kramerica wrote:That argument is bogus but I keep seeing it everywhere. Last time I checked most of our ancestors that came over on the boat didn't check beforehand whether they'd be "legal" or not when they arrived or whether the US hit its immigrant quota that year. Nope. They simply got on that boat and sailed to the new world in hopes of opportunity. And frankly, I'd hope that my ancestors would've sidestepped immigration officers if upon arrival they were told to turn back (I bet yours would have). You really think my great-great grandpa would say "oh sorry to offend your quotas this year, I'll just be getting back on this steamboat and going back to the podunk bullshit country of mine that's being ravaged by world war I, poverty, and disease. But thanks anyways!"

but they DID turn people away. people got here and were told to go home. yeah, there were some who were like 'f that' and snuck in, but sorry, even if an entire boat full of people snuck into america, it is a lot less than the thousands of people who sneak across our borders each day.
where does it say that the majority of illegal immigrants are here because of expired visas? i know of three people who were here on visas, one of them went home after it expired, the other was applying for an extension and the third is my best friend's dad. he's been here for 30+ year but he doesn't want to give up his greek citizenship, so every couple of years (or every year, i forget how it goes), he has to go to the city and fill out forms to extend his visa and, by doing so, he's gotten it extended every year or every five years, for the past 30 years. it's apparently not THAT hard, he's been retired for the past 10 years. you can try to justify their actions or put their plight into perspective, but the law is still the law. you don't go to another country, break the law and then protest the fact that the law exists. but of course, this is america, where people sue because their coffee is too hot.
i also find it absolutely baffling that illegal immigrants can collect welfare. they're not even supposed to be here, yet I'M paying for them to be here? awesome. let's not forget that (according to the wikipedia link that was just posted) the majority of violent crimes in the us are commited by illegal immigrants. good! how dare i have a problem with THAT, right?
that being said, it is a sad thing that people have to sneak into america for work, because their own country is so poorly run that they can't support their families. i said before, i think a good way to curb illegal immigration would be to help strengthen mexico's economy. even so, illegal immigration is a serious problem and it needs to be addressed and we should start by enacting some serious changes in the way business runs in the states. we don't even have to go to india or china to outsource jobs, we're outsourcing in our own country.
a perfect solution to all of our country's problems would be to say that senators and congressmen, all elected officials for that matter, are going to get paid, let's sayyyyy $65k a year. 99% of the time they don't deserve to get paid the change in my car's cupholder and they get the summer off, so what's there to complain about? they certainly don't deserve the $165,000 base salary they're getting now. how is it that WE elect these people, but THEY are the ones who decide how much we pay them?
after a couple of years, the money we save from paying for these idiots could be put towards a number of things - we could help mexico out, cut down on fuel prices by reinvesting the money into crude oil, put it into social security, etc. hell, if we put the money bush pissed away on the war in iraq into oil, we wouldn't be having the problems we're having now. if we gave it to mexico, maybe they could start improving the quality of life in their country. but, we all know this will never happen. it sure would be nice, though. 2008 can't come soon enough. i got a little off topic there, it's early.