We're all immigrants, and as much as we should respect the law, we shouldn't tear a family apart because our institutions have ignored enforcement all these years. This debate keeps reminding me how a great grandfather of mine became a citizen:

During the late 1800's, my great grandfather immigrated from Sweden to Minnesota via Canada. I don't think anyone checked anything back then, and he got work as a farm hand. One day, a local politician came to visit him and the other men working in the fields.

"Hey, you boys like to have a beer in town on Saturday night?" he asked.

"Ja Ja sure" they all replied.

The politician, finding a sympathic ear continued, "Well, do you know that some people want to make this a dry county? That means you can't drink beer!"

"Ah nooo!" the farm hands replied

"Well there's something you can do about it!", the politician said, "You can vote in the next election for me, and you'll get to keep drinking beer."

"Ja ja, we'll do that" said the farm hands

"But, there's one problem. If you want to vote, you have to be a citizen" said the politican.

"How do we do that then" the farm hands asked

The politician had the solution "Well, all you have to do is get in this wagon and we'll make you a citizen"

So, the farm hands got into the wagon which took them to the county court house. They stood before the judge, raised their right hands swore their allegiance.

And that was how my great grandfather became a citizen

Did your grandfather overrun a border patrol agent? Did he sneak in to the country? Bet he registered somehow and would not dare ignore authority. Did he hide from the politician? No! I AM an immigrant - a LEGAL immigrant.

This adminstration is so right wing except on the immigration issue. Unfortunately this is where they need to be to the right. I have been a Los Angeles resident for the last 27 years and can tell all of you in the heartland this...'YOU DO NOT WANT MORE ILLEGAL IMMIGRANTS!! Take my word for it. By the time you see your cities deteriorate it will be too late. We now have a mayor giving speeches in Spanish telling the illegals it is alright to stay. This is coming from a Mayor in a major city in the U.S. We are past the point of no return here folks. It is just a matter to time when they will be wanting the LA area to become a soverign nation. We are a lost cause but it's not too late for you in the heartland. Don't let your citiy deteriorate like we have. It's not fun to see poverty everywhere you go. It really ruins your day and this happens to me every day of my life. I see it, I live it. Just counting my days when my good job disappears so I can leave this once lovely city.

Amen to that. I am in Texas and it is the same here. The politicians just want their poor votes. They don't mind sacrifising the country to get the votes.

you know what nobody can take away your job if you know yourself is competent enough . If you are an effective & efficient worker theres nothin to be afraid of the big question is do you think globally or you just think out of your kitchen, is your skill enough for your company to keep you or rather trade you to somebody whose more efficient person that happens to be an illegal immigrant on its way to be a legal citizen here look at yourself in the mirror & asses yourself.

bOlony

You need to learn how to spell it, before you say it.

well for you, who's so arrogant to say that your legal immigrant here, the question is have you been lawfull immigrant or just depending on what the state can offer you,SHAME ON YOU! who ever you are. I've been a citizen here but i never ever used it to diminished other people have you ever asked yourself where you really came from... as what you said you are a legal immigrant here thus that only mean you are not really from here i mean the red skin indians are the native of this land, can you go back to american history & for sure you dont even know how america got its name... ARe you realy worth to be a legal immigrant of my dear united states of america.. GOLDEN RULE : Do not do unto others what you do not want others to do unto you! Hope you be happy to share what ever blessings we recieved as citizen of this beloved country, but for those who will be given the chance to be a legal immigrants here KNOW YOUR RESPONSIBILTY NOT ONLY YOUR RIGHTS...

I don't understand where comes this urge to put illegal immigrants on a path to citizenship. First of all, these people have already shown themselves to be irresponsible and bad risks. I say do nothing, except encourage them to leave.

Granting benefits, such as a path to citizenship, will encourage more illegal immigration. Removing those benefits that illegal immigrants now get, will also speed their self-deportation.

