Every survey imaginable has shown that the overwhelming majority of Americans do not want illegal migrants given a free pass on this issue. It cuts across regional lines, racial lines, economic lines, political affiliations, etc.

Meanwhile, inside the Beltway, both parties are pandering to the illegals in order to curry favor with the fast growing Hispanic voter base. Both parties see the Hispanic vote as strategic to their future plans. 'W' has made it plain that his allies will oppose any bill that does not let the flood of low-wage migrants to continue. That despite knowing that Joe and Jane 6-Pack feel exactly the opposite.

Think the people inside the Beltway don't give a sh*t about you except on that one day you get to vote? This is exhibit 'A'. Meanwhile, both sides are scheming to minimize the power and effect of your vote, if it gets counted at all.

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"¡Si se puede!" means "If we can!" in Spanish; "Yes we can!" would be ¡Sí, se puede!.

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If immigrants' labor rights were protected, they would not depress wages so.

The "nationalist," in actuality nativist, arguments in favor of ejecting illegal immigrants are playing into the hands of corporatist shills. If minimum wage and laws against companies hiring illegal immigrants below minimum wage were enforced for illegal immigrants, there would be no "competitive advantage" of illegal immigrants, nor any depression of wages resulting therefrom. A tax on the use of foreign labor would also go a long way toward reviving the domestic job market, particularly if it taxed corporations for the full difference between prevailing domestic wages for a job and whatever were paid in wages overseas or to illegal immigrants.

It's not possible to enact any useful policy with a far right-wing administration in power. Best would be to block any neo-bracero action they attempt to take until such time as one can arrange for minimum wage and background check laws to be enforced and for green cards to be handed out to all comers.

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llegal Immigration Explained - Profits & Poverty, Social Security Starvation

Why the Federal Government Can't End Illegal Immigration
Illegal immigration into the United States is a highly profitable proposition for both employers and the US government, and it also benefits Mexico, which is the largest source country of undocumented immigrants into the US.

In Fall 2005, the US and Mexican governments are silently, and actively, enticing illegal immigrants to enter this country and to work illegally. Poverty-stricken immigrants respond to the financial enticements...and then are blamed by US citizenry for illegally being in the US.

The purpose of this 4-part article is to explain why the US federal government can't afford and doesn't soon plan to to end illegal immigration.

Part 1 - United States Borders Are Barely Enforced
Ten million illegal immigrants live in the US, according to estimates by academic and
government agencies, although Bear-Stearns investment firm analysts claim that the US
illegal immigrant population "may be as high as 20 million people."

About 75% of undocumented immigrants arrive across the US southern border with
Mexico, and hail from Mexico, El Salvador, Guatemala, Colombia and other Central and
South American countries. The bulk...about 50% of all illegals....are Mexican-born people.

Time magazine stated in 2004 that illegal immigration accelerated under the Bush
Administration, with the US gaining 3 million additional illegal immigrant residents in
2004. A third of all illegal immigrants in the US live in California. Other states with large
illegal populations are, in descending order, Texas, New York, Illinois, Florida and Arizona.

After more than 100 years in existence, President Bush dissolved the US Immigration and
Naturalization Service (INS)in March 2003 and absorbed it into the new Homeland Security Department, along with FEMA and dozens of other federal agencies created to help
citizens and residents.

Until its dissolution, the INS had been part of the Justice Department since 1940, and
before that, part of the US Labor Department. After the September 11, 2001 tragedy, the
Bush Administration complained that the INS was insufficiently focused on deporting and
expelling illegal immigrants, and thus asked that it be transferred to Homeland Security.

The US Border Patrol is charged with the responsibility of enforcing illegal immigration
across US borders. Until 2003, the Border Patrol was part of the INS, but was also folded
into Homeland Security (as a separate agency from INS).

The massive US intelligence agencies overhaul passed by Congress and signed by
President Bush in January 2005 required Homeland Security to hire 10,000 more Border
Patrol agents, 2,000 per year starting immediately. The Border Patrol currently employs
9,500 agents who patrol 8,000 miles of border.

But Bush Administration ignored the law mandating the hiring of new agents. Said
Congressman John Culberson (R-TX) to CNN's Lou Dobbs, "Unfortunately, the White House ignored the law, and only asked us for 200 more agents. That's unacceptable." Culberson was referring to the federal budget for 2006 in which President Bush provided funds for only 210 new agents, not 2,000 additional agents.

