Legal Immigration is Expensive!

You make a good point about how dangerous it is to come to America illegal. These people go through hell to get to the US of A, to get a shot at a better chance in life. And I think if people sat with them individually, if they listened to their personal stories, their tragedies, their hopes and dreams, they would feel more compassion towards the illegal immigrants; they wouldn't yell at them, curse at them. People who talk about these immigrants as if they were less than human DISGUST me.

BTW, a good movie about immigration is "El Norte". It's about a brother and sister who come to America illegally b/c of political unrest in their native land. To get to the states though, they come through the sewers and are bitten by rats. And eventually, while working in the states, they die (of a disease carried by the rats).

You neglected to mention that the United States may not even want you in the end and all your work, hopes, dreams, blood and tears (and money) eventually melt into nothing. Then you're desperate enough to commit something illegal.

I know it's not easy for others to gain citizenship, but that's life. If we opened the borders to everyone and made citizenship attainable, the US would overflow and have some serious issues to deal with. We have to screen people somehow.

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I think there is some wisdom in this idea. There are some 6+ billion people on earth. About 1 billion are living fairly decently (including all of America's poor) and about 5 billion are poorer than the average Mexican. Obviously immigration to the USA is not a solution for the plight of these 5 billion people. If even a small fraction of them were allowed to come here they would overwhelm our 300 million people and destroy everything good about America.

If the lives of these 5 billion people are to be improved, the only place it can possibly happen for the vast majority of them is in the countries where they are being born!

The question then, becomes HOW do we help them in the countries where they are born?

By far the two most successful models are India and China. One is a democracy and one is supposedly communist but in my view is really a fascist dictatorship. Both of these countries have made enormous progress (they still have a long way to go) at lifting their people out of poverty. In the last decade, both have lifted literally hundreds of millions of people up to a much better standard of living. The common denominator between these two countries with vastly different political systems is that both have to a large extent embraced capitalism and global trade. The USA has played the role of trading partner and we have consumed vast amounts of the goods produced by these rising manufacturing powers and we have them provided them with financial and intellectual capital to fuel their rise. The progress of these countries is an incredible ongoing success story. It would be great if it could be repeated across the third world.

The USA has been helping many other countries around the world. Some of these have been getting aid from us for many decades. Almost all of them remain basket cases.

If we were smart, we might learn some lessons about what works and what doesn't.

The responsibilities of the United States Government are first and foremost to the citizens of the United States. Our government has no defined responsibilities towards the rest of the world. This idea is clearly spelled out in the preamble to the Constitution:

"We the people of the United States, in order to form a more perfect union, establish justice, insure domestic tranquility, provide for the common defense, promote the general welfare, and secure the blessings of liberty to ourselves and our posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America."

It follows that our immigration policy should be aimed at doing what is best for the existing citizens of the United States. If the majority of our citizens, within the structure of our constitutional republic, desire and believe they will be be best served by a restrictive immigration policy, then that is what they should get. Our system is basically rule by the majority with the rights of the minority protected by the Constitution. There is no right for a business to have cheap labor or for an immigrant to import an endless stream of relatives and there is certainly no right of a non-citizen to come to the USA unless we grant them permission. Therefore, the majority, through our representatives, gets to rule on these matters of immigration policy.

I feel bad for people who live in crappy countries and I understand why they try to come to the USA. I really don't blame them. But that does not mean I am willing to see the USA trashed. I think we should have less legal immigration and that illegal immigration needs to be stopped cold. My anger is not directed at the illegal aliens but rather at our government which has refused to enforce its own laws and at businesses that are openly flaunting them. I think we need to end the lawless chaos and get a handle on enforcement. The focus of enforcement should be on businesses. Ending the jobs pull will solve the vast majority of the problem and will reverse the flow with illegal aliens who can't find work making the decision to self-deport and return to their native countries. While my main focus would be enforcing employment laws against employers, obviously some illegal aliens will be apprehended in this process. Illegal aliens, when they are arrested should be treated with human dignity (just like we treat other criminals) but the law should be enforced which means they should be deported.