that's a great point

yes, let's all throw rocks. tomorrow we'll move the flame to the next camp. let's hope it's not windy

yes Yankee! I will tell you, sitting for hours in line at the border to enter your own country is a vast waste of production and not efficient. there needs to be a better way

"Any nation needs a growing populace to continue to grow economically. 2/3 of the American economy is consumer spending."
thank you Joe Biden.
what about India? China? Mexico?

Unless one has experienced an actual encounter with the new police (or as Balko puts it in “Rise of the Warrior Cop”), one would not believe the event. America is not the country you believe you live in.

sounds like they are dealing with a bait-and-switch,
with their jobs turning into suicide missions. not my
idea of "fairness"!!! -- j

The message has already been sent.
We are no longer a nation, but an amorphous sponge. We absorb everything including virulent vermin, who will eventually destroy the very thing they flee to.

Oh, just disarm the Border Patrol and change their job description to "Welcoming Wagon Happy Camp Transition Counselors."

I shall - its an honor!

Funny enough, the immigrants I know, for the most part, are like that - came over, nothing going for them, just hope and a dream, didn't ask, beg, or mooch any of the special programs, didn't sponge off anyone, got a job (whatever they could land, and some, as they say, "weren't purdy"), learned English, and contribute to society.

America was the only country in the history of the world that had an environment that rewarded individuals who pursue rational goals in a system of capitalism and in which property rights were vigorously protected and had a Constitution based on natural rights. This has been the basis of what has been termed American exceptionalism for over a century. What you are disagreeing with appears to be an historically accepted terminology. If what you mean is that America is no longer exceptional because it no longer is such an environment, there should be no disagreement on that. America was such an environment as recently as 1988 for sure and perhaps as late as 2000 or even 2006 or 2008. It is not such an environment any longer. Obama has succeeded in his fundamental transformation. What was built over hundreds of years has been destroyed in less than a decade.

"Legal immigrants" should be a redundancy. Unfortunately for America now, there are more people who come illegally than legally. I would be very willing to let many more people come legally ... if they followed the specified legalization procedures. This is a problem both on our INS' end and on the end of those who are coming illegally.

:)

If the Border Patrol Union can just negotiate six months vacation for all agents there will be fewer confrontations with illegals crossing, thus a better adherence to the rules of engagement. Fewer border patrol agents on duty equals less confrontation.

yes

thank you. I take exception with american exceptionalism. There is no such thing. There is such a thing as a great environment which rewards individuals who pursue rational goals in a system of capitalism and property rights are vigorously protected. and, a Constitution based on natural rights. As the Constitution has eroded (as well the best patent system in History), you witness "american exceptionalism" erodes as well

Do you have any idea what would happen to this country if everybody who just decided to move here could just jump on a bus or plane and walk in? Lets ignore the security issues and just talk about one thing, economics.

The first thing that would collapse would be any job security at all. If any mechanic from another country could walk into a shop and tell your boss that he'll do your job for a dollar over min. wage, how long do you think it would take for all out high dollar mechanics to be on unemployment? What about construction workers? Or truck drivers? Any job that requires mechanical skills or hand eye coordination would soon be occupied by immigrants and unemployment numbers would skyrocket.

This is the biggest reason we have the immigration system we do. It developed in the 1920's as homeless immigrants fled war ravaged Europe and the communist takeover in Russia. As those immigrants escaped to sail to America they began to shove American works out of the job market and congress acted to head off the growing problem. If they hadn't the depression would have hit our shores at the same time it was destroying Germany and Europe.

Wise saying time - Those who don't know history and bound to repeat it. Lets not go there.

BTW, Doing away with the 50 years of Johnson's "Great Society" would be the best move we could make. But don't expect to see it happen - that's also explained by history.

Jayson,
The reason America is great is because it is founded on personal freedom and responsibility and on the constitutional limits on government power to intrude on those freedoms, not because people immigrated here. They came here LEGALLY, BECAUSE of those freedom were codified into the founding documents of this nation. The ones coming over illegally are just moochers.
Cheers.

The border issue is as stupid as the war on drugs! It should be easy to enter legally; very easy. And it should be treacherous, dangerous and difficult to enter illegally. Once the legal hurdles to entry are cleared then the obstacles to illegal entry can be raised to the level of suicidal. -- Although the whole argument should be rendered moot by ELIMINATING the *WELFARE STATE* then the people who come would be responsible for themselves.

Jaysun, the issue are immigrants who come here through the legally established process, verses those who slither in through a crack under the door. My great, great grandparents on both sides were immigrants who came legally, worked hard to build lives in this country, never asking for welfare, free medical or anything else to be handed to them. They came looking for ONLY one thing - a chance to have free life.

Most of these today want everything I've spent a lifetime building and they want it handed to them while they reject the American lifestyle, language, work ethic and about anything that has made our country into the land of OPPERTUNITY that it is. We have the right to pursue happiness in this country, but they want it guaranteed to them. They want us to conform our lifestyle to the country they left. They want it handed to them, and they want it now.

If the place they left was so great, why'd they leave to come here?

As far as your little "cough" over Republicans efforts to make sure that the American dream is something that lives on and is not destroyed by illegal immigrants, you need to understand that they do not want to change one thing in how LEGAL immigrants are handled - only illegal immigrants. Anybody who wants to come to America can line up with all the rest and do legally, but if they climb over a fence, dig under the fence, go around the fence or swim the RioGrande, they need to know that the only thing that they will get is a bus ride back over the border. THIS is what the difference is between the two views, Republicans want our laws enforced and democrats want the laws erased to get more people to vote for them.