"Slightly" right-of-center? Wa-ait a-minnit...

Come now, you know I'm nearly at the wacko libertarian-right fringe. ;P

Now, now, darlin'. It ain't the assimilation; it's the border. Even we hard-righters don't mind having a few more good neighbors, but I'd sure like to see better locks on the doors down south.

Things are getting a mite crowded up this way, and I'm running out of money to pay for 'em.

Oh, I'm totally into enforcement. It's just that the "ship the existing ones back" idea sounds impractical to me.

It seems to me that we need to get a move on in processing applications from legal immigrants. Like, really get a move on there. Faster, please.

And, yeah--the ones who are just here, leading quiet lives and paying taxes into fictitious social security accounts, should be brought out of the shadows.

Why is it that the right wing believes in the free flow of goods and money between nations and insists on removing barriers to trade, but when it comes to labor, the free flow stops and the "we gotta protect our borders" theme kicks in.
Why not in a free economy the price of labor be determined by global demand and supply? And labor be allowed to go where there are jobs and opportunities.
Or is it the case that some labor is more equal and desirable than others?
If America really believes in the free market economy, break down that southern wall and let that labor flow legally.

As a legal Immigrant from Canada, married to a legal Mexican, he came in the legal way, the first thing he did when he came here was to learn English, had only English friends, etc...... I see from my husband's family, most of them haven't assimilated.... Most of his family that live here don't speak English.. alot of them got in on the '86 Amnesty deal, and haven't assimilated.

And as a legal Immigrant who jumped through all the hoops I resent those who don't have to. I'd love to skip out on having to pay my back taxes, especially... lol. As a legal immigrant I paid the fees, I had my AIDS test, I had my TB test, if I ever go on any government handouts my mother will get the bill as she had to sponsor me. Also, in the '86 amnesty I lost my Dual Citizenship... It's a slap in the face to us who came in legally.

But surely the solution there, Leanne, is to make it easier and faster to process the legitimate applicants, like those in your family.

The dual citizenship thing is funny, because I know officially the State Department doesn't allow it, but it happens all the time. I have friends who still have passports from other countries.

And to be honest, I'm tired of hearing that illegals don't pay taxes. Of course they pay taxes. The taxes are withheld from their checks. The difference is that their social security is withdrawn, but doesn't go into a real account.

And please note that the current bill gives illegal immigrants plenty of hoops to jump through--including a requirement that they learn English.

The trick is to start sorting through this population. There's no way to make it completely fair to you, but we can make it safer for the rest of us, by sorting out the criminal element and the refuse-to-assimilate element, and giving the others a path to follow.

Otherwise, we will just have a caste system, which is anti-American and downright unsafe.

Fine then, let the flood of 3rd worlders begin... just like after the '86 amnesty. That's what I'm afraid of.
I don't understand why the authorities aren't upholding the laws already on the books.... fining companies, deporting criminals, tighter border security (like the fence)....
I'm not anti Immigration... I don't see how we can keep track of people w/this new amnesty, when we have lost track of something like 600,000, if not more, as of the other day. I just heard today that it took 7 years to register the 2.7 million made legal in '86.
And you know the Democrats and La Raza are not going to go for the fees that is in this bill, they will be waived and deemed unfair.
You'd think they'd make some provision that Mexico has to make changes in their economy, so people can stay there, but, they'd rather export the poorest of the poor here.
And, all I know is that the illegals here in California are costing the taxpayers $10 billion a year... WTF???
I had made the comment about the back taxes, because it's in the bill they don't have to be paid.
Hey, I don't have the answers, I just don't think it's fair to all the millions around the world that are waiting to get here the legal way.
But, I like your blog!!!!

Leanne, I know it's popular to refer to this bill as an "amnesty," but have you actually looked at its provisions? Have you looked at the enforcement steps that need to be taken before any illegals can be normalized? Have you looked at all the hoops they have to jump through in order to receive citizenship?

I just hope you're looking at solid reporting on the bill itself, rather than the things being said about it by people who insist on viewing it as 86 all over again.

Yes, I have.. and those hoops will not be hoops when all is said and done.
This might sound 'racist', but, I don't appreciate rewarding people who don't respect our laws and just barge in the country. And, as for 'doing the jobs Americans won't do', I drive up to Seattle from Big Bear CA 3x a year... we get up to Northern CA, and from then on, you don't see hardly ANY immigrants in the fast food places, I even saw a teenage white girl cleaning the toilet in a Dairy Queen, everybody speaks English, there's no biligual menu @ the McDonald's, etc. It's just an observation that's hard to miss... especially compared to life in Southern CA. Oh, and go to Bakersfield... my mother in law lives there.... there's a taco stand @ every single gas station on this one big street.... I don't mind, because I love Mexican tacos (lol)... but, it's too much. You see nice little towns turning into Barrios.
And why does anybody trust anything Kennedy has to say about Immigration... he's been in on I believe 3 different Immigration bills/laws, and they were total failures... promises never kept.... laws never upheld.

The difference being that this time the promises are actually written into the bill.

Does it give you any heart at all to see how upset your "opposition" is to this bill? Does it make you think there might be some merit in it after all?

Re the opposition, what that means is they won't stop fighting after the ink is dry. Which means we have to keep fighting for the provisions that are important to us.

Which is why I can well understand some of the concern on the Right. Because the Left is relentless--more relentless than we are usually, we could see the guarantees/promises stripped out over time, between activist court decisions, and future "modifications" to the bill by the current Demo majority once it is signed into law.

1986 is a powerful argument in favor of this view.

But 1986 didn't have actual provisions for enforcement--just a vague I.O.U. "gentleman's agreement."