Barack Obama argues that giving illegal immigrants a path to citizenship is not an amnesty if they pay a fine, Hillary Clinton backs full immigration reform, including tighter borders, John McCain co-sponsored a bill which offered an amnesty to illegal immigrants as well as tougher border controls while Mike Huckabee opposes any amnesty for illegal immigrants.
Which presidential candidate has the best plan for immigration reform?
Are you in favor of giving illegal immigrants the chance to become legal residents eventually or are you opposed to anything that could be seen as an amnesty?
"THEY DID NOT GET TO THIS CONTINENT FROM ANYWHERE ELSE"
Humans migrated to the American continents. Humans are indigenous only to the African continent.
The USA is the 3rd most populous nations on the planet, after China and India. We need to start thinking about stabilizing our population growth. The land area of the US can only support some many humans without the degregation of our fellow species of deer, bear, fox, birds, sea lions, fish, trees, redwoods, salmon, ..... the list goes on. Humans need to go on a diet - a population diet.
AS FAR AS I KNOW AMERICA WAS DISCOVERED A FEW HUNDRED OF YEARS BACK BY EUROPEANS.COLUMBUS WAS ABLE TO BUILD THE RIGHT SHIPS TO CROSS THE BIG WATERS,FOUND HIS WAY,CAME FACE TO FACE WITH THE LOCALS HERE IN AMERICA.THESE NATIVES HAD NEVER SEEN THE WHITE MEN BEFORE.I HEARD SOME OTHER THEORIES BUT NONE OF THEM PROVEN.I AGREE THOUGH ON POPULATION GROWTH ISSUES.BACK TO OUR TIMES,THE U.S. HAS BEEN A LEADER FOR MANY YEARS.AFTER 9/11 A SEA CHANGE HAS TAKEN PLACE.RIGHT NOW THE U.S. POPULARITY IS LOW WORLD WIDE.THAT IS EXACTLY WHAT THE TERRORISTS WANTED.I HAD THE CHANCE TO TRAVEL AND I FIND THE AMERICAN PEOPLE ARE VERY NICE AND COMPATIONATE.THE WORLD IS WATCHING AT THE U.S. ,THE RICHEST AND MOST POWERFULL NATION.BUT SUCH GROWTH HAD AN EFFECT ON POLLUTION AND GOBAL WARMING.POOR NATIONS WILL HAVE TO PAY A HIGH PRICE WITH NO BENEFITS.BUT THE U.S. CAN NOT LOOK THE OTHER WAY.THE INMIGRATION LAWS HAVE TO REFLECT AMERICAN VALUES.THE WORLD STILL EXPECTS THE U.S.TO SET AN EXAMPLE OF FREEDOM,JUSTICE AND OPORTUNITY.A SOCIETY FREE OF DISCRIMINATION AND SELFISHNESS.OBAMA IS THE MAN TO DELIVER THIS LEADERSHIP.MC CAIN IS ALSO AN HONEST MAN,BUT HE HAS STRINGS ATACHED TO THE MOST ROTTEN OF THE CONSERVATIVES,THOSE WHO WILL WRECK THIS SHIP.
Obama has spoken out strongly in favor of the "Dream Act". Agreeably, all students of the world, should be afforded financial assistance in helping them get started in their careers. However, if anybody should be given preference by the government in the distribution of financial aid, it should be American students and not foreign students.
The role of the US government is to provide services to US citizens. That is it's precise raisin d'etet
i think they should grant the illegal immigrants amnesty,these people along with the middle class are the back bone of this country,this country was built by immigrants so why kick them out?.they are the ones doing the jobs that americans will not do.so i agree barack and mcCain let them pay finds and go through the immigration system while we secure our borders.
I think all three candidates are on about the same page about immigration, but I'd have to say that McCain has the worst record for upholding the laws of sovereignty. The truth of the matter is that allowing a porous border is apart of a broader agenda to completely integrate the North American community to further mandate NAFTA-PLUS, creating an E.U. type system. I love our neighbors of both sides, but we need to uphold our constitutional freedoms as a nation.
"this country was built by immigrants"
"they are the ones doing the jobs that americans will not do"
I simple do not agree with these 2 cliche statements.
Taking the first one, I believe America was built by Americans. Exactly to whom is referred by the term "immigrant"? Does the word refer to "foreigners", to the "foreign-born", to those "foreigners" who legally came to America and stayed, or to those "foreigners" who both legally and illegally came to America and stayed, or those "foreigners" who came to America - stayed for awhile - then went back, or went somewhere else?
If we assume the term is used in the context of "foreign-born", we know that at a maximum historically, the US has been composed of 15% foreign-born. By this one could infer that the majority of the workforce has always been overwhelmingly American-born. The foreign-born have played a role, it's true, but not enough to say "this country was built by immigrants"
I think all people born in mexico or have mexican decent should go back to mexico. Mexico should be given back the land that was taken from them parts of california, texas, new mexico. People living in the USA should go back to england, Africa, italy, ireland whatever decent you are and leave the land to the Native Americans.
Stupid isn't it?
Im sick and tired of people saying how immigrants should go and how they take "Americans" jobs.Get over yourselves. This A growing nation full of immigrants the only true americans are native americans.
Now the immigrants they should take out are those with federal offenses, people with drunk driving records, rape, ect.
Illegally entering the US is a federal offense. Those who do that must and should be taken out. The US is full of immigrants - more than any other nation. We get as much as we need through legal quotas and federal programs.
