Actually, we all kind of did that, because when the English first immigrated to North America, we forced the national language of England on the native people already here. Just to, you know, throw a wrench in the works.

Aside from that, I agree with a lot of what you are saying. I work with someone who is in the process of becoming a legal citizen, and she's told me how difficult it is, and how slighted she feels when she sees other people coming here illegally and getting rights and privileges that she doesn't have yet because she's trying to do things the right way. That's a big problem, and I agree that no one should break the law, then expect all kinds of privileges.

I do, however, think that too often illegal immigrants are viewed as hardened criminals, here to take things away from citizens personally. In most cases, people come to the US - or any country for that matter - illegally
because they are in poverty, or trying to escape pretty terrible conditions that most of us will never know. When you see them as people coming over, making money and sending it home so that maybe their family can eat, or trying to make a life for themselves where they won't have to worry about someone randomly shooting them for being the wrong color or race or religion or just in the wrong place at the wrong time, it really changes things. Makes you wonder what you would do in their situation. It also helps see them as individual people.

It's hard to see their situations when the people as a group are villified. Not that there aren't some illegal immigrants taking advantage of the situation, but many have just found themselves in a situation with no right answer.

__________________
"Let's eat, Grandpa!"
"Let's eat Grandpa!"

Punctuation. It saves lives.

Take a trip to Texas. The are everywhere, yes fully dressed and yes alone. I make it no point to be nice because I dont want them here.

Cheers to the man in the grocery store.

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MARSHA

:D I'm smiling because I have no idea whats going on!

Really? In Texas there are women in full burqas, like this one: Image:Woman walking in Afghanistan.jpg - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia ?

Because that's a rare, if never seen thing in VA. Mostly I see women wearing hijabs, around here. I think it would be interesting to see someone wearing a full burqa. But I just can't see someone trained to be that submissive speaking up like that in a grocery store. It's possible, my mind just doesn't want to fathom it.

__________________
"Let's eat, Grandpa!"
"Let's eat Grandpa!"

Punctuation. It saves lives.

And in we just recently had a group of them that threw a hissy fit because they wanted to be able to have their driver's license photo taken with their faces covered.
I get told to take off my eyeglasses for the photo and they want to be able to wear what is effectively a mask!

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Merlin,
What's Life Without A Little Magic!

Wow. That's crazy. Is it actually legal to drive in something that covers your whole face?

__________________
"Let's eat, Grandpa!"
"Let's eat Grandpa!"

Punctuation. It saves lives.

In California, a while back, a group of illegal immigrants protested at a school. They took down the american flag, tossed their flag on the pole (mexican) and then placed an upside down american flag under it. This was done at a highschool!

If you don't know what that signifies, let me briefly explain. That is a measure to state that you have "taken over" that territory. It is also incredibly disrespectful. So here the illegals are demanding rights, while at the same time, disrespecting this countries flag and heritage.

I am all for everyone coming to america. I have no issue with that. If the government requires background checks and hoops to be jumped through, do it. I also don't think all ilegal immigrants are criminals. I do KNOW however that a vast amount of drug trafficing is done by illegal immigrants. That has been exposed with serious drug busts in the past.

If all illegal immigrants were innocent of any crime doing, I don't think there would be as strong an opposition to some of their requests. The fact that just about every large drug bust though is attached to a large amount of illegal immigrants is insane and THAT reflects on them as a whole. It may not be right, but that is what happens.

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You can drive wearing a costume donkey's head you want as long as it doesn't obstruct your vision.
It was not a question of them driving like that. It was the idea that they wanted what was to have a legal government photo ID that did not show their faces! Which means that they could pass it to anyone that they saw fit to do anything they wanted with it.

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Merlin,
What's Life Without A Little Magic!

Well, I don´t know how big that issue is in the USA because.... I don´t live there.

