During a visit to an elementary school in Langley Park, Maryland, to promote her anti-obesity campaign, first lady Michelle Obama faced a tough question from one second-grader. "My mom said that Barack Obama is taking everybody away that doesn't have papers," the second-grader said when Obama called on her. "Yeah, well, that's something that we have to work on, right? To make sure that people can be here with the right kind of papers, right? That's exactly right." Obama said. The girl interrupted her, saying, "My mom doesn't have papers." "Well, we have to work on that, we have to fix that," Obama replied. "Everybody's got to work together in Congress to make sure that that happens." http://news.yahoo.com/s/ynews/20100519/pl_ynews/ynews_pl2144
It's a complex problem that a lot of people seem to have simplistic answers for that would only make other parts of the problem worse. The 2nd grader was just regugitating something she heard at home, or worse, feeding a question she was prepped to ask. People who think that Michelle Obama is the right person to ask "gotcha!" questions on this issue are just itching for some reason to squawk. Immigration reform is hard, complex, and there's no simple solutions that won't cause massive heartache to all segments of society. Anyone who says otherwise is just a fucking idiot.
I think an appropriate response would've been to check the 2nd-graders home address and give it to INS. Naive little girl.
Let me ask this question, Chris...are people also worried about the heartache that comes from putting people in prison who break the law? There are some very simple scenarios. Here's one: "Hello everyone! It's illegal to be in the US without documentation. If you'd like, everyone who wants to be in a status for an immigrant visa/work visa/citizenship/whatever comes to Building X downtown. You'll be fingerprinted, photographed, have your home address noted and issued temporary papers and you can go on with your life until we can get you a decision on permanent status. You have 60 days. After 60 days, anyone without papers will be immediately deported without potential for reinstatement." What's inhumane or causes heartache about this? Except to those who want to break the laws? And honestly, I will probably not have "massive heartache" even if every single illegally present person in America is deported. Maybe that makes me a "fucking idiot". I prefer people who play by the rules. And punishment for those who don't.
I disagree. The law and enforcement of it need to be black and white to not over complicate the process. The situation is overly complex now and that prevents a simple solution to fix it. Maybe these think tanks need to approach illegal immigration from a different perspective. They need to ask why people are coming to this country illegally instead of focusing on how to prevent it. Is it too hard to become a legal citizen? Are illegals coming here to cause harm to the US? Are they coming to the US for work, fear, hope for their children to live a better life etc.?
Once again... an incredibly simplistic solution to a very complex problem. You will have a fantastic heartache when half the foodstuffs in your local grocery store triple in price overnight, and entire segments of the economy are forcebly uprooted. From your little ivory tower, Mike, you vastly underestimate the economic impact that illegal immigrants play in in the US. My solution is just as radical as yours: I say that the US military should invade Mexico and turn it into a US Protectorate, like Puerto Rico. Seperate, but integrated. All Mexican citizens become US citizens overnight, and US Citizens will gain full access to Mexico. The Mexican economy is swallowed whole by the US economy. In 10-20 years, the standard of living for the average Mexican will quadruple, and the illegal immigration problem will dissappear immediately. The southern edge of Mexico that borders Guatamala and Belize, build a fucking 20 foot wall on THAT border and man it with Tanks and machine guns if you want. THAT'S the real solution to the Mexico Immigrant problem.
Nonsense. You are vastly overrating the effect of immigration reform. But even if you were right, I'd be willing to pay higher prices just for the satisfaction of seeing our laws enforced. The immigration problem has gotten totally out of control, thanks to cowardice on the part of our leaders. I watched all of the presidential debates between McCain and Obama and they never once discussed illegal immigration. Imagine that. The country had been invaded by 20 million people, and it didn't even interest the two men running for President. That's not just radical. It's stupid. I don't know any American who wants "full access" to Mexico, but I know millions who want full access to this country. Your so-called "solution" is worse than the problem.
But then what about all the illegal Belizeans that are in Mexico? All the liberals will want them protected as well. Do we then get to invade Belize? Then all of South America? Then Canada? I mean WTF? Stop it now, not after we invade Mexico LOL. There are a gazillion people in this country on Welfare that should be forced to work if the work is there. Why should some people get to sit on their fat ass and pop out babies while you and I support them? Send them to work in the fields instead. If nothing else, it mioght encourage people to further their education. Hell, get the criminals to do it. Have them actually earn their keep.
First, I'm Brian, not Mike. Second, why would all of my foodstuffs triple if everyone got fingerprinted and an ID card? Unless only people who break laws can pick berries, in which case I like MM's idea of using Folsom County Prison inmates to do it instead. Please, instead of invading Mexico or calling people fucking idiots, tell me why it's so complex. I've shown you that you don't care about when people who violate other laws like drugs and DUIs and child abuse lose their families...I've given a relatively decent proposal for how people can become "legal" if they really just want to do the right thing...and you're talking about invading Mexico.
People enter the US illegally because because it's their god given right to be able to afford an iphone, god dammit!
this is relevant. [video=youtube;avaSdC0QOUM]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=avaSdC0QOUM"]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=avaSdC0QOUM[/video]
That sounds great, but if there is no realistic route to getting the permanent paperwork, what's the point of giving them temporary paperwork? We already know the decision, "denied". So your suggestion really amounts to "come sign up to be deported in 60 days". You might not get many takers on that. When we actually allow them to be legal, then I'd be all for your plan. barfo
serious question, what's stopping our government (or, honestly, the Arizona one, since I'm not sure they'd care if the people living there were actually documented and legal) from upping the number of work visas or citizenship requests? To say something like "This year, we'll give out enough visas for everyone who wants to go through the process". Or if you can show you've been here for 3yrs or something and not committed a felony or have unpaid parking tickets or something, then you get front of the line privileges. Whatever. Is this really something that's that hard?
Hasn't this been done several times...an amnesty for current illegal immigrants? I think Reagan was one who did that.
Apparently it is. I suppose the fear is that it would cause unacceptable political damage from the "foreigners are stealing our jobs" crowd. Certainly that message would resonate in a time of high unemployment. barfo
I don't know why people don't seem to understand this but the price of a pear tripling overnight won't hurt me one bit in the long run. Illegal immigrants drive my wages down, if they were gone my skills would be more in demand. I would make more money. If my wages triple then I don't care if the pear costs three times as much. It is all relative. Imagine the minimum wage went from what it is now to 20 dollars an hour, a Big Mac would be 9 dollars instead of three. Everything costs money, I am willing to pay the price to deport all of them. I will volunteer to help retrofit old school buses as transport vehicles and drive them to the border one weekend a month. If you invade a country just make them your bitches.
