Jennifer at Diary of 1 has some very good things to say about the transformation of what has been previously viewed as horrible and now has become something better. I wholeheartedly agree with that sentiment and truly, with all my heart, desire a positive solution to this problem of immigration. I did have issue with a few things her husband Chris said. I hope he is able to take my comments and debate in the spirit it is given. More than anything I want to find the truth of a thing. I don’t have any aspirations of changing his mind and I am willing to have my mind changed. So, without further ado….

Chris’ statements are italicized.

“Here in the states we should be grateful for the millions of illegal Mexicans in the US. Without their contributions it wouldn’t be so cheap when shopping the produce aisle or when checking into a Motel 6 on one of our quaint family vacations. But, all of this has cost us something. To gain such niceties, we have been required to look the other way and in so doing, we have changed the whole of America’s economic underpinnings. While we have gained from the labors of these people we have also become dependent upon them. What keeps them going at such a pace of humility and low income is the fact that they are illegal.”

Grateful? According to the Federation for American Immigration Reform the presence of illegal aliens costs us over 9 BILLION a year. The influx of mass quantities of people who rely on government subsidies, food and medical care has done NOTHING to improve my standard of living. Rather we, nationally, pay over 7.7 billion to educate their children. The next two largest expenses are medical care for illegal immigrants and incarceration of those who have committed crimes. Well, those who have committed crimes and were kept State-side and not deported.

Deporting ONE person costs the taxpayer roughly $1000.00. Which makes the total cost of deporting 20 million people right around 205 billion. Since we are already conservatively paying 16 billion a year to keep them here, we could pay up front and remove those who are leeching on our society. Or we could just let it go forever, spending billions annually while doing nothing.

Amnesty only gives credibility to those who are already here and does nothing to stem the flood of illegal immigrants who would continue to arrive van load by boat load by storage container load.

Let’s say we do legalize illegals over the next 5 years. We pay 205 billion dollars for the privilege and what happens to the 20 million more who have since come across our borders and are waiting their turn? Do we turn around and pay another 205 billion? That’s 410 billion in 10 years. Out of our pockets. They sure aren't going to be paying for it. Why should they? They haven't paid for jack since they got here anyway!

I can more readily afford a higher price at the grocery story and hotel than a price tag like that.

While we have gained from the labors of these people we have also become dependent upon them.

What have we gained? Before they were here those “menial” tasks were done by decent hardworking folks. By Americans. My grandparents brought their five children from the dust bowl of Oklahoma during the Great Depression lived in a tent while they, as a family, picked strawberries and other fruit in the fields of the Willamette Valley. My great-grandparents came over on a cattle boat from Ukraine during the Bolshevik uprising and took any job they needed to in order to provide for their children. Grandpa spoke very little English but I don’t know that he took a day off in 50 years so that his NINE children could grow up, go to college and become bona fide productive Americans. Families in the small farming community where I grew up in rural Montana picked weeds in sugar beet fields, worked the local grocery store and provided the maintenance staff for the schools and museums. Until the illegals came in and because their labor was “more easily attained”, they “didn’t complain about harsh conditions” and left after the season poor families who relied on these jobs were forced to turn to welfare. Gracias, Juan Pablo. I’ve worked as the maid in the hotel (you know, keeping those costs down) and the field worker. I was grateful for every penny I earned. And I damn sure paid the taxes on it.

There’s the difference.

The money I earn goes back into the economy of our fair country. Their’s doesn’t. It goes back to the homeland and falsely inflates their economy while draining ours. And yet, continue to maintain a presence costing us billions a year. Fiscally it simply Doesn’t. Make. Sense.

What keeps them going at such a pace of humility and low income is the fact that they are illegal.”

Wrong. They have money. They choose to live the way they are when they come to our country solely to work. They choose to live the way they do when they are running drugs into and through our communities. They choose to live the way they do by not conceding or acknowledging the sovereignty of our nation.

What keeps them where they are is that they are UNWILLING to take the steps to enter our country through legal means and live productively as AMERICAN citizens. Immigration is at an all time high of 56%! This is higher than any other time in history and yet, somehow, these folks must come through illegally.

We, the people, need to catch a freakin’ clue. Illegal aliens don’t want to be in our country. They want their country to take over ours. It’s Cubans in Miami, Puerto Ricans in Jersey, Ali Baba and his 40 cousins in Detroit and Juan Pablo in the South, the West and the Pacific Northwest.

Amnesty will not solve this problem. In fact, amnesty is simply a clarion call saying we, the USA, have acquiesced to the bullying tactics of a mob under some misguided sense of compassion. Do you honestly think this will do anything to staunch the flow of illegal traffic? We go tits up as a country and show our soft little underbelly to the world and they say, “Oh! They are so nice now! We should really be more legal now!”

Right…

If a man comes into your house, sets up camp in your kitchen and eats 45% of the food out of the fridge before you can feed your children what kind of a responsible person would you be if you allowed him to stay at the expense of your household and the future of your children?

Illegal migration is a cancer to our country.

Legalizing one of our most vital workforces will not fix America’s social woes, but it will be a damn good shot in the arm. I believe in simple principals, hold up and reward those things you admire and respect so that they prosper, and be agents of change for others. To continue to deny working illegals citizenship is to deny the fiber of who they are and what America once stood for - humility, hard work and a fair wage.

I don’t think illegal aliens are our most vital workforce. I think honest, hardworking Americans who have strong families, work to improve their communities and work diligently toward a better nation comprise our most vital workforce. I think millions of highschool kids who can’t find work in the service industry due to the glut of illegal immigrants are done a disservice. I have had 6 kids in the last 2 years tell me how hard it is for them to enter the work force. Entry level jobs are simply no longer available. That’s just plain wrong.

America doesn’t stand for humility, hard work and a fair wage. Never has. America stands for something far greater.

We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed, by their Creator, with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty, and the pursuit of Happiness.

That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles, and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness.

We are a country founded upon freedom. Of religion, speech, press and peaceable assembly. Freedom to keep and bear arms. Freedom to not quarter troops. Free to be protected from unlawful search and seizure. Free to enjoy due process, freedom from double jeopardy, self-incrimination and free to enjoy our private property. We are given the right to trial by jury and the accused does, indeed, have rights. We are given the privilege of civil trial. We are given independent rights as states and people OUTSIDE the powers of the national government.

We have these rights because we are citizens! We are citizens whether born here or by following the processes, as flawed as they may be, required by our sovereign nation. If my neighbor comes here illegally, I don’t want him here. What other laws is he willing to break if this barest minimum is so easily ignored? However, if he willingly goes through the proper channels, gets a green card and works legally? I’ll give him the shirt off my back in order to help him get established.

That’s what my grandparents did. That’s what my family has done. That’s what my family is doing as we are working to help a young man and his family move here from Germany.

That's what America is based on. Not folks who are willing to sneak in, lie low and bleed us dry.