Reply #117: Interesting you should ask that

[robbyrob79]

As strange as it seems, my family originally came from the UK in the 1630s as indentured servants. At least one side of my family anyway. The other side came over in the 1850s from Switzerland to seek their fortunes here in the states.
I guess the point I was making is that would you, knowing what you know, move to another country illegally for monetary purposes, knowing full well that if you get caught, you'll likely be sent to jail or sent packing back to where you came from?
My problem with illegal immigration is just that, its ILLEGAL. Yes, these folks are doing what they believe is best for their families, but unfortunately for them, it is against the law to come into the US and start working without the proper paperwork. Families who come to the US illegally and then have children are really creating a huge problem for themselves too, because if they illegal parents get caught and sent home, their children would stay in the US, because they are american citizens.
What disturbs me about this is that people blame the system for breaking up these families, when those who started the families knew full well that they were living here illegally and putting themselves at risk by doing so. I think that we need to warn people that if they're here illegally and start families that in all likelihood, if they get caught as illegals, their families will be broken up because of citizenship laws. I think it would be a good deterrent.
The problem here is that we're forgetting who the victims are. The victims of illegal immigration aren't those who come to this country and willingly break the law and live here illegally. The real victims are their children, who face an uncertain future if their parents get caught and sent home and the american public, who appreciates low prices, but they don't seem to understand that we end up footing the bill on the back end of things a lot when illegals fall into the public healthcare system.
All I really want to see is the rule of law, punish those who hire illegals, encourage economic growth in Mexico, and step up border security. If we make it harder for illegals to find jobs, encourage the growth of decent paying jobs in Mexico, and make it harder to cross the border, then we can end the immigration problem.
All of these compromises, 'guest worker programs', amnesty and other namby pamby business really fail to address the REAL issue. The REAL issue is that illegal immigrants are criminals. They violated the law when they entered this country illegally. If we want to have any kind of rule of law, we need to make sure that we enforce ALL of our country's laws.
This will mean that yes, many goods which we've become accustomed to buying for super cheap will become more expensive, but if you think about it, that means keeping that money here in the US and feeding our own economy, instead of sending it all back overseas. It may seem mean to say what I've been saying, but the thing is, would you grant amnesty to child molesters? drug dealers? murderers? These people are all criminals too, and some of them are 'victims of their circumstances'.