARE ALL EQUAL REGARDLESS COLOR SHAPE IT DEPEND ON HOW YOU CHOOSE TO LIVE YOUR LIFE BECAUSE WE ARE NOT TAKING ANYTHING MY GRANDFATHER ALWAYS TOLD ME THAT IF YOU REALLY WANT A JOB THERE IS A JOB OUT THERE YOUR JUST NOT WANTING IT ALL THAT THIS NEW LAW IS CAUSING HATRED AND THE LAST THING THIS PLACE NEEDS IS THAT OPEN YOUR EYES AMERICA I DID I ACTUALLY WAS PROUD MY DAUGHTER TO BE PROUD OF HER HERITAGE AND MAKING THE CHOICE TO WALK OUT OF SCHOOL ....

Illegal immigration by its very nature is making a mockery of any immigration policy either in existence or in consideration.  If most of the immigrants in this country enter illegally and unaccountably, then no planning can possibly be successful and a significant element of policy would have been surrendered to unknown and uncontrollable forces.

Futhermore, there is little doubt that illegal immigrants depress wage levels of the poorest of Americans by taking low-skilled jobs. In addition, because their employers refuse to provide them with any benefits or education, the support of their social cost falls on existing citizens who have to pay for the infrastructure necessary.  Therefore, the purported benefits of their low wages is easily cancelled out by these costs.

In addition, any amnesty is simply not going to solve any problem.  After legalizing the present cohort of illegal immigrants, what is there to stop more millions of crossing the border?  Absolutely not.  This is insanity, this absolute resignation to a “phenomenon” that would have untold consequences. Who is in charge of this experiment???  Anybody???

You all are making it seem like it is easy going and getting citizenship. It takes anyhwere from 2 to 4 years and about $3,000. Plus all these illegal aliens are doing the work that the WHITE people DON’T want to do. We want to sit behind the desk bossing the Mexicans around. That is bullshit, we are all equal just because you have a 9 digit social security number does not mean that you can boss them around like they are your little siblings. Someone in our family was once an illegal alien, but you don’t realize it because you are to busy bitching about the 11 million illegal aliens that are over here. But if they were not here, you would not be eating in resturants because they are the ones that cook, getting you yard work done, having the highways worked on, and need I go on. So get over that fact that they are taking jobs away from the Americans, they are just doing the jobs that you all don’t want to do…

We spend billions and billions of dollars each year to keep students in school long enough to learn the basics and hopefully graduate.

Why? Because we know without a decent education they will be a drag on the economy and society.

How could anyone think 12 million people, with an average 4th grade education, speaking no English, and with no understanding of this country’s culture or history, could possibly an asset to us?

If they are an asset, maybe we should save the billions we spend on keeping students in school long enough to graduate.

Can you hear me now?!

People working without the protection of fair labor standards and a say in the adoption of those standards is a form of slavery.

From Yahoo® News:
CONGRESS TACKLES LONG-RUN PROBLEM WITH SHORT-RUN SOLUTIONS
By Georgie Anne Geyer
Tuesday, March 28

“One of the best analysts of economics, Robert J. Samuelson, wrote this week in The Washington Post that the big corporations are having America ‘import poverty’ and lower wages so much that, of course, American workers ‘won’t take those jobs.’ ‘What we have now,’ he wrote, ‘and would with guest workers, is a conscious policy of creating poverty in the United States while relieving it in Mexico. ... To be sure, some Americans get cheap housecleaning ... But if more mowed their own lawns or did their own laundry, it wouldn’t be a tragedy.’ “

Compassion and sympathy can help us cide towards providing an opportunity for the “illegals” to become “legal”. Having said that, I for one am surprised about the disregard for the actual “legals” to become immigrants.

I have heard many politicians talk about how this country has welcomed immigrants. USA largely does but some of their legal methods are greatly troublesome.

Some of us are on H1-B working our buts off (get paid decent enough, appreciate being here, be law-abiding citizens) and are looking forward towards Green Card or Citizenship just for that “flexibility” we lack in furthering our careers. I hope both bills for the legal get noticed in this comotion of making “illegals” legal.

To give you an example of how stupid the immigration legal rules are, please consider this scenario. A person with a green card marries someone who is not a US citizen and lives outside US. To bring his wife and live together in this country will take atleast 2 to 3 years. Talk about screwing up with family values and family immigration. It is just insanely stupid to trouble this individual this way.

