What should be done about illegal immigration?

You see, cjhsa, I had to learn all US-states, Russian republics, Austrian Länder, Swiss cantons, French regions etc when nobody thaught about you: at school.

I might not remember (now, and admittingly at school as well) every state capital on the second, but where what state, department, region etc is situated - well, I suppose, I wouldn't be totally wrong.

Hill Impasse Spurs States to Tackle Illegal Immigration

By T.R. Reid
Washington Post Staff Writer
Wednesday, May 3, 2006; Page A01

PHOENIX -- State legislatures around the nation are considering hundreds of proposals dealing with illegal immigration, reflecting the exasperation of many local officials with Congress's failure to contend with the millions of undocumented workers who have entered the nation in recent years.

Here in Arizona, the House has passed a proposal to set fines and other penalties for companies that hire undocumented workers. The bill, which had regularly failed in previous years, is expected to win Senate approval within days and is only one of many plans under consideration.

43 States Considering Legislation
This year, 463 bills dealing with illegal immigrants were introduced in 43 states, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures. Following are the states that are considering legislation on three of the main issues.
The Immigration Debate
IMG ALT Immigration reform proposals before Congress have sparked a nationwide political debate.

Others include bills to erect an 80-mile fence and a multimillion-dollar radar system along the Mexican border, designed to slow the nightly flow of migrants across the desert. Another bill would require police to check the citizenship of anyone stopped for a traffic offense. The state House, by a vote of 43 to 12, has passed a resolution calling on Washington to dispatch the U.S. Coast Guard to this landlocked, coast-free state to assist in patrolling the border.

For the most part, the new state measures are designed to get tough on illegal immigrants, on employers who give them jobs and on state officials who give them benefits. In some states, illegal immigrants can buy lottery tickets but cannot collect if they win a significant prize.

At the same time, though, some states are moving in the other direction -- making life easier for immigrants, legal or otherwise. In April, Nebraska's legislature overrode a gubernatorial veto to offer in-state college tuition rates to the children of illegal immigrants. Nine other states have formally authorized tuition breaks for undocumented immigrants, and many public universities employ a "don't ask, don't tell" policy for graduates of high schools in the states.

Maryland and Virginia lawmakers considered proposals to crack down on illegal immigrants in their recently concluded legislative sessions, but none passed.

The multistate approach, with some states at variance with others, threatens to create a maze of laws and regulations at a time when the nation as a whole is struggling with how to contend with an unprecedented wave of illegal immigration.

"We're not going to solve this problem with a patchwork approach at the state level. It's a national problem, and the need is to repair the national system," said Josh Bernstein of the National Immigration Law Center, which works to promote the rights of low-income immigrants. "We're not going to erect barriers between states."

Advocates on both sides said that Monday's economic boycott and rallies will work to their advantage. Opponents of illegal immigration said the protests hardened their resolve, while immigrants' rights activists predicted that the large turnout will sway lawmakers to their side.

The National Conference of State Legislatures has tallied 463 bills introduced this year in 43 states, by far the biggest crop of state immigration proposals ever recorded. Ann Morse, who tracks the issue for the NCSL, said this rush of legislation demonstrates that state legislators are no longer willing to cede this high-profile political concern to Congress.

Morse cited three reasons for the unprecedented interest in immigration at the state level. "First, there's the reaction to 9/11 and the concern that our borders are not safe," she said. "Another factor is the number of immigrants and a general sense that the influx is growing rapidly. And finally, we seem to have a Congress in gridlock on the issue. State legislators feel if they don't act, nobody will."

That last concern has been crucial in the legislature here, noted state Rep. Russell K. Pearce, a Republican who says he is "fed up" with his own party's management of the issue in Washington.

The above article make sense considering the simple fact that congress is in a deadlock on immigration legislation.


Drive for strict US immigrant law
Campaigners in favour of tightening US immigration laws are preparing to set off on a 12-city tour to try to build support for their cause.

The Minuteman Project, which patrols the US-Mexico border, is launching the 10-day convoy after pro-immigrant mass rallies across the country.