Naturally, we need to improve conditions in sending nations, such as Mexico. However, this is a "cart & horse" conundrum. If we continue to be the safety valve for the eilite of Mexico, to send their excess population - then nothing will ever improve in Mexico, and the situation will only get worse.

in the 1800 we were a 3 world country things have changed since then ja ja its called infastructure we have in they want it thats why there coming if it keeps going like this we will not have enough infastructure for them all thats why 30 live to a house and we will be a third world country again

Tear a family apart? The entire family can go back to their country...nobody is stopping that.

Guess why Italians (dont get angry, I'm 1/4 Italian, myself) are referred to sometimes as WOPs... Because they arrived with out papers. Back then it was legal, now it is now. Follow the law, or get out.
Another interesting point to be made... guess why all of these politicians are so soft on it all? Because in some of their districts and states, a person need not be a citizen to vote. HOW INSANE IS THAT? ONLY citizens should have the right to vote. I don't care if you're natural born or naturalized, they're the same to me; anyone who has not sworn allegiance to this country should NOT have any say in how it runs or what it does.

I think that ILLEGAL immigration is wrong. I mean, the word ILLEGAL is right there in the beginning of the phrase. How can someone from another country think that it is ok to go to ANY country illegally? Much less, have the nerve to complain about the way things work here after ILLEGALLY crossing our borders. HOW DARE YOU!!! I think that the immigration bill is extremely lenient. Furthermore, I believe that anyone that is here illegally shouldn't look a gift horse in the mouth.
JLB,
Austin, Texas

There needs to be objective assesement of the situation, rather than be bigots who climb up a tree then prevents another the safety of the same tree. Most people would do what it takes if there was a way to proceed. Survival knows no national boundries, so most need to understand that the risk taken signifies the dire situation most illegals leave behind in their various homelands. We should first ensure border security, then start to address the internal problems. If only Mr president hadnt squandered our purse on a bogous war, this could have been a truly enduring legacy to leave behind, as oppossed to a wall that solidifies the new era of a north-south divide.

Before I render any Opinion on any Bill like that I would have to know what is actually in it. If this Bill is more than 10 pages in Length ,look out ,shady deals may have been cut and then look out for the details. Why don't we get the full story before we are asked to coment on it.Just bits and pieces will not benefit the cause on either side.

sooo right!

If it's over 10 pages long then it is filled with at least a billion dollars of pork projects to insure re-election!

This is just more political theatre. Politicans will be able to say something is being done when this does not solve the problem. Some of the previous comments show how uneducated Americans are about the causes of this problem. The real issue here is tradeand as long as that is ignored, we will have millions trying to get here.

Look at trade deals such as NAFTA which are unfairly biased towards the United States. Two million Mexican farmers were driven off the land because cheap, subsidized (by our tax dollars) U.S. corn (most of it produced by huge agribusiness corporations) undercut the price the Mexican farmers were getting. These people needed to work so they came north to do the jobs most Americans would never consider doing, like picking our produce.

While this was happening, we tightened up the border. This led to people, who used to come and work for a few months and then go home, to stay and send for their families because it was becoming too difficult to get back into the U.S.

Go visit the border area and meet with those who are coming. Everyone that I met said they'd rather be at home. Most had children that they could not feed. Who of us wouldn't do the same to make sure our kids were fed? We Americans are hypocrites. We stick our heads in the sand and refuse to examine the economic systems which benefits us to the detriment of hundreds of millions, if not billion, of poor people around the world.

Bravo! Very well said!

I want to add a couple of points about trade. In so far as NAFTA is lopsidedly benefiting the US, you really mean it's benefiting some companies in the US, and some individuals in the US. Many Americans are getting the NAFTA shafta, too.

Secondly, NAFTA, CAFTA (and other trade treaties) are unconstitutional, because they did not pass with the 2/3 vote of the Senate required by the constitution for treaties. I don't recall any constitutional amendment being passed whereby a treaty can be approved by a simple majority of the Congress, do you? NAFTA passed with only 63 votes; for CAFTA the Senate vore was 54-45.

They needed to overrule our precious constitution in order to get these nasty trade treaties passed. The whole business stinks, as far as I'm concerned.