I have heard many discussions/chances that this whole law might be punted because of this “illegal” to “legal” complication in an Election Year. I hope there are due considerations given to the “legals” here.

For those who are afraid that immigrant workers-legal and illegal-take good jobs away from American citizens, I suggest those folks work out in the fields to harvest crops and do menial labor.  I did this back-breaking work as a teen-ager in the 1960’s in the summer with my father in sunny California.  This work certainly fueled my desire to graduate from high school and college.  Perhaps, if the growers, paid a living wage, more folks would try the work.  I worked 72 hour weeks without overtime or health benefits. Maybe WalMart and other corporate types ought to pay a living wage and real health benefits so that unemployed Americans can have a legitimate job.  With outsourcing and the closure of American plants, how much amnesty should the Federal government give to illegal immigrants?  Both political parties have to compromise to find a solution and the rhetoric from the GOP controlled House only creates more animosity and hatred.  It is easier to bash immigrants instead of dealing with Katrina, the energy crisis, the nation debt, Haliburton and Iraq.

No immigration crisis ?  Mmmh.  Perhaps Mr. Scheer should puruse the latest INS Statistical Yearbook to see just how many legal immigrants have come into the country in the past 10 years and then add in the approximately 500,000 illegals per year.  This is a complicated issue and this is not 1850 during the industrial revolution when the country was crying out for additional labor.

I live in an high immigration urban area and don’t have anything against my non-US born neighbors legal or otherwise.  I don’t have a maid and my lawn guy is an 81 year old LEGAL immigrant. The pool of illegal immigrant labor in my city doesn’t lower my cost of living - in fact, our medical costs in the city are amongst the highest in the nation because of the high number of people in the city without health insurance.  Overall, the impact of illegal immigration in my city has dramatically increased the cost of living here, not decreased it - although our produce might be a little cheaper.

Let’s not put the present debate down to just hysteria.  There is a significant problem in terms of the numbers of illegals and it needs to be addressed.

Perhaps illegal immigration = the next social revolution?
Average American citizens make much, much more than the average Mexican citizen. What’s the big deal if we were to legalize the immigrants?
We needn’t have such a ridiculous wall as the Israelis, just to keep people out (as the Israelis actually--occasionally--face suicide bombings).

What would change if legalization were to come to pass? We would lose illegal immigrants and gain US citizens, and, as far as I can tell, there’s no downside to that.

I hate when people all of a sudden get uber-moralistic and judicial when it comes to talking about the declared sins(!) other people, the “but they’re ILLEGAL syndrome").

Oh and I’ve lived in Texas my entire life, if that makes any difference.

So many immigrants come to the U.S for a better life. People have left there families behind just to come to the U.S.  T o find a job even though they get paid minimum wage. I guess it’s better than suffering or even dying right? Immigrants they’re all people just like you and I. I am a full time college student trying to be something in life, because without education you are nothing. Sometimes people need to think that this is not any ones country. It was founded by Native Americans, the blood of whom I carry. I am half Mexican half Native American although I don’t now much about my ancestors I know were I am from. What have we done to you why has this become a great deal why can’t we just be grateful that were all here alive and well. I would it call racism if people truly don’t care for others then who and what are we? Is this case all about money?????? Money isn’t everything. I am struggling so much. I am a full time student and I work 30 hrs a week. I know it’s not too bad but I am struggling. If I think I have it hard think of the people who work from 5am to 8pm 6-7 days a week when do they have time for their loved ones? How do you expect them to raise their kids without their support? If you have kids are you their supporting them? I hope so. People who are over worked do you think they are spending enough family time. It’s unfair do you like to see the suffering of others. If they leave what do you think will happen to them?  You think they rather be way from their family away from what they love? No they don’t.  But if they don’t come they’ll just end up dying, because money has become one of the largest necessities in life now. Instead they will probably try to come back probably die on their way over or sent to jail. But that’s okay you don’t care. These people need you as much as we need them so please think about your decisions. If not meet an immigrant let them speak just listen .............and you will know.