But the "criminals" are usually "ilegals". Immigrants or not. And I think your last argument is very sensitive (and dangerous). It was used in Central Europe in the first half of the XX century (not about drugs but other illegal activities of immigrants and other minoritary groups) with dramatic results.

And the immigration policy (as many if not all the others) is guided by economical interests: if you need people to work in your country, you open the borders; if you don´t or you have unemployment issues, you close them.

Historically, this is the way it has worked in the past - both in Europe and in the US - and this is the way it works nowadays.

Just my opinion.

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Regards,
Joao

The immigration policy in this country sucks! People say the illegals take jobs that American's don't want or won't do. Maybe at first but now, when a new housing development goes up all of the workers doing carpentry and plumbing are Mexican, not to mention landscapers, trash haulers, farm workers, housekeepers and on and on. They are taking more and more jobs and doing it for a fraction of what an American can afford to live on. My husband drives a recycling truck for a major trash hauler. A few years ago they had a huge number of illegals working there. They work for several months, live in large groups, save their money and then take it back to Mexico! They had a big crack down and half of the staff disappeared. I live near Kennett Square PA which is a huge mushroom producing area. If you went there you would think that you got lost and ended up in Mexico. You go into the McDonalds and the menu is in English and Spanish. If we are going to put the menu in Spanish is it fair, why not also have it up there in French and German too?

Last week in Newark NJ, three University of Delaware college students were robbed and shot execution style in a school yard where they were just hanging out listening to music. Here is a link to info about this shooting -
Newark suspects fell through immigration cracks - CNN.com
of the shooters who have turned themselves in have been illegals. To make it worse one of the illegals was arrested prior to this for RAPING A FIVE YEAR OLD CHILD!!! He had not been convicted yet and I beleive he was just out on bail. Now why was he allowed to go free, he should have been held for trial or deported immediately. This illegals are allowed to break our laws and still stay in our country.

There are so many expamples of why our immigration policy needs to change I could go on forever. Does anyone ever watch Lou Dobbs on CNN? Immigration is his pet peeve. He tries to expose all of the mistakes that the US makes in its policies.

I have no problem if people want to come and live in the US, but do it the legal way like my family did when they came from Ireland in the late 1800's.

Just my two cents on this subject.

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Kelly

My pets:
Leopard Gecko ~ Ducky
Rabbit ~ Chester
Kitten ~ Lil Fang
Black Bear Hamster - Charlie
Parakeet ~ Ray
Eastern Box Turtle ~ Ollie
Hermit Crab ~ Mr. Crabs
Teddy Bear Hamster ~ Poppy RIP 7/12/07

I understand what you are saying about crime and illegal immigrants. And I do have to say that I'm sure it's much easier to get away with crime when you don't technically exist in that country.

But crime is crime anywhere. For every story you hear about an illegal immigrant killing/abusing children there are three about legal American parents hurting their own children. I'm not sure it's fair to judge thousands of people based on the actions of only a few.

Which I guess is what got me about the story of the Iraqi woman in the store. Right now we seem to be judging all people from the Middle East on the actions of a few terrorists. Yes we had tensions between ourselves and Iraq before, but I'd never seen the pure hate for anyone that is vaguely Middle Eastern as I have since 9/11. It doesn't matter that the terrorists were a rogue faction of a religious group in Afganistan, not Iraq or India. Anyone with dark hair and skin who wears their traditional garments are automatically seen with suspicion and anger.

I don't know.

I don't argue that illegal immigration is plain wrong, and that they have had a negative and significant effect on how our country has grown.

However, I think it's dangerous to clump people together as a group and stop seeing them as people. That's what leads to public lynchings of innocent families, or the genocide of nearly an entire race. When you stop seeing them as individuals, you stop seeing them as human, and they become objects that are easy to become comfortable in hating and possibly hurting.

*shrug* That's just my view on things. I could be wrong.

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"Let's eat, Grandpa!"
"Let's eat Grandpa!"

Punctuation. It saves lives.