Both houses of Congress worked together twice in 2005 to bypass the White House, and
hire 1,500 new Border Patrol agents......500 shy of that required by law, but far surpassing
the mere 210 planned by President Bush.

(CONTINUED TO NEXT POST)

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Here we go again with another Survey; The overwhelming majority of Americans, as in the first posting, want this or want that. The majority of Americans don't want to be involved in Iraq either, does that mean anything?

As was mentioned on The Early Show this morning by an "EXPERT" about incarceration or deportation of Illegal Migrants, if that's a feasibility then BUSH and his staff should be able to ascertain the origin of Native Indians and ship them back too! After all there's only 1.8 million of them left between Canada and the U.S.

Maybe we can draft a Treaty with the Mexicans or give them their land back! All this country needs is more wars on more fronts.

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Realize the truth, true leftists and populists--the corpwhorate media is mainly on the side of those who are immigrants and those who favor mass immigration. They WILL WIN. THey have ALWAYS won. They will do whatever it takes to cram mass immigration down our throats. The American mind is something THEY created. They have domesticated America. Yes, mass immigration hurts most Americans. But we have about as much chance of winning as the cattle herd has of stopping the farmer from sending them to the slaughterhouse. You might as well take advantave of it

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"Dear Joe:

Here's hoping everything's ok with you. Really sorry to hear you lost that programming job to that H1B visa guy from India. But hey, every cloud has a silver lining. At least you know that you're doing your part to make America a truly multi-cultural Nirvana. Also sorry to hear that your son Joey won't be working that summer job this year with that lawn care company. It would really have helped out in your situtation. But just remember: those Guatemalan immigrants the company hired are part of the poor oppressed masses, and it is our duty to welcome them with open arms! And we all know that Joey is part of the pampered white lower middle-class.

Things have been going great for me at the college. I have been promoted from teaching Social Studies to that new professorship in multi-cultural and immigrant-advocacy studies. My wife Mary has a super job teaching English as a second language at the local Public School. The non-English speaking students have gone from zero a few years ago to almost 50% of the student body today, and they predict that it will be 80% in a few years--so you can see she will have lots of opportunities! She is using her spare time to take lessons in playing the Maraca and learning about Salsa dancing.

Well-gotta run. Hope the job thing works out ok, and that you'll be able to make that home mortgage payment next month!

Just a suggestion--I heard they are hiring computer programmers in Bangalore. You might want to check it out.

Your Friend,
Norman

P.S. Be sure to vote Dem. in '08!!"

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I believe it is deceptive to repeat over and over and over the phrase "undocumented immigrant", seeing as how they are all really *Illegal* immigrants. Though I understand that these people come to our country for a better life, and that they deserve that hope as much as any other, I dont think you could find any other country in the world that would actually propose something as preposterous as legalizing millions upon millions of people who are, in reality, breaking the laws of this land.

I think the ideas that Mccain and Kennedy put forward are interesting ones. If there were a way of documenting everyone, giving them background checks, and being able to tax and backtax money that is owed, etc. I think that our system would be in a much better place than it is now. But in no way shape or form do I believe that someone breaking the law should be allowed to continue breaking the law and then demand more rights as citizens, though they are not citizens at all. I would never wander into another country in an illegal manner and then have the gall to demand more rights, when I didnt have the time to use the proper, legal channels of entering the country in the first place.

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To the posters on here who are opposed to INCREASING the wages paid to illegals:

I know it is a natural reaction for MANY to look at the illegals and blame them. And they did break the law, and I have no sympathy for that. But.. as with everything... you have to find the root of the problem.

The root of the problem is that other law-breakers are benefiting from this situation. Those law-breakers are the people and corporations who hire illegals to work for wages and conditions the 'average american' wouldn't accept. And no one SHOULD accept them.

If corporations didn't get such an obvious winfall from illegal immigration, then these same corporations wouldn't have lobbyists asking the government to encourage illegal immigration. In other words, the real power in the US (and the world, likely) would change their tune.

The secret is to get to the corporations.. the secret is to change what works for *them.* The migrants are pawns - don't get racist about it.

