As is usually the case, I would bet if we got off the tangents there wouldn't be a whole lot most of us disagree with.
Immigration is good. No problem with it. As of right now, we have laws of HOW you immigrate into this country. The laws in place allow for around 900,000 to 1,000,000 a year this way, but we've seen years as high as 1.8 million as recently as 1991 and as low as 700k as recently as 2003..
To me, any one of any race from any economic background and any intelligence could be one of those 1,000,000 people:
Give me your tired, your poor,
Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free,
The wretched refuse of your teeming shore.
Send these, the homeless, tempest-tossed to me,
I lift my lamp beside the golden door!
AWK, you are kind of responding as if you think people that are against ILLEGAL immigration do not agree with what's written above. That just couldn't be further from the truth. I love those five lines you posted. I love that we still take those who want to make a life here.
BUT BUT BUT, I hate that we don't do it by the laws that provide an avenue for such immigration.
So what we have are two immigrants...the ones who take the legal path, and the ones that do not. And that is where my division on the subject comes from. I DO want legal immigrants to come find their dream here. I DO NOT, no matter how loving, respectful, generous, and church-going they may be, want ILLEGAL immigrants here. It simply is not worth it. As noted in several previous posts, it casts a HUGE burden on nearly every aspect of American culture...jails, insurance companies, health care, crime, etc...all things we pay for on their behalf. I'm fine with paying for those things on behalf of the 1,000,000 legal immigrants.
And while you may not agree with the manner in which Kaos said it, but the overall point is pretty right on. If you take the crime and expense put on our society by ILLEGAL immigrants verses that which comes with the LEGAL immigrant...well, I don't think it would be much of a contest, and I don't think any honest person on here needs to see official numbers to agree.
So, let's not shoot and kill them on the spot, but lets seal up the border. That doesn't mean no one is allowed to immigrate into America....it just means they have to do it legally. I'm just baffled as to why this is even a discussion. Doesn't the last sentence I just wrote seem so obvious and agreeable by all sides?