What is wrong with amnesty for illegals?

Mama~peapod

Before you give out US citizenship to all the illegals.

Are you going to do the same to all the LEGAL immigrants in this country who have to wait years for a green card and then up to another five years for US citizenship after getting the green card?

mylilbubbers

Immigrants who have waited and filed what and how they are supposed to may have a problem with your thinking. Furthermore, providing amesty to those already here may further encourage people to immigrate here illegaly.

mikea_va

Because that would be a slap in the face of all the immigrants that have come here legally or are in the process of coming here legally!

Imagine if you are an immigrant who has applied to become a citizen and are waiting for the process to go through. Suddenly 20 million people get amnesty and become citizens just like that. How would you feel that 20 million people, who did not even submit any paperwork, suddenly became legal ahead of you??

I also think that the illegals will not pay taxes if they do become legal! They work those low paying jobs, because they do not pay taxes, therefore they get more money than you and I would if we worked those jobs. If illegals had to pay taxes, then they would get paid less. Then they would demand more money.

Oswald W

That will spur on others to redouble their efforts to illegal entry. Taxes from those who do not pay taxes anyway is not a good point. Welfare claims will increase to the extent that our own will be deprived even more than now.Your suggestion however well meant is far from logical.

Reggie

the gov. spends a trillion dollars each year on illegals already, the cost of deporting them is nothing compared

heartburn

more will be coming and will be waiting for another amnesty.
they will be after your job and next thing you know you are in canada as an illegal looking for a job.

ScoTT.W

rewarding criminals sends the wrong message!
then whats next? more will want to come in and say, oh wheres my amnesty? my handouts? pretty soon they will all come in like a freight train.i f you made it that easy

Sherilynne B

We don't have to gather them or ship them. We can and will force them out by eliminating any services to them such as employment, doctors, hospitals, education, banking, credit, and just about everything else by passing laws that puts anyone aiding an illegal in any way into prison for five years for each illegal. See details in my other posts. It won't cost America ANYTHING to get rid of them.
The reason we will never allow amnesty again is because we were promised the LAST time that the LAST time would BE the last time. We do NOT reward criminals for cheating and jumping ahead of the many fine people who are doing things legally.

TLB

Do you really want to learn about how an amnesty will effect us, or do you just want people to agree with you?

If you want to learn, continue to read, if not, stop reading here.

The Immigration Reform and Control Act of 1986 also (correctly) known as the the 1986 Amnesty Bill. Did not fix a thing, and yet most proponents for immigration reform are wanting us to repeat the same failed policy 20 years later. Let me explain.

In the mid-80's, many members of Congress â€” pushed by the Democratic majority in the House and the Select Commission on Immigration and Refugee Policy â€” advocated amnesty for long-settled illegal immigrants. President Reagan considered it reasonable to adjust the status of what was then a relatively small population, and I supported his decision.

In exchange for allowing aliens to stay, he decided, border security and enforcement of immigration laws would be greatly strengthened â€” in particular, through sanctions against employers who hired illegal immigrants. If jobs were the attraction for illegal immigrants, then cutting off that option was crucial.

Beyond this, most illegal immigrants who could establish that they had resided in America continuously for five years would be granted temporary resident status, which could be upgraded to permanent residency after 18 months and, after another five years, to citizenship.

Note that this path to citizenship was not automatic. Indeed, the legislation stipulated several conditions: immigrants had to pay application fees, learn to speak English, understand American civics, pass a medical exam and register for military selective service. Those with convictions for a felony or three misdemeanors were ineligible. Sound familiar? These are pretty much the same provisions included in the new Senate proposal and cited by its supporters as proof that they have eschewed amnesty in favor of earned citizenship.

Sound familiar yet....I'll keep going.

Like the amnesty bill of 1986, almost all of the current proposals would place those who have resided illegally in the United States on a path to citizenship, provided they meet a similar set of conditions and pay a fine and back taxes. The illegal immigrant does not go to the back of the line but gets immediate legalized status, while law-abiding applicants wait in their home countries for years to even get here. And that's the line that counts.

There is a practical problem as well: the 1986 act did not solve our illegal immigration problem. From the start, there was widespread document fraud by applicants. Unsurprisingly, the number of people applying for amnesty far exceeded projections. And there proved to be a failure of political will in enforcing new laws against employers.

After a six-month slowdown that followed passage of the legislation, illegal immigration returned to normal levels and continued unabated. Ultimately, some 2.7 million people were granted amnesty, and many who were not stayed anyway, forming the nucleus of today's unauthorized population.

So here we are, 20 years later, having much the same debate and being offered much the same deal in exchange for promises largely dependent on the will of future Congresses and presidents.

Do you trust our government to do as they say? Can we learn from the past, or do we repeat it?

America welcomes more immigrants than any other country. But in keeping open that door of opportunity, we also must uphold the rule of law. The laws that we have and the people who made them (us) are what makes this country great. Do away with either the people or the laws, and trust me, no one would want to come here.

Thomasina Paine

It couldn't possibly cost as much as the billions we are spending on them now. Sure we can - President Eisenhower did it in 1954. The people who say it can't be done are either employers or anarchists. NO AMNESTY!

jrhd97

http://www.csmonitor.com/2006/0706/p09s01-coop.html

This article can be fact checked by other sources. Yes they can be round up and sent back. If it could be done with the few law enforcement capabilities and limited transportation then, surely with what we have today it can be done.
All it takes is a congress and president with some back bone. The majority of Americans are fed up. The illegal immigrants are affecting every facet of our lives. Rising crime, lower education, over whelmed emergency rooms, higher insurance rates to pay for what they don't, higher taxes on us the legal working tax payer to pay for the free handouts they get.
If they are given citizenship then we are condoning the crime. If we condone this crime, which crime is next?
If you want the tax revenue then we need to go to a fair tax, then everyone who buys anything will be paying tax instead of an income tax. If they are given citizenship ,do you really think they are going to start declaring there income? No, they will continue to work for cash and take advantage of the system.They are doing it now and it works well for them, why should they change just because they are a citizen?

