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American Borders Forum

What should American immigration and border policies be? Submit your ideas to The American Borders Forum today.
Site updates each Wednesday


Illegal Immigration And The Challenges Facing Legal Immigrants: Left of Center View

For many the slip in immigration status from legal to illegal is often quick and virtually unknown. We have a very complex system in place that, like many of our public services, simply underestimated the number of people who would use its services. Combine an under-funded, understaffed bureaucracy with an uninformed client base and the chances of success are minimal at best.

The majority of people that I know and have spoken to about the shift in their immigration status all had the best of intentions. They jumped through the hoops to get here, they did their very best to continue to perform all of the various tasks required of them. But we all know the stress and complications that come when we must rely upon others to get something done. You can fill out your paperwork on time, you can submit everything to the correct people and it can sit on their desk for days, and your application is denied because you didn't submit it in time. And yet, thousands of people find a way to get it done every year.

Let's be honest for a moment here, we all break the law. We drive and talk on the phone, or even worse while texting all while driving a couple. We all use a little bit of "wiggle" room when filling out our taxes. We litter, we jay-walk, heck we break laws we didn't even know existed. We do all of this without too much worry. We accept the risk. And when we get caught, we complain, we try to explain, but ultimately we accept the consequences and deal with them. If we as citizens expect there to be repercussions when we break the law, why should illegal immigrant expect different treatment. It is a dangerous message to send when we offer amnesty to those who have managed to successfully avoid getting caught. We offer services, we offer counseling, we offer expedited processing, all for ignoring the rules. That simply isn't fair to the thousands that run the gauntlet and follow the rules.

There are reasons to be compassionate. There are horror stories and tragedies and a multitude of reasons why certain people need special attention when it comes to immigration, and there should be an efficient system in place to deal with these concerns. There should also be penalties in place for those that try to abuse the system. But until we start enforcing the rules we have in place, it makes absolutely no sense to try and make more.


Kyle Pesonen - Staff Writer | E-mail Comments on this column. | Click icon to Digg this article

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Minority Majority - The Future Political Landscape In America

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Illegal Immigration And The Challenges Facing Legal Immigrants: Right of Center View

This comes down to fairness plain and simple. Legal immigrants go through a long process of forms and meetings and examinations and when it is all said and done they are legal residents of the United States of America. The people who are here legally worked to be here and followed the rules. That’s supposed to be how it’s done. Others decide that the rules don’t apply to them and because you can’t just look and see which is which, the legal immigrants suffer for their lack of concern for the law.

The truth of the matter is that there is a certain amount of bigotry in the United States and it is often fueled by resentment towards people seen as being illegitimate residents or those who would take jobs away from American workers. The problem for legal immigrants is that they get painted with the same brush by the bigots because of the color of their skin. People assume because their name might be Gonzales or Martinez that they are illegal immigrants. They have to deal with undue persecution and scrutiny because of others that share their surnames who didn’t follow the rules.

It’s just not fair to legal immigrants to continue to allow illegal immigrants to come into our nation and get away with it. We need to say no to any amnesty proposals and work to enforce the immigration laws we have on the books. Ronald Reagan tried amnesty and it didn’t work. We ended up getting even more people coming into the nation illegally after amnesty than before. There was no drop in illegal immigration as was promised at the time. The laws that accompanied the amnesty granted by President Reagan were not enforced because Congress failed to adequately fund and equip the enforcement agency with the tools needed to do the job.

What needs to be done now is not more amnesty for lawbreakers adding to the unfairness for those who have done things the right way. What needs to happen now is a renewed commitment on the part of the federal government to enforcing the laws we have. Congress needs to act immediately to fully fund immigration enforcement and untie the hands of ICE officials trying to find and deport people in this country illegally. Those who are here legally should not have their efforts devalued by our leaders playing politics with the law. There are laws on the books that most Americans support. If we simply enforce those laws the efforts of legal immigrants will be validated.

The Realist - Patriot at Large | E-mail Comments on this column. | Click icon to Digg this article

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Minority Majority - The Future Political Landscape In America

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A Legal Immigrant’s Perspective

If you are not a Native American, you are an immigrant, so am I. I came legally to this country at the age of five with my parents who worked hard, paid taxes (even Jesus paid taxes), lived by the rules of this great nation and never took or accepted a penny from the government. We came seeking FREEDOM from a communist country. It was months before we were able to enter the US legally. I remember us getting medical exams, shots (small pox), background check, references, and going through numerous interviews once we arrived. I also remembered people coming to the US from all over the world who waited years since it was based on "Quotas". Read more...

Solving Our Immigration Problem

The major problem our country is facing with illegal immigrants today is because of the exploitation of these immigrants. We believe the solution to this problem is two-fold. First, we should allow more immigrants in this country to cut down on the number of illegal ones. Second, all immigrants should be educated about their rights at the expense of the government. Below, you will find an in-depth look at our suggested reforms.

Reforms for immigration limitations:

-New immigrants can't equal more than 1% of the US population in a given year (the population being from the last recorded census). That 1% will be further divided up to allow only a certain number of immigrants each month.
-Each country of origin for immigrants will be allowed a certain percentage of that 1%. No country could receive more than 10% of the total amount and no country can receive less than .1% of it. The left over percentage will be divided up between all countries as follows: Read more...

Do Elements Within the La Raza Movement Pose a Threat to America?

La Raza means literally “The Race” in Spanish. The movement was formed in 1968 to promote the interests of the Mexican-American community. Like the NAACP and other affirmative-action minded organizations, La Raza has many members that are interested in being part of America and promoting equality for all Americans. The fundamental goals as stated by the movement are benign and represent the ideals of American diversity and cultural pride.

There is another movement affiliated with La Raza that has historically been more militant and still maintains documents within their organization that point to isolationistic views Read More

A Plan

The one major thing that seems to be lacking in the immigration debate is a real plan that addresses the legitimate concerns with illegal immigration. There are strong opinions on both sides and a lot of rhetoric but there isn’t really any solid plan being promoted to address the illegal immigration issue in a way that is both fair and logical.

So, that being said here is my idea:Read More

Trucking Cross Borders

This is mainly a concern for the trucking business. If we allow these people to come into our country, bringing cargo that we in America have, and can supply, then we are saying that the American working people are not needed, and have lost all say to legally enforced DOT (Department of Transportation) laws.Read More



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