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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]I think the first and formost responsibility of any nation state is to protect the welfare of all of its citizens.  No matter my personal feelings on undocumented immigrants, undocumented immigration clearly disrupts the labor market for unskilled and uneducated workers in this country.

Sure, I get cheap oranges and chicken breasts, but my fellow Americans lose their jobs and have their wages depressed.

Thus, no matter how noble the efforts of undocumented immigrants to get here, I cannot support it. [/quote]

That's fine with me, but the focus always seems to be on the illegals who come here, not the businesses that hire them.   If you want to stop illegal immigration, crack down on illegal hiring.  But somehow both Democrats and Republicans focus their enforcement efforts on those poor people looking for any kind of work, not the businesses that illegally make money off them instead of hiring citizens or legal residents.[/quote]

This.  To be honest, I can't get too worked up about undocumented immigrants; because, I don't see how our economy would function without them.  I would prefer if we could figure out a legal path forward, but as it is, the situation doesn't impact me all that much (of course I know it impacts the workers).  And I'm a high income person now in California, so I definitely pay much higher taxes in part to support services for these workers.

All of that being said, it's not their fault that they are coming here for better jobs. It is the fault of the employers who hire them illegally, and the system that has chosen to look the other way for so long.  Deporting everyone is not realistic...even if it were good policy which I don't think it is.  These are people who contribute a lot to the fabric of American society, and we need to acknowledge that.  But as a US-born child of legal, well-educated (model) immigrants, I know how hard it is for people to fully accept me as American, let alone my paretns or undocumented workers.  So, honestly, I don't see a good policy getting passed in the next few years until there is more of a demographic shift.

To me, guest worker programs are the worst of all worlds economically, because they essentially create a permanent labor underclass that will hurt American workers even more...at least right now Americans are competing for jobs against people who can't legally take them and at least some employers will not hire them.  Once they are legally allowed to work but still have very little clout to negotiate better wages and conditions, Americans will be SOL.  But I think it's disingenuous to think we can just get rid of 11 million people, most of whom are doing important jobs, and Americans will just easily slot in to replace them.  There are so many reasons that's not going to happen.  I honestly think a path to citizenship (or at least permanent residency) for the people who are here plus stronger border enforcement and employer crackdowns is the best solution.  I know, because I can't think of a single constituency who would like that solution ;)[/quote]

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