Laelia wrote:
How often do people actually get detained for speeding or possession of pot? Both are considerably easier to detect than immigration status, but in the majority of cases police turn a blind eye as long as there's no threat to others. If you're so opposed to immigration on the grounds that it's illegal, do you similarly support zero tolerance toward speeding and possession? How fast do you drive to work?
You know this is flawed logic. The rapist can't cry about his sentence because the murderer was able to cut a deal. He's got to live with the consequences of the crime he committed. So, let's focus on the topic here, which is ILLEGAL immigration, which is a crime. Most countries have laws against people entering without permission. When an immigrant sneaks into the ANY country, through their actions they are not only demonstrating that they know they are committing a crime, but that their personal needs/wants are more important than obeying the laws of the country they have chosen. And, by extension, they are expressing that they will disregard any other laws that conflict with their personal needs. They become a burden on the areas where they settle by consuming local services and resources that were not budgeted to cover a population of criminals hiding behind the scenes. This is no way to ingratiate yourself to a population. A citizen who pays county taxes is not going to be very happy when they arrive at the county hospital with an ill child, and they have to wait for hours because the hospital is overwhelmed with illegal immigrants. The only way to curb illegal immigration is to remove their incentives for invading.
1. Make it illegal to employ illegal immigrants, either directly, or through contractors with fines that hurt.
2. Make it illegal to house illegal immigrants with fines that hurt.
3. Make social services unavailable to illegal immigrants, except for life-saving care.
4. Require law enforcement, social services and government officials to report illegal immigrants to immigration officials.
5. Tax money sent out of the country unless proper paperwork has been filed for exemption, such as companies who have operations out of country.
6. Give immigrants a grace period to return to their native countries, after which, illegal immigrants caught in country would be deported and banned from re-admission for a set time period.
I also think, in the case of the US, that the staffs of immigration offices should be expanded, particularly in Mexico, so that people can apply for legal entrance to the US, demonstrate an ability to speak basic English, and can be properly background checked.
If these steps were taken, illegal immigrants would leave, could apply for re-admission legally, and would have little incentive to invade. Border patrols would then be able to focus on drug cartels/trafficking and general national defense.
I also find it not a little ironic that Mexican president Calderon was in the US complaining about an Arizona law that basically just states that Arizona is going to enforce policies established by the US immigration laws already on the books. Why ironic? If you examine the laws against illegal immigrants in the country of Mexico (which I encourage you to do), the Mexican record of abuses against illegal immigrants in their country, and the criteria necessary to gain legal entry to live in Mexico, you'll know. It would be laughable, if it wasn't so pathetic.