About 100 people will travel from Los Angeles to Washington DC for a rally.

It comes as the US Senate prepares to try again to break the deadlock on immigration reform.

The Minuteman group is made up of volunteers who strongly oppose illegal immigration, and organise border patrols to try to prevent people crossing into the US illegally.


MINUTEMAN CARAVAN TIMETABLE
3 May: Los Angeles, CA
3 May: Phoenix, AZ
4 May: Albuquerque, NM
5 May: Abilene, TX
6 May: Crawford, TX
7 May: Little Rock, AR
8 May: Memphis, TN
8 May: Nashville, TN
9 May: Birmingham, AL
9 May: Atlanta, GA
10 May: Greensboro, NC
11 May: Richmond, VA
12 May: Washington DC

It says it will use the caravan to mobilise voters and recruit members, and try to counter the impact made by the huge pro-immigrant rallies held earlier this week.

The caravan will leave Los Angeles on Wednesday, where it plans to highlight unemployment in the African-American community.

It says the problem is caused by illegal immigrants taking jobs "that Americans would be willing to do".

The group is planning to hold rallies in cities including Phoenix in Arizona, and Crawford in Texas, where President George W Bush has a ranch.

The convoy will finish by driving to Capitol Hill in Washington DC for a rally on 12 May.


US ILLEGAL IMMIGRANTS
About 11.5m illegal immigrants in the US
Four out of 10 have been in US five years or less
75% were born in Latin America
Most enter via southern US border
California, Texas and Florida host most illegal immigrants
Many work in agriculture, transport and construction

"Our power is not putting a million people on the street, our power is putting 10 million people at the voting box," said executive director Stephen Eichler.

The US Senate's majority leader, Bill Frist, said on Tuesday the Senate would try again within weeks to break the deadlock on immigration reform.

He was speaking after huge demonstrations on Monday illustrated immigrants' demands for recognition.

Congress is caught between competing bills that would either criminalise or legitimise illegal immigrants.

Mr Frist said his attempts at reconciliation would focus on "border security first and foremost".

But he acknowledged that legislation also had to address the issue of the estimated 11.5 million illegal immigrants in the US.
Story from BBC NEWS:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/2/hi/americas/4968906.stm

Published: 2006/05/03 12:36:49 GMT

Mr Frist is an idiot: you don't control illegal immigrant at the borders. That's the reason why illegal drugs continues to be a problem in this country.

immigration
this scenario reminds me about some statements that were made some twenty (?) years ago concerning illegal drugs coming in the united states .
i seem to recall that part of the reason for the invasion of panama and the arrest of noriega , was to stop the flow of drugs into the states .
from what i recall , it was stated quite officially that once noriega was arrested no more illegal drugs would be coming into the united states .

(anyone remember the exact words ?)

i understand that plenty of drugs are still coming in - probably noriega's fault - he's not to be trusted .
hbg

And Mr. Cicerone (I am a typical Democrat) Imposter I am truly curious about this statement.

How do you control illegal drugs?

I don't believe it is horseshit. It just hasn't been done effectively, and is a harsh solution to a difficult problem.

Look, if I thought that we could make a 100-foot high impregnable wall made of pillows, and it would work, I would advocate that. I have no desire to hurt anyone.

But if we laid down a minefield all along the border, and posted huge signs on the border attesting to this fact, we wouldn't be hurting anyone. This is our soil and we can do whatever we goddamn well please on our soil; anyone who got blown up trying to cross it has noone to blame but themselves.

If a 'line of death' is too rough, then we should instigate other policies tough enough to stop the flow of illegal immigrants over the border. How about, anyone we catch, we deport them to an island in the south pacific so they can make a better life for themselves there. Perhaps we could tranquilizer dart them, take all their possesions, and then dump em back in mexico. Without some sort of deterrent, they will just keep coming and coming and coming and coming and frankly that is not an acceptable solution.

I agree that legality for existing illegal aliens is appropriate; I also believe that stopping the flow of illegal aliens is crucial. This is done on two ends: on the job front, by cracking down on employers, and on the border.