It's class warfare. Nothing to do with race.

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It takes a massively huge amount of money and (paid) time to design, plan, coordinate, and execute even one demonstration of that size, much less a whole series of them across the country. Portapotties for a helf a million people don't come cheap and they never come free.

Who is paying for all this?

And who is paying Alternet for this endless stream of articles promoting the Bush Cheap Labor amnesty program?

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Check this out. Its there, clear as a bell, including the penalties for violations which are also not being enforced as I showed in my earlier post above. Under Clinton penalties collected were in the millions, under bush only $186,000 dollars was collected and yet he also had the biggest increase in illegals under his watch. (Dont forget to cut and paste).

http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/html

/uscode08/usc_sec_08_00001324----000-.html

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I've been following the protests and marches about immigration and the Bush policies towards illegals. It is too bad that there are no protests like the ones scheduled for April against the war in Iraq. While illegal immigration is a very important issue, I think that the illegal war in Iraq is an even bigger one. I am disappointed that there has been little action taken against Bush and the war. We seem to be very distracted and ignoring the real issues and ignoring the fact that more than 2000 Americans have died for the sake of control over oil. The situation in Iraq is dire. Everyday more Iraquis die and the so-called insurgents gain more power over the population by suicide bombings and daily killings. When will we wake up again and start protesting against war? What has happened to us?? Are we getting too complacent or just giving up?

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Meet Steve King, Republican Iowa Fifth US Congressional District. He likes to call himself "the blue-eyed Tom Tancredo."

In a story by reporter Jane Norman, in The Sunday Des Moines Register, King shares some of his thoughts on the immigration "problem":"... such as a "fertility plan" for the nation to encourage people to have more children and reduce the need for imported labor(all emphasis added).

"He rejects the argument that Americans won't do the work that undocumented immigrants do. The 'dirtiest work' imaginable, he says, is as a member of the military hunting insurgents in Iraq, for which Americans get paid roughly $8 an hour. 'There are 77 million people in America who are not in the workforce, and we could hire from that universe,' he says.

"He acknowledges that his advocacy may bring him into deep conflict with his [Catholic] church, but he says he has to proceed on his path. 'How can we give people statutory protection for assisting criminals?' he asks."

Now here's the rub about this non-elitist, American loving congressman from western Iowa, he owns a construction company. A non-union construction company. And according to figures from the Pew Hispanic Center 14% of all illegal immigrants are employed in the construction industry. No one knows if Congressman King has knowingly or not ever hired undocumented workers, but being a good businessman he'll never tell.

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Back when my great great grandfather came to America, he went to Ellis Island and waited close to a year in order to step foot in this country. It wasn't an easy ordeal, and he claimed half of the people he traveled with died either coming over here, or waiting.
before he was allowed to enter the US, he was checked for infectious diseases. if he had any, he was sent back to where he came from, because they didn't want disease coming into this country.
now, with people making their way into america, TB has been on the rise for a little over a decade now.
disease control in of itself is a reason to stop illegal immigration. we aren't saying you can't live here, we aren't saying we are even better than anyone else. there are just problems here that aren't helped with illegal immigration.
just as I cannot graduate HS without getting my diploma, I don't think illegals should be coming here without at least using their brain on the smartest way to get here. I have a dear friend from Equador who I think is just the cutest thing. she has been studying English several years now. She will be getting her US citizenship this year. I have another friend who has been here several years from bosnia. He recieved his citizenship last year. When you talk to them about illegals, they get quite upset. Mainly, because they went through this process of becoming citizens, they did it the hard way, and the right way. They did it for their children, and themselves.

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As illegal immigrants fight to lower wage levels and take jobs away from US citizen workers. The illegal work force that overwhelmed and largely destroyed his beloved United Farmworkers union.

"Si, Se Puede, With the Help of Big Business, Bush, The Church, and Alternet!"

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Alternet, why are you supporting illegal immigrants rights over the rights of American Citizens?
You should be working to protect the economic security of law abiding American citizens! You should be working to stop the unfair labor competition from illegal immigrants!
Illegal immigrant scabs are destroying unions in Brooklyn, NY and all over the United States. They entice employers to hire them over Americans because of their low personal value, they are cheaper employees than Americans. They work hard at undermining our economic security they don’t deserve our largesse.
They send their gains back to foreign lands instead of reinvesting in our country and paying taxes. They are lower than saboteurs, they are infestations.

