Get tough!

Progressives don't believe these people are "aliens." They are humans. Humans who are running from poverty and despair. Humans who are trying to make a living and take care of their families. Humans running from a desperate situation. In many cases, the very country they are running to, their only hope, had a hand in the despair they face in their own country.

These people are coming here because they don't get paid well in their own country. Their families can't wait the 10+ years it would take to come here legally when they are on the brink of starvation and homelessness TODAY. So, they come here and make $5 an hour instead of making $5 a day at home. I think that is a reasonable choice for them to make. They are trying to make a life for their families.

Now, all this being said, I don't think there are too many who think we should do nothing about illigal immigration. It is a serious problem facing our nation, in some ways harming our economy and harming American workers. So, the question is, what do we do about it?

The first thing to do is address the root cause. NAFTA and other free trade agreements have severely harmed the economies in countries that participate in them, including the US. Why do you think there is so much outsourcing? We simply can't compete with a trading partner who can make materials for so much less than we can because they do not have worker's rights laws. We need to institute FAIR trade laws, laws that would force these other countries to either treat their workers with the dignity and respect they deserve, or lose the US as a trading partner. This would force other countries to pay their workers better and give them the same or better rights as the US has for it's workers, and thus cut to the root cause of illegal immigration.

Now, for the ones who are here: I don't think they should be severely punished for doing what any person would do to try to care for their family. I think they should be able to stay, however, not in an amnesty program. Amnesty, while good for the immigrants, is bad for American workers and Unions, as we saw during the Reagan era. What should happen is that these people should learn English, pay their back taxes, and take the citizenship test. Then they can be allowed to stay legally as American citizens. They should also have to submit to a background check. Anyone who is here illegally and has a criminal record should be deported.

This is the only option that makes sense to me. It addresses the root cause of immigration, and the program for dealing with those who are here illegally now would pay for itself when these people pay their back taxes. Biometric IDs, mass deportation, etc. etc. are simply logistical and economic nightmares, and they won't work because they don't address the root cause, which means people will still be coming in.

As for the fence issue (since I know it's going to come up): This is a border security issue, and while that discussion should be had, it doesn't belong in the immigration debate. It is an issue of national security, and that's where it belongs.

Any questions about anything I've said, feel free to ask.

~Kristen