I don't normally buy into all the Republican 'terrorism' hysteria, but securing our borders does make sense. There is zero point in fighting any war against Al Qaeda if we can't keep people from coming and going as they please into the country; we will lose in the long run to terrorism, and I don't want to see that happen.

As I said earlier, I don't blame any illegal alien for trying to sneak into the country. But they shouldn't blame me for trying to stop them.

Cycloptichorn

Your indiscrimate use of the word "we" is a problem (shared by Foxfyre). I bet that most Americans would strongly object to laying a minefield on the southern border.

Or by "we" you mean the minutemen. They have the right to build walls on private property with the owners permisson, ride in crazy caravans of RV's and insist they aren't racist.

But they don't have the right to lay down minefields.

Are you sure you are a Democrat?

You still didn't tell me your surefire plan to solve the drug problem.

Or did the minefield have something to do with this.

ebrown, Have you ever gone to some countries in SE Asia? The penalty for having illegal drugs is death. Do you know how much it costs to take care of drug addiction in the US? In Singapore, people are trained through high fines for throwing trash on the ground; it's one of the cleanest city/states in the world.

Countries like this make me very happy to be living in the United States.

Me too, but that doesn't cure the drug or illegal immigration problems. I'm not advocating for the death penalty; just showing examples of what works in this world of today. The penalties need to be prohibitive for people to continue illegal entry for both the employer and immigrant.

The point is there is a tension between "law and order" and "compassion and human rights".

The fact that we have compassion and a constitutional prohibition against cruel and unusual punishment makes it very hard for us to solve the drug problem. You simply can not institute the cruel and harsh measure that would be required to stop the drug problem if you want to be in a free and just society.

A catch-22 all the way around. Yeah, I understand.

It is not a catch-22 at all. It is a question of competing values. This is simply a question of which values are more important.

If you value "law and order" more than decency and compassion than you will support strict laws with harsh penalties and no leniancy. If you care more about the people involved than the laws, then you will support leniency and the chance to fix things without completely up ones life.

Concerning the drug problem, this is the classic liberal-conservative divide between investing in drug-treatment programs or in prisons.

(You do know we are still talking about immigrantion, right?)

Before I answer this question,I want to ask you one.

Since you are so pro illegal immigrant,how many of them do you have living in your house,eating your food,using your medical supplies (aspirin and the like),wearing your clothes,and how much are you charging them to live there?

Now,as to how to control illegal drugs,thats easy...

You allow the Us Coast Guard and the US Navy to board and search EVERY ship entering US waters.
Those found to have illegal drugs aboard will be sunk,with their crews aboard them.
The navy and tha USCG can always use gunnery practice.

Any aircraft known to be carrying illegal drugs,will be shot down immediately.
The USAF,USN,USMC,and US Army all have fighter aircraft that could use live fire practice.

For drug dealers,you allow undercover oficers to handle that.
Once a drug dealer sells to an undercover cop,that officer pulls his badge,identifies himself as a cop,then the dealer is given an instant,automatic,on the spot execution.

After about 90 days of this,I can almost guarantee that the drug problem will be solved.

Only the ones who work for me.... iron my clothes, cook my food, take care of my kids, pick my lettuce, clean my toilets and serve my hamburgers. I don't need to charge them, I just take extra taxes from them that I don't need to refund.

Strange thing though, now I have found that they are a part of my life, so much so that I can't live without them. Even so, I kick them around when I can, blame all of my problems on them and insist that they just keep quiet.

So you admit that you are an intolerant racist?
Thats a start.

It's a catch-22, because we must rely on our government to make the laws and enforce them. Many of us looking at this issue have our own beliefs about how illegal immigration should be handled. According to this mornings local newspaper, the VIEWS ON ILLEGAL IMMIGRATION are as follows:

81% say illegal immigration to the US is out of control
79% say controlling US borders to halt illegal immigrants is extremely or very important
61% say the US should make illegal immigration a crime

What our government ends up doing is anybody's guess.

Only as much as you admit that you are not.