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Alternet, where are the American English speaking masses that are protesting for illegal immigrant rights? Alternet, why do you insist on magnifying the voice of the illegals?

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They need our help? We need their help!

Those protestors who were legal residents (the vast majority I'm sure, I wouldn't put myself in a situation where I could be arrested arbitrarily when the end result of that arrest is getting deported) should march that protest straight into the ballot boxes, and GET THE KIND OF CONGRESS that's going to pass the kind of legislation that they want. The people organizing these protests need to follow it up with an election drive later this year. Even though I don't totally support the issue, chances are that kind of Congress will make some of the other changes this country needs to have made.

I have a fairly right-wing stance on immigration. I want the same result that hard-line Republicans do (no illegal immigration, no "guest workers", no turning a blind eye to exploitation, no matter WHAT it does to the price of our tomatoes), though I believe the harsh punishments should come down on the employers who are actually getting fat and rich off cheating, not the illegal immigrants who are victims of exploitation no matter what side of the border they are on.

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That the major Dallas rally is planned for April 9th, not the 10th. Might wanna check your facts there, Maria.

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It wasn’t my intention to imply that those marching in favour of immigrants cannot possibly be native Spanish speakers because their banners contain spelling mistakes. Can anyone imagine what would happen if a similar rule was applied to the Americans who post to this site? Half of them would be stripped of their nationality on the spot!

It is just that I misread the article’s title because the accent carries meaning in Spanish. Microsoft knows that and they make sure they write: Sí, estoy de acuerdo instead of Si estoy de acuerdo in the Spanish version of the EULA for their programs.

We could still discuss whether the comma is absolutely necessary or whether ¡Sí se puede! is also correct and could be translated as “Of course we can!”, but that would be nitpicking.

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Racism and xenophobia abound!
Coporate US stole rescources from our southern neighbors and enforced poverty there. Now they want to come here but all us WASPS can't stand their brown skins so we build barriers, legal and physical to keep them out.
That's real justice and compassion!
In case some of you right wing nimrods don't understand this is
meant to be satire.

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I've always considered myself a progressive. I think it IS progressive to limit ILLEGAL imigration. Why? Because illegals have been used as union busters and are driving down the wages of the most vunerable Americans.

Do we want to become just another third world nation of haves and have nots? That's where we are headed my friends. Democracy works best when there is a strong middle class. People working for slave wages are too busy and exhausted trying to survive to be very active in the political system -- that's why so few poor people vote.

I've been to third world countries. They are full of corruption and the people are mostly powerless. I don't want the United States to turn into Mexico. If that is Xenophobia, so be it. Call me a Xenophobe.

We need to enforce the laws we have on the books now. If the corporations and small businesses felt the financial heat, they would stop hiring illegals and eventually most of the illegals would go home.

As for the doing jobs Americans won't do. That's not true for this American. At 53 years old, I'm doing some of those jobs now to make ends meet after I lost my high tech job in 2001. I'd love to have a customer service job, but most of them have gone to India and here in California, I'm at a disavantage because I don't speak Spanish.

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I just can't wait for Uncle Sam to create yet another unwieldy, heavily-armed bureaucratic arm of the federal government whose sole purpose is to track down illegal immigrants, present them with documents (translated into Portuguese, Spanish, Arabic, Farsi and Urdu of course) stating something to the effect that they owe their "new" government $3-5000 within the next 2 weeks or face deportation. I think we can all imagine how this will go over.

"Mr. Velasquez we are going to need your permanent address so we can mail you some payment vouchers". Interpreter turns to Mr. Velasquez and gives him the news. Mr Velazquez nods his head and gives the address of his brother-in-law who has no idea he is even in country. "Now we are going to need the name of your current or most recent employer so we can track him or her down to levy a stiff fine against them". Again with the interpretor - Mr. Velasquez nods his head again but wonders how he will retain his job after ratting out his boss . . . This is so ridiculous as to be funny.