In 1986 Pres. Reagan gave four million illegal immigrants amnesty and the American people got about ten million more illegal immigrants..some trade. There is a difference between illegal and legal immigrants. Give them amnesty again and what they learn is..."we’ll just go to the states and hide out for another ten or fifteen years, and then Congress will again address the situation and we will receive amnesty again”...this is pure and simple a result of NAFTA and now Bush gives us CAFTA...another kick in the rear to the working class...the corporations pay less for labor...the labor market is flooded, and every one who wants to work (including American citizens will take less money, more work hours and no benefits...soon American workers will be as bad off as the illegal immigrants...the Mexican government is a Plutocracy..and the U.S. will soon have the same form of government....

Let’s stop the bickering!  Make Mexico a state.
Problem gone, tax base up. to quote the 80’s saying “win win”.

What part of illegal is it that you folks don’t understand?  Immigrant, aah, yes we are, and “legal” through the years it took to become so.  Now that our federal government (president, legislative, and court) has shirked its responsibility by blocking illegals from entry, these same jokers want to make something legal out of it.  Let me see now, the illegals number somewhere between 11 and 20 million.  If it’s that high, how does anybody know?.  They have received just about every social service available in this country for free or nearly so.  Free to whom and at what cost to whom? Hospitals close emergency rooms because nobody pays.  Where does that leave the legal immigrants—naturalized and naturally born here. We get socialized medical care now by default. Thousands of births in Northern Virginia alone from illegals.  Does that now and should it now make each birth a natural born citizen even though the birth was with an illegal immigrant?  I saw no, it doesn’t.  Where does it stop?  Oh, golly gee, says the Prez, let’s sign them all up under the “Guest Worker Program” then we know where everybody is.  They’ll all promise to return in a few years to be sent back home and process for legal entry that could take 4 or 5 years.  Yeas, right, that’ll work.  But that’s not amnesty, is it? 

And what do we do with all those other people waiting in line for legal entry into the country.  Tell them “hold off while we make some adjustments for our land-based neighbors south of the border.”

And now in Cancun, Mexico - President W. reassured Mexican President Vicente Fox he is committed to getting the U.S. Congress to approve broad immigration reforms, including a guest-worker program.  But it’s not amnesty, is it?  Bush ought to be listening to polls on this one.  W’s comment to reporters, “I’m confident we can get a bill done” as it goes before the Senate for debate and passage.  Oh, joy, what a great bunch of guys, and statesmen all.  Care to guess how that vote will turn out?

Legal, illegal, what’s the difference now?  Oh, perhaps you can tell by the flag they are flying and the one they are burning.  Patriots in that crowd of 1 million?  Now there was an opportunity to gather the lot (legal, illegal, natural born, whomever), ship them all across the border, and let them process to return.  Wow, 1 million at one time. 

I’ll close with this --- I don’t blame these people from crossing the border and taking the risks they take to get here. I’d do it too.  An offer of a stake (or should that be ‘steak and eggs’) for just making the crossing, and a small town giving those who make it a bus ticket to any place north.  And I have another offer.  You get here, we clothe you in a uniform, accept your voluntary enlistment you in the Army and ship you off to ... guess where?  Do your time, return here and you get moved to the front of the “legal” line.  Welcome to the U.S.

