Illegal immigration...

[AFPheonix]

Exactly. And these are the jobs that a lot of Americans who are jobless who have already had cracks at them and frankly just don't take because they are dirty, repetitive, are physically demanding, and don't pay well. It makes being a McD's drone look good.

I'm not talking even house cleaning, although that's definitely one. I'm talking shelling seafood, picking berries, etc.

[Boozy]

When a small minority of people own the majority of the income of this country, something is messed up.

And you can bet your life on the fact that this small minority is doing everything in their power (under the table, of course) to prevent any major crackdown on illegal immigration.

They need these people to work in their factories and clean their houses. Right now they are able to pay illegal immigrants far less than minimum wage to do it. Wal-Mart is a major offender.

The biggest misconception seems to be that jobs are somehow finite, so people coming into the country (illegally or otherwise) are taking these jobs. Obviously, we know that's not true. Population growth and immigration create jobs.

[Greenday]

We have to help ourselves before we should start helping other people. Out of the 300 million plus Americans inside America, at least 14.4 million are unemployed. Compare that to Mexico's almost 3.5 million. America's unemployment rate is 4.8%. Mexico's is 3.2%. Or what about Canada? 2,136,969 unemployed. As far as jobs go, America needs the biggest fixing. When a small minority of people own the majority of the income of this country, something is messed up.

I agree a wall wouldn't do much. At best, it'll just create some jobs to build it, but there's other stuff we could build instead of a stupid wall. Like an American version of the Autobahn.

[AFPheonix]

Hurt the economy? HURT??
The economy RUNS on these people's backs, especially agriculture. Just about every job that white people work relies on the grunt work that these people put in.
I believe we get MORE illegal immigrants from Canada, and we also get a huge amount from Asia, too. Do you ever hear complaining about the whities or the asians that are here illegally? No, of course not.

Do we need immigration reform? Yes, yes we do. Guess what, a wall ain't gonna cut it. If the US is so concerned about hispanic immigration, how about we start helping the countries that so many people are coming from turn into places that the immigrants don't need to leave to live? Now THAT'S something I have yet to hear any of the pols suggest.

[Greenday]

You sure it doesn't have anything to do with the fact that illegal immigrants hurt America's economy? It just happens that Mexicans happen to be the majority of this problem. Every dollar an illegal makes and sends back home, into another nation, is hurting our economy. They sure as hell don't deserve free health care or any other government type of support. If they don't pay taxes to the government, why should the government spend money to help them?

And for another matter, I think there needs to be harsher punishments for illegal immigrants who commit crimes within the US. Many times, the criminals will be given a choice to either stand trail or to just be sent back to wherever they come from. The obvious choice is to be kicked out, as they can just come right back in and continue whatever crimes they are doing. One such example was a man from Mexico, who illegally came into America, and during his stay, committed a few murders. He is given the option to go back to Mexico, which he does, and then guess what happens. That's right, comes right back in illegally again, and commits murder again. He never should have even been given that opportunity.

Greenday, who's not racist, because he hates everyone.

[Boozy]

...is the cause du jour for closet racists.

Its become completely unacceptable for politicians to rally the redneck population around hatred of black people. So they've turned on Mexicans now because they can veil that prejudice into an argument against "illegals".

"Illegals" = Mexicans, aka people who aren't white.

I suspect I'll get people responding who say they have a problem with illegal immigration and aren't racist. And I'll believe you - if you have made the effort to develop a real understanding of US immigration and security policies and find them lacking.

But I just can't shake the feeling that the people making the most noise about this issue are basing their opinions on skin colour.