Imagine the billions and billions (we don't have) of dollars it will cost to buy those fancy Dodge Durangos and paint them a non-threatening color of yellow and cross train thousands of cops to be part-time bounty hunters while taking Farsi and Spanish at night school. Shit what am I thinking - we'll just contract Halliburton or Blackwater Security to do it with no-bid contracts in some smokey back room at 3 A.M. I won't even go into the potential for further big brotherisms with another branch of law enforcement cruising the streets. Yes by all means let's create the Federal Bureau of Immigrant Certification and Legalization or some such bullshit. This country is doomed!

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Although Alternet is choosing to to take a side on this issue through it's slant & enhancement of the pro-corporate pro-illegal alien opinion I have to say that I'm very glad and very proud to see so many others making sure that their voices & ideas are heard regardless.

I've decided that one of the things I can do now is to hang an American flag outside my door and display one on my vehicle. I'm also calling and writing as many folks in congress as often as I can and reminding them that we have lives and families that we need to look after and that relegating American workers to the dustbin on this just ain't gonna work.

Make yourselves visible & keep yourselves proud!

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"Si se puede" and "Si, se puede" have different meanings. But neither one translates to "yes we can" Literally, that would be "si, podemos".
Aside from that. Here is my two cents. I find it pathetic to even think about crimininalizing or deporting 11-12 million people from this country. The vast majority of this people are folks that want to provide for their families and they are not criminals. Here's a comment, and in posting a reply or pondering it, be truthful to yourself; I don't really care as to what your reply may be, only as to what you see inside yourself. If these Mexicans, Ecuadorians, Hondurans, were black (I don't believe in this African-American label; in Latin America, such distinctions are not made) a long time ago they would have been deported. Same thing as what's going on right now, only it would have been done from the moment there were more than 20,000 of them "illegals". If they were white, we of course would not be debating the issue, we would have accomodated them. If they were Asian same as the browns, we would be doing exactly what we are doing right now, looking for a way to get them out.
What's particularly funny to me is that the racists and xenophones that are shouting the loudest are the ones that beat their chests on Sundays or kneel on the pews. I wonder if they truly feel that this is what God would want. I doubt it.

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IF it's a controversial subject, then it must be an election year; and all of a sudden immigration is Topic 1 in front of other pressing problems we face.
If it weren't for F. James Sensenbrenner, that GOPer from Wisconsin, who proposed HR 4437, the bill which would criminalize people's goodness to help those less fortunate, has galvanized opinion on both sides.
But what I would like to see is our government enact a policy where it would honor the words on the Statue of Liberty-or is that expression outdated?
We should find a way to make them feel welcomed without backlash. Most of them want work. It gives them a sense of contributing to the new society and makes them feel proud to be a member of the human race.
But the hurdles some face is crossing an unforgiving Sonoran Desert with little accomodations and facing the elements and dodging human predators-and deadly desert animals. Immigrants do not recognize borders when seeking a better life. Borders are political and you cannot see a boundary from space.
How can we help the immigrant attain a better life? How can we make someone in this world that regardless of background, they are weclomed here.
"There was a time when strangers were welcomed here. Music would play-" so says Neil Sadaka's "The Immigrant."
Have Americans become "compassion fatigue(d)?" Have we stopped caring? Have we stopped trying? Why do we want to demonize those who are fleeing poverty, racism, (religious and political) persecution?
Those people on the Mayflower weren't taking a Cunard cruise on the Atlantic.
But Americans need to look at themselves and point the finger why we're mad at immigrants-we did it to ourselves. Our hatred, ignorance, institutionalized racism, arrogance, pride, egoism are all symptoms of anti-immigrant behavior. We seem to find the cure through more draconian legislature in laws that divide and conquer instead of helping people. Caucasian, Asian and Black families aren't having as many children as in previous generations and we must face it that the USA's future will be a predominantly Latino one.
We are a nation of immigrants. La Raza is here to stay.

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It's almost like Alternet is trying to brainwash everyone into enjoying the fact that we are giving up our jobs (or at least half of our pay) to Mexicans. Should we give up our home too, or at least share it with 15 illegal immigrants so that we could live like they do? Maybe we could share our vehicle as well. We should be carpooling with a carload of illegal immigrants. Maybe we should sign over our bank accounts to them as well. I guess we could give them our credit cards to borrow if they want them too.

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