Okay, naptime over.
Wow.....We do not need to shut down LEGAL immigration. We do not need to make it easier and we do not need to legalize those here. Those who strive to come here legally are not the issue, they are part of the solution.
I disagree. We need to shut down legal immigration for a while except in selected cases, for the reason RickZ stated: we need to assimilate those whom we've allowed in but were permitted to enclave instead. We also get a lot of legal immigration through asylum, many of whom also do not assimilate, and we need to shut that off except in selected instances as well.
I believe if you'll consult John Florida about the rigamarole and run around with which those looking to legally emigrate have to deal, you may get a better perspective on the need to streamline and shorten the process. If the emigres are desirable -- and I believe it does not take ten years to figure that out -- then they should be allowed to get on with it.
Chain migration has to be stopped. Just because Pancho, Soong, Francois, Ramesh and Kim are desirables and a boon to us does not mean their parents, siblings, cousins, etc. are or will be as well; I don't give a rat's about "family reunification" as it is not for our benefit, it is for the immigrant's.
I'm not good at this...let me see if I can explain my point from the perspective of small business. I have many small business friends. We meet each month. Today, most use ( I'd state forced) some type of "foreign" labor, rarely used a decade ago, and you know what, they are hard workers and do a good job. There is a strong work ethic, but highly suseptable to the trappings of "free", frankly, just like everyone else. It's predictable they will vote democrat. The change I've witnessed over the last 20 years has not happened because my buddies are greedy bastages and want to make as much money as possible...... But because of an overabundance of taxation, regulation, gov't interference at every level.......so the unskilled "foreign" worker fills a need, not created for profits sake alone, but from the necessity to keep a business viable. In a world where small business profits are squeezed to the brink and you have a family to care for, that unskilled worker has become essential.... Since the 1980's, The United States of America has been creating this need. As long as a landscaper must buy 200.00 worth of permits for a 1000.00 dollar job, there will be illegal, unskilled labor.
I'm doing some remodeling of my business. The skilled aspects( plumbing, electrical) of what I need does not come from the "unskilled" crowd. Until we create a business friendly enviroment, at every level of gov't, we will continue to be overrun with illegals. We can enforce the borders, fine people, it won't matter.
Of course, it aint happening. I'd venture a guess the unskilled have no real interest to become a citizen. They are looking for work. They will take what free chit dems will give them and still show up at 6am and work til darkthirty. They leave an area when: 1) the work dries up...that's it. Now, the work may dry up because everyone will go out of business, but it would be much more effective if the guy who hires over half the population didn't feel the need to cut costs by hiring illegals.
Maybe not, but once they download their anchor babies, they get all the bennies and the bonus of citizenship for their offspring and none of the responsibilities.
I get the need for low-cost unskilled labor, but importing that, regardless of how hard they're willing to work is not the right thing to do -- not for them and not for us -- and it is my belief this particular issue needs to be viewed through a bigger lens than just what is allowing your business, or that of anyone else's, to be able to stay afloat as the pertinent point.
We have our own unskilled and skilled labor here and the laws need to change to allow these people to be hired and paid for the value they provide, no more and no less.