Interesting, Karl. You asked and answered your own question.
Quote:Alright, explain to me exactly HOW those illegals "invading" our country are a problem. What is it they do that has created such a stir?
.....I want to solve the PROBLEM, not the symptom. The problem isn't that they're here. The problem is that they're straining the resources of the communities they're in. You know, the schools, hospitals, etc.
We're actually not that far apart in our views. As far as I can see, the major difference is in my view that unless we stop them from entering, the problem only grows larger.
Many of these folks crossing the southern border come from a culture of lawlessness and corruption. To survive here, they have to engage in further lawlessness - fradulent documents, forgery, identity theft, etc. Nobody wants to talk about the criminal elements coming over in large numbers. Drunken driving, driving without licenses or insurance are common occurrences, which are seen as no big deal where they come from. Who is paying the price? Average Americans, victimized through no fault of their own.
It seems that one party seems totally fine with the invasion (on "humanitarian grounds" of course). They worry about families being torn apart if somebody is deported. If an American citizen is sentenced for a crime and sent to jail, isn't a family torn apart? What's the difference? Both knew what they were doing was wrong. The difference is that the illegal immigrant knows that this country usually doesn't do much to those in their circumstance. We look the other way.
The problem is, taking in this large a number of low education, low skilled people from one part of the world in such a short time will lead to the balkanization of this country, with no need to assimilate. Thus, the politically correct among us will see no problem with insisting that WE accomodate them - printing all documents in their language, for example. "Press 1 for English, 2 for Spanish, etc....." This, to me, is suicidal. Your answers are common sense but won't happen due to political correctness and the perception that doing so would be mean. It's insanity.
I believe that the solution is to break the immigration problems down into pieces, not try to cram them all into one piece of legislation that tries to do everything and accomplishes nothing.
One bill for border security and interior enforcement and establishment of a national secure ID.
One bill addressing our system of legal immigration.
One bill addressing how to deal with those already here.
One bill addressing a guest worker program.
To me this approach makes sense, which is why this will never happen.