There was a column pasted in another thread that basically said, "the only thing that both sides claim to agree on is better border security, so why not go ahead and implement that now while we argue about amnesty?"
Could not agree more. We do not need any new laws to enforce our borders now. The problem with granting legal status to illegals here now is not just them, but the millions of Mexicans who will flood over the border to line up for the next one. This is truly the last chance to confront the problem, and frankly I am surprised (and proud) that there is still enough common sense and people willing to got off the couch to kill the current legislation. If this had passed, it would be guaranteed that no legislation would ever be possible in the U.S.A. that offended the special interest of Mexican illegals and their supporters. I do not call them "illegal immigrants" because they are not immigrants. Immigration is a legal process. Their very presence in this country is illegal, never mind which other laws were broken entering and staying here. That's not my opinion, it's simply a fact.
I've heard every BS argument from the illegal lobby, and all of them are lies. "We can't deport them/as long as the jobs are here they will come/an orange will be $10/fence won't work/doing jobs Americans don't want/etc. ad nauseam...
The simple fact is that they are here because of a corrupt system both in Mexico and here that allows any and everyone to just walk over the border and have rights and services in this country+ earn a massive amount of $$ by their national standard. Mexico is a very corrupt and poor country and we are a very corrupt and rich country.
I have been in parts of the country this summer that are not yet over-run w/ illegals and regular old Americans are still doing every job that supposedly only Mexicans will do in CA. Gardening, (a very lucrative racket), bussing tables, short-order cooks, valet parking, etc., etc...
Lastly, we definitely have room in this country for immigrants, including from Latin America. There is a marked difference between the type of people who will go through the red tape to come here legally and many illegals, though. I bought some Mobil 1 from the FLAPS here today and had a nice conversation in Spanish and English w/ the guy behind the counter. He was a Mexican who has been in this country for ~20 years, (legally or not I don't know), spoke flawless english and seemed like a person of excellent character. In my perfect world, he could stay here but the problem is that with an open border we also get a lot of absolutely horrible people. Lots of them, breeding gang members and brainless murderers, etc...
Do we have our own people like that? Of course we do. That's why we don't need any more of them. With legal immigration, we get to only let in screened people, and good Mexicans (or any other group) will become good Americans. We need to enforce our borders and customs and immigration law now. End of story.
