I used to be a bleeding-heart liberal, but it's issues like illegal immigration that have helped me to get over that.
My grandparents and my mother were immigrants, but they were legal. Probably most immigrants to this country have been legal until fairly recently. Why are we making an exception for one particular group of people? That applies also to learning the language. No other group was ever given special consideration as far as having signs and phone messages and so forth in their language. They had to learn English in order to get along in this country. If a person intends to live here permanently, it is to their advantage to learn English, and the sooner the better.
It also doesn't help the cause for illegals to demonstrate for their rights, as they have sometimes done. What rights? If they are here illegally, they have no rights, including no rights to special treatment in getting education.
Let's get some straight thinking into all this, rather than acting emotionally (as I used to do). This country cannot support the world, nor should it be expected to. There are plenty of native-born people who need help, and that's enough of a burden on the government.
No matter how much you might like or admire some particular illegal(s), don't expect that they should be any exception to the law.
— Darlene Wright
Leicester
Learning to speak English properly is not a requirement for being an American. If it was, many natives would be disqualified.
Our immigration system is racist. It is racist because, instead of setting one common minimum standard for every immigrant to reach, it uses cherry-picking and quotas to determine who gets in and who doesn’t. Our immigration policy should be one based on inclusion, not exclusion. Unless there is something obviously wrong, you should get in. To do otherwise is a betrayal of the principles of Liberty and the Pursuit of Happiness on which this country was founded. Until that is the case, I contend that it is the duty of every American to resist this unjust system.
Every human has the Natural Rights as outlined in the Declaration. That’s the point of the document, that the British were trampling on these rights, which is why were rebelling. We are meant to apply those rights to everybody, as an example and model to other countries. The current example and model we offer is one of fear, xenophobia, and bigotry.
You are right in that our Country cannot support the world. Who is asking it to? Not the immigrants, who work long hours for little pay, constantly in fear of being discovered. Not the immigrants, who go to our schools, excel above native-born children, and would be great assets to our society if they didn’t have to worry about being discovered. Technically, the greatest drain on our society, the ones who consume the most resources while giving the least back, are the natives, most of them white. In fact, from a coldly utilitarian viewpoint, we as a country would be better off letting in the highly motivated workforce that wants to be here, and expelling the unemployed slackers and slobs currently clogging our welfare system.
But that would be stupid and evil. Because it is not the business of you, the government, or anyone else how much worth I or anyone else contributes to society, in your opinion. It is not your business whether or not I’m a good, God-fearing, English-speaking American or not. In a sane world, the most important criteria for making someone an American is whether or not they _want_ to be an American. That should be enough, and we should make it as easy as possible for them.
Yes, let’s fight amongst ourselves for the few table scraps the elite toss us. It’s all immigrants fault that we have wasted hundreds of billions on wars of corporate domination.
[b]Probably most immigrants to this country have been legal until fairly recently.[/b]
Yeah almost like the laws and regulations and various hoops to jump through have radically changed since your grandmother immigrated here a century ago?