And I do strongly disagree that the citizens voice should be first. In fact, the Constitution was setup to make sure that majority voices couldn’t simply overrule minority voices.

As for crime and violence, there is as much data supporting crimes committed by undocumented immigrants as their is for gun owners. The notion that we should villianize one group for the actions of the few is preposterous. The vast majority of undocumented immigrants are not violent, nor have any criminal intentions, and are no different the the common citizen. You’re right in that it leads to exploitation, but its exploitation of the undocumented immigrants, who have to work, and so any American who’ll offer them a job sounds good. Its not the citizens who are being exploited by this.

But I still don’t understand why you think it makes our voices null. In fact, I can’t think of any reason. Its not like all other laws are being put on hold to work on this one… we’re not putting aside the Constitution and federal government to legalize immigrants.

Illegal immigration is as much against “the benefit of Americans” as violations of traffic law, gun abuse, theft, etc. Except, most undocumented immigrants haven’t hurt anyone, and never will. Most just want to make a good life for their family, kids, the same as all other humans, and are taking the desperate route to do it, as ANY OF US would. When down to the write, any family man would take desperate measures to protect and provide for his family, whether it means forgoing their ego, working a crappy job, or pretty much anything that doesn’t hurt someone else. That’s just what’s happening here. We just get to sit on our high horses and pretend that we can’t relate when in truth, many of us have probably been in similar situations.

America is founded on immigration, the influx of new ideas and concepts. Each of those immigrants who gains citizenship is American. You can’t simply divide the two and pretend there is some authentic American group (f there was, its the Native Americans anyway).

Americas failings today aren’t the fault of recent immigrants by any means. In fact, its companies like Google, an American company founded by a foreigner, that are succeeding now, regardless of a economic downturn. In truth, its American capitalistic greed that’s a problem. Why bother hiring an American for minimum wage and have to offer them required benefits when you can hire a bunch of undocumented immigrants for half the price, if even? You wanna be mad at someone? Be mad at everyone who’s more concerned with their pocket then their country.

Immigration made this country great. And today’s immigration laws are designed to screw people over. I know a family who got notified that their visa expired 3 months after it happened, and when they appealed, it was somehow their fault. The notion of getting rid of immigrants and the laws designed to keep America apart are the real travesties. True citizens should embrace those who want to be a part of America as part of the solution, not the problem. Yes, the laws should be enforced, but a set of laws should make sense too.

Bobby says:

why do you limo liberals want to stuff illegals down my throat

First of all, Bobby, “illegal” is not a noun, so please do not dehumanize millions of people people by referring to them as “illegals”. Secondly, you speak disparigingly of liberals, but do you not notice you’re commenting on a blog run by the Center for American Progress? Emphasis on progress, that is “progressive”?

Bobby Says:

Our systems are already stretched to the limit..states are crashing under the massive weight of millions of uneducated labors. Our environment is is overwhelmed by the millions of new resource users.

[...]

We are in an economic meltdown.

So, you’re blaming migrants for state budget crises, the environment, the economy, anything else you’d like to blame unauthorized migrants for Bobby? Why not education and health? I think it’s hilarious how nativists like yourself like to blame every problem on unauthorized migrants. If only it were that simple. Each of these major problems that you like to blame migrants for, Bobby, are extremely complex and reforming migration is, at most, peripheral to solving all of them. Scapegoating migrants might work on most people incapable of critical thinking but it doesn’t work on me.

She is just as stupid on immigration reform. Her arguments rely on emotions and not rational thought. She is a solid reason the Republicans lost in 2008. This article is transparently a pro immigration propaganda piece.

Even worse is a link that jackie put up in a previous post. Some garbage about how enforcment policies hurt Republicans. Nonsense. My guess is that if you looked closely at that web site you would find the US Chamber of Commerce supporting it.

Illegal means illegal. Deport every damn one of them.

What happened? Washington delivered on the amnesty. An overwhelmed Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS)—under political pressure from Coongress—sped through and approved 4.3 million applications, many fraudulent. What about the employer sanctions? Over time they were forgotten.

How many times has the U.S. given amnesty to illegal aliens? Seven times since 1986. Each time amnesty is given, the rate of continued illegal immigration rises. The welfare safety net for illegal aliens costs U.S. taxpayers, according to the Edwin Rubenstein Report of 2008, a whopping $346 billion annually across 15 federal agencies. Amnesty-with-promises-of-future-enforcement has been tried and has failed time after time.