In point of fact the premise that we need illegal immigrants renders any further words useless. Illegal immigration does neither the illegal immigrant nor the nation being invaded one bit of good.
These are some of the facts:
- The flood of illegal immigrants simply provides unscrupulous employers an inexhaustible supply of workers that they can exploit for yet more profits (oh...by the way, have you noticed falling or even stabilizing prices from the flood of low-wage immigrants? The short answer is NO!)
-These undocumented employees have no medical benefits so they flood our already broken medical delivery system with patients who cannot and do not intend to pay for services rendered. Who pays… patients with insurance and the already overtaxed taxpayer
-Public Housing is filled to the brim with these illegals. The program that used to be called Section 8 is so overwhelmed by these immigrants that most areas of the country are not taking any applications for the foreseeable future. Oh, and don’t give me the guff that illegals cannot get this housing. Bogus identification is available and is used.
-The jails and the prisons of this nation are steadily filling with illegals who came to the US to find the streets paved with gold and found that the streets are full of potholes and are they are not paved nor even patched with gold. Once the reality set in all too many illegals end up breaking laws and abusing drugs and alcohol. (DO NOT take my word for this. Check the statistics on the US prison/jail populations)
-Many illegals have also come to the US leaving wives and children in their native lands. While here in the US they seek and find companions and there are many illegitimate children born of these ‘relationships’ (once again...check the stats). Who pays these costs? What will happen to these children when the illegal returns (or is returned) to their native land?
This list of sad facts goes on and on…
Uncontrolled immigration serves no one’s long-term best interest. No nation on Earth can sustain the flood of immigrants that the US is now experiencing.
Furthermore, there is no reason for this invasion, yes, I wrote INVASION, to continue. These people, most of them good and decent people, come here for opportunity that really does not exist any more. Why is it that everyone on Earth that is unhappy with the situation in their own land thinks that the answer is to come to America? If the situation in their native land does not suit them they need to work right there to change their situation.
This is the simple truth...it is simply not possible for everyone on this planet to live in the United States of America. Not only is it not possible, it’s not even preferable for the immigrants nor for the U.S.
No my fellow Americans. Illegal immigration CAN and MUST be controlled. Mr. Scheer’s statement about the “influx” of immigrants will eventually be accepted and assimilated is disingenuous at best and plain stupid at worst. Mr. Scheer’s offer of southern California’s handling of immigration woes is laughable at best. Southern California is a maelstrom cultures claiming to live together so well. Is that why there is so much street violence there? Southern California is a de facto northern state of Mexico with a large Asian and Pacific-islander contingent. Witness the barrios versus the gated communities of the rich and bigoted.
I have ever been in favor of controlled and LEGAL immigration...and I still am.
When some say that it is impossible police the illegals and solve the border invasion crisis I politely say...BUNK! If we were not busy carrying on the idiotic and horrible war in Iraq we could retrain and use these folks to guard and secure OUR borders. After all, most of the troops in Iraq are National Guard and Reserves. They have no business in Iraq and they need to be brought home. Let me say right here that I support these wonderful young Americans who dutifully serve their country. I mourn those that have died and my heart goes out to their loved ones whose lives will never be the same. It is the half-witted Commander in Chief whose avarice and lies sent them to Iraq that I do not support.
Mr. Scheer, perhaps you and all of those who are among the higher paid persons of the United States ought to admit your lifestyle is supported by immigrant labor much more than the lifestyle of most Americans. Prices at Wal-mart are somewhat lower because they screw over their employees and the taxpayers who pay for the benefits that Wal-Mart won’t provide and because most of the products on the shelves come from China or Asia where the people who make them live on slave wages and work horribly long hours. The prices ARE NOT as low as they should be considering their employee’s wages and the wage earned by those who create most of Wal-mart’s wares.
Get over it folks. The corporate masters in America and their stockholders are the only ones who benefit from less-than-living wage employees.
It is true that many Americans have too much material things. It is also the truth that many, many Americans are struggling to house, feed, clothe, educate and provide medical/dental care for their children. All of this while undocumented aliens receive all of these things at the expense of tax payers. Oh...and save the old saw that immigrants are taxpayers. The taxes they pay (when not being payed off the books) are but a fraction of the cost of the benefits they receive and the costs of these benefits to this society.

America cannot afford uncontrolled immigration from ANY country and neither should it have to.

I guess I’m missing something here. As far as my family and I are concerned, immigrants are welcome as long as they come here legally. How come that seems to be too much to ask? This country was founded by immigrants, no one I know denies that, but to have someone come here, work and get payed under the table then to send it to another country without paying the taxes and such that we pay is not what America is about! Why are there so few who get this?

Well, who knew? I find myself agreeing with Robert Scheer and George Will on the same topic!

If I were to advise Republicans, I’d say...don’t piss off the Latino population, you’re already seen as a party of angry “Get off my lawn!” white guys

If I were to advise Democrats, I’d say - if you don’t want them drive down wages, give them legality and a union membership!

My take, which stems from being a Catholic, can be found here:

http://closedcafeteria.blogspot.com/2006/03/george-wil l-on-immigration.html

I want to thank the Republican Congress, whose hubris, will destroy them eventually. Because of them, one million marched in LA, Right on. I loved it. Reminded me of the sixties… for once.

Well, I hope the multiculturalists are happy. Visions of thousands of people who aren’t even Americans protesting in the streets, burning US flags, raising Mexican ones, ah, the fruits of their labors realized!