ProUSA2

In the first place, that solves NOTHING. As a matter of fact we had an amnesty in 1986. What did it solve?? NOTHING, except breed MORE illegal alien criminals.

In the second place...they are ILLEGAL. Do you think it fair to grant amnesty to people that came to our country illegally...meanwhile we have MILLIONS of people patiently waiting to come here the right way...utilizing the immigration process that these people spit on??

Ruby Winter

There are reasons for having people apply for a visa or citizenship. It allows us to prevent criminals (murderers, drug dealers, rapists, child molesters, and other felons and undesirables) from entering the country. As to your point about the taxes, the majority of the illegal aliens will not be paying significant taxes because they're pay bracket is generally in the lowest portion. Also, people (and i'm not saying that you believe this) often say that they are here because they are doing jobs that Americans won't do. That's not true -- they are doing jobs Americans won't do for under the minimum wage an improper working conditions. If the illegals become citizens the law will require that they are given at least the minimum wage and improved working conditions (all that the American workers wanted in the first place.)

The only other thing is, is that we don't need to "gather everyone up and ship them back across the border." All you have to do is start penalizing employers severely for employing illegals and the jobs will dry up. Because it will no longer be advantageous to employ illegal aliens over Americans. Once the jobs are gone, they'll have no choice but to return to their country of origin.

Chris D

Most have no idea what makes this issue so troublesome for middle class America. It makes me wonder what's being taught in civic classes today. To begin with, the simple fact that they are here ILLegally should give you a clue, and should also produce outrage toward the Bush administration. There has been next to no effort on the part of the Federal Government to prevent and identify the illegals in our country until very recently that the cries of those of us who's jobs have been replaced by the cheap labor that the ruling elite in this country demands to feed corporate greed. Furthermore, the Bush Administration has turned a blind eye toward employers who are ignoring proof of citizenship, and most illegals aren't really employees but "contract workers", and as such, their employers have no requirement to pay for their unemployment and health insurance, and the contributions for Social Security and Medicare benefits required to be withheld and paid to the Federal Government. The consequence of this is that the illegals must resort to the welfare of the state and federal government for their medical needs. This in turn results in either higher taxes for all legitimate citizens, or unreimbursed costs to the medical establishment which are passed on the us in the form of even higher premiums for medical care. Because the illegals have easily found jobs, free welfare, and have no income taxes to report because their earnings were never reported to the federal government by their employers, almost the entire burden that they have caused has been inflicted on middle class America, and reduced our standard of living. You then need to look beyond those immigrants who are here out of a desperate need to find jobs and a better way to support their families and consider the criminals, drug dealers and the same type of terrorists that have caused the tragedy of 9/11 that cross our borders daily. Our country pays billions for homeland security, yet still allows illegal immigrants to come here without Visas, or stay beyond the time limit of their Visas, without any knowledge of where they live, or what , if any, income for legitimate labor they make to support themselves. I'd like someone to tell me of of any other country in the world that allows such abuses and dangers to occur as a result of such lax immigration policies.

End The Fed!!!

So...we should make the effort to subsidize them and give the impression that our laws are not enforced???

And then not make the effort to deport them when caught?

You can't create a task force to "round 'em all up," but you can do something about them when law enforcement realizes they are an illegal. But instead, you want to introduce them to our country by letting them slide on the first crime they commit???

That clearly makes less sense than granting amnesty.

xuserx2000 is exactly right: Amnesty would just encourage more illegal immigration.

Anytime you subsidize something, you get more of it....look at the welfare state.

Joe Iwojima

They must never be given citizenship for breaking into our country.

momoffour

What is wrong with that is that you are rewarding someone for their illegal behavior. No, maybe we can't ship them all back, but we cannot reward them either. They have to be punished somehow. They are breaking the law. If we let them continue to get away with it, we are creating a situation that we be impossible to control. There has to be a better solution than letting them get away with being law-breakers.

shell_vac

Enough just one time the illegal got amnesty by Ronald Regand a former US President. And, can you see now? more billion illegal come and stayed. Do you want this US country as amnesty country?.

Please do not to do that.....

just me

I don't see anything wrong with amnesty, I think it would be a good idea to give it to those who are hard workers and are behaving good. It's not realistic that all of them can be deported so it's better to find solutions that are more real. I think that people need to think about that and put their emotions apart,

Amnesty it's a good idea, they can pay taxes and have same privileges. Nothing wrong.

Dani

You are correct. I am against illegal immigration. It really chaps me that we cannot secure our borders. But who will round up 12-20 million people? Local police can't. Homeland Security can't. It's not the job of the FBI or CIA. So, when you ask, " How can we round them up?", you will not get one intelligent answer. You just see, " Deport them all" or " Round them up". Very simplistic answers.

grumpyoldman

We can't tax the drug dealers and gang members. We have enough of our own. And it won't keep companies from hiring them for less money and paying them under the table.

xuserx2000

well you are right... logistically we can't round up everyone and ship them back... it's just not possible.

If we want to know who is in our country, we have to give them some sort of path to citizenship. If we want these people to contribute to our economy in the same way they benefit, we have to give them the opportunity to set things right. But FIRST, we need to secure the border so that the problem doesn't get worse....otherwise amnesty would just encourage more illegal immigration.

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