Controlling immigration is not only the moral thing to do; it is mandated by our Constitution. Our government must constitutionally ensure the financial security of its citizens and protect our borders from invasion. Regulating immigration to serve the needs of our most deserving citizens is the only ethical choice.

Every public official who enables this illegal alien invasion is just as guilty as those who are here illegally. Neither has any respect for our laws, nor for our citizens. No Amnesty ever again!

“We need immigration reform”!!

First of all why do they call it reform?? we have all the laws in place to manage the situation.. we just won’t enforce them! I have been unemployed for almost 22 months now but all I see are immigrants working for nothing EVERYWHERE here in Florida.

“My state doesn’t need immigration reform”!!

We need less immigrants..so why do you limo liberals want to stuff illegals down my throat.. because it makes you feel good? Most of you jerks will never have to deal with the disrupting effects of massive immigration. Our systems are already stretched to the limit..states are crashing under the massive weight of millions of uneducated labors. Our environment is is overwhelmed by the millions of new resource users. I thought you LIBs cared about the environment??? Whats wrong with you people.. are you crazy? EVERYONE should abide by the law..thats why we have it!

I see it as that simple. The US needs immigration reform. Too many people are in the shadows. We paint ourselves as the best nation in the world then seem surprised when people do anything to come here for a better life. Its about time we lived up to our reputation of freedom and opportunity, secure our borders, and make immigration viable in this country. We need to support the children of immigrants who did nothing but follow their parents. We need to see that those with good moral and mental character stay, and those are are otherwise against society punished. Otherwise, we need to stop pretending we’re that special.

““We need immigration reform. I don’t care if it’s for the person who crawls across the desert to earn $5 an hour, or for Sergey Brin, who came here from Russia and founded Google. As a country, we can’t have people living in the shadows. It’s just wrong. It’s not only ineffective, it’s wrong.”

I agree!!

The NumbersUSA commenters are now here. Do any of you have anything better to do than spread your misinformation everywhere? Do you get paid to comment on these forums?

As I’ve said multiple times in this thread, NumbersUSA supports the terrorist policy of “attrition through enforcement” and does not deserve to be considered a legitimate voice in the U.S. migration policy debate.

lance sjogren says:
Are you also aware that this cause also has OPPOSITION from both sides of the aisle?

Were you aware that “Comprehensive Immigration Reform” was killed in the Senate in 2007 by a coalition of Republicans plus a substantial number of moderate Democrats, roughly ten as I recall?

This is completely innaccurate. It’s always easier to organize against something than for something, as can be seen in the health care debate, the energy debate, any political debate, you name it. It wasn’t just nativist that opposed CIR, but pro-migrant advocates as well, who thought CIR was too punitive.

If nativist positions are so popular, then why did so many nativist politicians lose elections in 2008? We can both play this game of claiming that the U.S. citizen public is on our side.

Ultimately though, what’s going to make the difference is offering real solutions to these problems. Not terrorist solutions like “attrition through enforcement” which seems to be the only policy innovation that nativist politicians have.

The reason is simple. Americans are generous to a fault, but they aren’t stupid. “Fool me once…” applies to Amnesty. We were fooled once when Reagan foolishly signed Simpson-Mazzoli, the Act that really opened the flood gates. Amnesties don’t work. They only beget more Invaders, and that’s what illegal aliens are–Invaders!

Rice may as well be a La Raza/MALDEF member, because her policy on Amnesty isn’t any different from what the reconquistas are desiring. Thankfully, none of them are going to get their wish. The country instead is going the other way!

lance sjogren

Forget the propaganda. So America’s Voice, which is an open borders extremist organization, publishes a push poll that shows, surprise, that the public supports its extremist agenda.

Really Lance? It’s interesting how you label an organization extremist without backing it up in any fashion. Would you care to enlight us on your views and how they are not extremist?

I would imagine from you’re tone that you believe in “attrition through enforcement” which is easily one of the most extreme policy solutions I’ve ever come across that almost all nativist organizations support. Attrition basically acknowledges that it is impossible to deport millions of people, so the solution, instead, is to make them so miserable they leave on their own.

Please rather than tear down others, give solutions.

It makes sense.