Scheer needs to know that as a country, we don’t “need” these parasites at all, and they deserve respect when and if they learn the American ropes. This country is not a dumping ground for every clown who decides he wants all the hard won benefits this country offers, without doing what it takes to earn them.

Xenophobic? Cal it what you want, people, but I have no desire to see the United States turned into a third world version of the old Yugoslavia.

Chip Thornton

I am unemployed and reading this makes me angry. 

Lets go down to these protests with a line of busses, load them up, deport them all. 

America needs more jobs, lets arrest all of these immigrants.

Normally I agree with Mr. Scheer, but I have to say that unless he is willing to work for half or a third of his salary, he should adopt a more enlightened view of this issue.

I used to believe that these illegal immigrants filled jobs that Citizens won’t fill until I had occaision to go to a large construction site.  90% of the labor was non-english speaking Mexican nationals. 

They were working jobs that, up till this tidal wave of illegality began, used to be Coveted by Citizens as decent paying honest work.  Now the wages are half to a third what they would be if 11,000,000 “supply siders” had remained on the other side of our southern border.

Make no mistake, this debate is NOT about rights nor fairness nor compassion.  It is about elites getting that new sunroom for $5,000, instead of $10,000, and not caring who pays the difference.

Not everyone is college bound, and believe me, that is no insult.

I find it useful to adopt the fortune cookie game to this debate.  Everytime you hear someone say why we should put up with this nightmare for the middle class, add “in order to keep wages low!” to the end of the sentence.  It seems to help make sense of otherwise incomprehensible statements.

Wake the “F” up !!!!!!!!!!!!

You and your grandparents were aliens at one time or another!!!!!!!!!!

Unless you’re a Native American YOUR ancestors came here from somewhere else.

You, we, I are all the byproducts of immigration!

Thank you to some people who actually get the point that these people actually broke the law by sneaking in, overstaying their visas, working without authorization, etc. 

The only people who benefit from NAFTA or any trade agreements, are the same people who benefit from people being here illegally.  BIG BUSINESS. 

If you want to be here, learn the language, go through the correct procedures to immigrate here, in other words wait your turn like the other millions of people. 

I see this issue up close in my line of work, it is sickening to see people take advantage of us, having kids here at our expense, my sister lost her job and could not get medicaid, but a woman from venezuela just comes in right before the baby is due and gets on medicaid because she wants her kid to be american.  We have the right to protect our borders and we decide who should stay. 

The way to stop all of this is simple, punish the companies who hire illegals.  People are coming because they know they can work even without any papers.  Corporate American greed is killing this country.  We are about to implode.

A few points;
1) Since people here illegally keep a low profile, what dependable data is there on their actual numbers? If none, then we really don’t know the percentage of foereign born in this country. A century ago we had no quotas and anyone who could get here could stay. We needed their labor. The situation today is almost the opposite. 
2) The minimum wage remains low precisely because of the surplus of unskilled, undocumented workers. There is no need to raise the minimum wage when it’s so easy to find cheap undocumented labor. 
3)A law that punishes immigrants, and those that provide humanitarian assistance, but exempts people who hire them, is unjust. In fact the lion’s share of enforcement should focus on the employers. Building trades, restaurant chains, janitorial companies, even Wal-Mart, all exploit those here illegally, to the detriment of our own citizens.
4)The union movement here has been practically gutted by the same political forces that now promote amnesty (again) and guest worker programs. Those workers who can be unionized will soon find themselves competing with the next wave of illegal immigrants for low wage jobs.

The Republicans are once again trying to have their cake and poison ours, too. Since slavery is currently illegal in the U.S., they’ve come up with the next-best thing.

Consider their hackneyed talking point, “The illegal immigrants are taking the jobs Americans don’t want”.  Well, OF COURSE they “don’t want” low-paying, crappy jobs that discard all of our labor laws. However, remember the Dust Bowl, the Depression, “The Grapes of Wrath”? Folks were going all over the place, desperate for ANY work. Would those jobs be there next time? Try not having a job at all and see how particular anyone is.

If we truly wish to discourage illegal immigrants, we could always STOP HIRING THEM. They would not come if there was no reason to do so. But then, it would be harder for the Republicans to drive wages down, to discard the minimum wage, to bust unions, etc., etc. This is all a typical dr