California, Texas, New Mexico were 'technically' part of Mexico for only 25 years (1823-1848). In actuality, these territories had been abandoned by Spain, as Mexico was abandoned by Spain. New Spain was a vast empire that disintegrated into Chile, Argentinia, Cuba, Panama, Mexico, and the United States. Spain's capital in America was Mexico City. You don't claim that Patagonia was stolen from Mexico? You don't claim that Boliva or Equador or Havanna was stolen from Mexico? The Spanish packed their bags and left because their empire was too expensive. We are dealing with the baggage today.
None. As a Democrat and a Latina, I'm embarrassed by the lack of political vision and political will to enforce the existing laws we have on the books. Instead, we continue to help businesses undercut working-class U.S. citizens (whether they were born here or newly naturalized).
None of them. How come that is the case? The problem is that this is a complex issue and people (e.g., politicians, voters, the media) are not interested in putting the effort to truly understand it. The discussion always gets polarized. For instance, most people jump to the conclusion that the topic has to do with poor and uneducated illegal immigrants. That's not entirely true. I am Caucasian and I am an Engineer. I lived in the US for many years and I have always respected its immigration laws. I never breached the conditions of my visa and I put up with every single bureaucratic hurdle they came up with. Not only that. I was so upset after 9/11 that I pretty much begged the American Army to take me in. It was my opportunity to give back to the country I love so much. They could not take me in because I was living in the US under a temporary residency visa. A few years later, I decided to get married with another Engineer who came from a different country. Because we got married two months after she got her Green Card, it was absolutely impossible for us to live together in the US. That's right!! If we had married, two months earlier everything would had been fine. Ironically, at the time the hot topic of discussion was the sanctity of marriage and why gay marriage could not be legalized. God may not dispute the sanctity of marriage, but the INS has its own opinion of it I will tell you. Long story short... the issue put a tremendous strain in our marriage and we eventually divorced. I had to move away because I had no other choice. My personal experience opened my eyes to the plight of so many other immigrants. I have met a prominent Doctor doing cancer research in one of the most famous universities in the US and he is loosing nights of sleep worrying about whether he will be able to renew his visa .. should he fill form A9182 or T7462.. should he choose a different type of visa .. what about his wife because she came to the country under a different visa ... and so on.
Now if you are American, you might wonder why should you care about this. Because the current system is not necessarily favoring or attracting the best immigrants to the US. Many people are choosing to do their research or operate their businesses elsewhere. America has the potential to attract the best and the brightest but many of them are choosing to go to different countries like Canada and Australia.
I hope some of you will now understand that this issue goes way beyond what you see in the media. If anything else, next time you decided to voice your opinion, remember the following: You might be talking about the future of the mother or sister of a soldier who died in Iraq. Just look at the last names on the list of deceased soldiers and you will find many Latinos in the list. I wonder who would have the stomach to deport the mother of one of them.
Interesting comments, but some of what you say confuses me. Perhaps you can clear this up.
1. Are you Indian? (since Indians are considered members of the Caucasian "race", as well as Europeans)
2. You say more immigrants are going to Australia and Canada, but do the numbers reflect that? The USA is still the top destination for immigrants in the world, and the numbers do reflect that. I think your statement that immigrants are going elsewhere is a myth. As much as US immigration laws have become more restrictive, they are still the most liberal in the world - and the numbers reflect this. Immigration to the US is still at historic highs.
3. Then your comment that you wanted to join the military after 9/11, but couldn't get in, yet there are many Latinos, who are illegal aliens, giving their lives in Iraq. If these illegal immigrants could get into the US military, why couldn't you - with your legal status? I believe one can get into the national guard without being a citizen. Why didn't you take that route?
If someone's mother commits a crime - robs a bank, parks illegally, cheats on her taxes, commits murder, commits ID theft, breaks immigration laws, etc. - she is just as responsible (liable) for her actions whether or not her son may have perish in a military venture.
1. I am from Eastern Europe. I have fair skin and blue eyes. That's what I meant.
2. I didn't say more immigrants are going to Canada or Australia. I said that many of the best and the brightest are going elsewhere. Yes, America still attracts a lot of immigrants but a lot of the people getting into the country are not necessarily the ones who can contribute the most. The system does not favor the best necessarily. It favors whoever can exploit its loopholes whether they do this legally or not.
3. I tried every possible route. If you are not a US citizen, the only way to get into the military (no matter what branch) is to present a green card. Any illegal alien who has joined the military has done so by presenting a fake green card, which is a crime in itself. I don't think many illegal aliens join the military because they don't have the necessary documents. What is common is for the children of illegal aliens (i.e., children born in the US) to join the military. Go ask your neighborhood recruiter and he will tell you all about it.
FYI: If you think you can only be deported if you commit a crime such as robbing a bank, you are completely mistaken. This is only true for green card holders. If a green card holder commits a crime, he may loose the green card and be deported. If you are illegal, you can be deported at any given time no matter what you have done. Your mere presence in the country is a crime and it serves as ground for deportation.
As a black American, Im so disgusted of these white people thinking that this country seems to belong to them,well surprise, thats going to change when Barak Obama occupies the white house.
The fairest and most cost effective (to U.S. taxpayers) approach to illegal immigration, would be to stop incentivizing (i.e. encouraging) illegal immigration. The strong 'pull' for immigrants to illegally enter and stay in the U.S. is the free benefits (e.g. green stamps, free healthcare, education) they acquire. Take the incentives away, which they really have no right to, and there will be no reason to stay. This solution would actually SAVE the U.S. taxpayer money as well. Then, the incentive would be to enter the country LEGALLY in order to have access to the privileges, as well as incur the responsibilities, of being a U.S. citizen.
03/14/2008 6:22:07 PM
