Reply #22: Why would we want [View All]

to have 12 million people here with no stake in this country?

Take people who're here and already working hard, give them a chance to live "above board", improve their lives and enjoy the same things as the rest of us (yes, I know Bush has made this a less-good place to live, but hopefully we can turn that around) and ultimately become citizens, and we'll get new, productive Americans. Yes, Hispanics DO assimilate over the course of 2-3 generations, just like other immigrants before them. My S-I-L's grandmother migrated here from Slovenia in the 1920's and didn't speak a word of English till she died at the age of over 100. But her grandchildren are as American as anyone else.

OTOH, when that doesn't happen, you get results like the Europeans are dealing with now. A large, disaffected minority, worries about a "demographic bomb", slums ready to explode, and a certain nuomber of home-grown terrorists. We're really lucky in that we still have a chance to "get it right." with our new immigrants, illegal or not.

Granted, the culture gap between Hispanic immigrants and other Americans isn't as large as that between Europeans and their Muslim sub-cultures. Working in our favor are similar religions, parallel language roots, and similar beliefs about the work ethic. But Muslim immigrants to the U.S. seem to assimilate more than those in Europe, too. I don't know why, and don't want to speculate here, but just keep it in mind...we've done assimilation/acculturation WELL over the past couple of centuries. Why do a turnaround and mess it up?.

If we want to take out our wrath on people here illegally, concentrate on those who come in and commit real crimes (murder, robbery, human trafficking, etc.) And what about the nearly 50% that are here because they overstayed their visas? Some of the 9/11 hijackers supposedly fall within that category. Nobody's doing any checking or raids on them, but I'd say an "Illegal" who's here having overstayed their visa, and is living without a visible means of support (i.e. a job) is someone we should _really_ be worrying about.

OTOH, "guest worker" programs have no redeeming features, IMO. They _do_ allow employers to get away with low wages and very little responsibility for their workers. By the way, _that's_ the part of the recent bill that has the unions upset too.