"return every single illegal entrant, no exceptions"

Do you think this guy has ever been to NYC?

What's bull**** is that we keep putting the immigrants through hell (and no, that's not an exaggeration to anyone who's heard of what goes on at INS detention facilities), but I never hear about businesses being punished for employing illegals. So it's okay to use them as our landscapers and busboys, but we don't actually want them to exist as full citizens. Gee, that sounds familiar. I wonder what kind of historical precedent we have for that?

Immigrants are humans not cattle!

HAHA, Buffy?

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So you think that the fact that our borders aren't secure and that we don't know who's living in and coming into our country is not a big deal?

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Well, when Bush announced the possibility of a guest worker program the activity around the border spiked -giving people from Mexico or wherever incentive to come here incites them to cross the border, which is DANGEROUS for them and really not good for anybody except people who want cheap labor.

And the safety issue applies to the idea that foreign terrorists groups or other dangerous criminals could possibily (some think already have) come into the country undocumented by exploiting our insecure borders, which I feel is a legitimate concern. Plus, living in a town close to the border is perilous, considering the looting, etc. that has been occurring down there lately. Remember that Bill Richardson had to put New Mexico in a state of emergency because of all the havoc that the illegal crossing was causing.

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to be crass and quote stephen lynch:

If I could be a superhero
I'd be Immigration dude
I’d send all the foreigners back to their homes
For eating up all of our food
And taking our welfare and best jobs to boot
Like landscaping, dishwashing, picking our fruit
I’d pass a lot of laws to get rid of their brood
‘Cause I’d be Immigration Dude

let's face it we need illegal immigrants to do the jobs that most Americans think they're too good to do

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Pinguin - my question is, "What differentiates the illegal Mexican housekeeper from the American citizen one except for place of birth?" And what makes that an acceptable distinction to play puppetmaster with their lives?

Pinguin - you have definitely hit upon a distinction that we don't share. You ask why we have different countries, and I really have no answer. I tend to veiw the world as one. While others draw boundaries based on location and land ownership - fueled by religion based ideologies - I see everything belonging to everyone. And I really do think the answer lies in finding our commonalities, not enforcing the arbitrary and pointless idiosyncratic distinctions between us.

Well, pinguin, someone's got to dream big, dont you think?

The immigration issue is the Republican's last worst hope.

They have lost the enthusiasm of many of the most bigoted heartland conservatives from the midwest and west, who have been saying for years that Bush was too "soft" on immigrants--mostly directing that venom toward Mexicans.

The Republicans are torn--they know they need more Spanish-speaking conservative Catholic voters in places like South Florida in order to defeat the Democrats, but the more they cater to Latinos, the more they alienate these white bigots, whom they also need.

So this move is clearly a desperate ploy to rally the "white folk"--on the eve of the Bush administration being indicted the most crooked and more corrupt presidency in history.

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