<p>permanent residency seems like a good alternative</p>
<p>Permanent residency is fine. My illegal immigrant parent is a permanent resident now, not a citizen.</p>
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<p>Well, when they say "pathway to citizenship" what they mean is permanent residency and THEN citizenship. </p>
<p>If you look at the immigration reform plan that was voted down last year, it included a fine of more than 1000 bucks per person in household (yes, that included kids) and a 6 year waiting period before becoming residents. After that, they'd have to wait for 5 years for their citizenship. </p>
<p>That was the 11-year long plan. No one is saying: "Let's make all illegal immigrants citizens right now" because it wouldn't make any sense when you have literally hundreds of thousands of people waiting in line legally for their chance (my family included). At the same time, it also doesn't make much sense to simply forget about the undocument people.</p>
<p>My Mother was born in the US (El Paso), as was her mother, whom was Mexican. She is one of 10, the first 3 were born in El Paso, the rest in Mexico with an American Born Mexican Mother (and Mexican born Mexican Father). They refuse my uncles and aunts citizenship even though they were born to an American, and American Born American...
I've been to Mexico various times and many people don't understand the disparity or Desperateness of the country. The People don't have many options and many are willing to die to come.
I am an Illegal sympathizer, I had an Illegal uncle for a while until he married an American Women.
The US is harsh on Immigration, and when I say that I means many people who attempt to enter legally are declined. Getting to the US is like getting into a top tier school...
I wouldn't get offended if someone told me Many Mexicans are illegal cause its true, not all many come from El Salvador and Guatemala(and even the Philippines to a lesser degree). Truly and Honestly, much of the anti-illegal sentiment, ~I~ feel is racism. I remember when my mother told me when she came to the US she would get taken in by the police and they would ask her over and over again to get her to confess that she was an Illegal. She was raised in Mexico and spoke no english...it is racism...if some Chinese guy was running around illegal they wouldn't suspect him. One of my dad's employees was pulled over not too long ago, for no real reason and the police officer came out and started to speak SPANISH to her... she is Hispanic...born in Michigan, and does not know a lick of Spanish... The Police here stop anyone Hispanic looking at schools during drop off and pick up times, and see if they're illegal. They say they aren't pulling over Hispanics for the heck of it, but they are. I live in the Suburb of Irving btw...not Dallas, I'm sure some of you have heard of my now famous suburb.
I mean coming Illegal isn't right, but many of you really don't understand how bad it can be down there...and your little 5 star Cruise or all inclusive resort is not Mexico.
Green Cards are hard to obtain, even if you are already LEGALLY living in the US.
Some of you need to take a trip to a third world country, and see it for real.
Just even driving around.
Like in Manila, I was with some of my relatives who are pretty wealthy. Just driving around, I would see the squatters. I saw houses made of tin, some looked like if you were to sneeze they would collapse. some 2 or even 3 stories high, and in the little roads the squatters created, it was crowded. Half Dressed men, women with various Children... Kids would take baths in the polluted streams...I mean polluted, you have no Idea...you really don't. Naked Children would run around, their little huts would pour over into the street. Many people have no shoes... the 'below poverty' people here aren't in poverty...this was in Metro Manila...if you go into the countryside...it can get worse, but I didn't spend too much time there.
And In China, i took a walk away from the hotel I was staying at. It was better then The Philippines, but still. The streets were littered with people. and I passed this one lady who was killing snakes. She was old, but in the city I was in (which I have no family in) was Guilin and the people there have this delicacy called snake wine...yes people actually put the snake in the wine...anyways...she was killing these snakes (they weren't huge, like a little gardener snake, not longer then a foot and a half. She wasn't rich...and he hand we drenched in blood. Bites from the snakes, and I just watched her for a minute as she grabbed each snake and smacked it against the bucket as if it were normal receiving more and more blood per snake. and this was in a city strong 500,000 people...no one blinked an eye, not even me...
10,000 dollars a year is good income compared to many other people.
I've actually never seen a case as bad in the Philippines in Mexico, and I've spent more time there then any other foriegn country.
oh...and I can pass as a native in all 3 countries...;) so no one looked at me funny as if I were and outsider.
So I do sympathize...I guess...</p>
<p>If you can pass as a native in Mexico there's a chance you can pass as a native in the Philippines as well, even without having some Philippine ancestry. The Philippines have very much Spanish heritage in them. That must be why their women are usually the hottest of all Asia ;P</p>
<p>I'm guessing you're half Philippine though ChaiMex, right? If so, do you speak either language?</p>
<p>America is not here to solve OTHER's problems. It must take care of it's OWN citizens first. Think of America as a family. If you, a father/mother is trying to support your OWN kids, but you cannot feed them/ clothe them/ something else, does it really make any sense to give some of your money to some other parent so that the other parent can feed their kid? I don't think so! I'm sure you'll care about your own kid first (unless you're some sadistic psychopath).
America must still preserve itself for the benefits of it's OWN citizens, otherwise in 50 years, America will be overrun by poverty and people will soon start illegally immigrating to Canada (as crazy as it may seem).</p>
<p>btw, it's ILLEGAL! End of story.</p>
<p>Oh yeah, and the anti-illegal sentiment is not racism. It's self-interst. Don't get this confused with selfishness though. It's human nature to want to watch out for yourself and your progeny. People must just find different ways to do it. It's a fact of life. </p>
<p>The world is not perfect.</p>
<p>The anti-illegal sentiment is racism when brown skinned Latinos are constantly falsely identified as illegal immigrants, constantly forced to produce proof of citizenship everywhere they go, etc.</p>
<p>Four words...</p>
<p>THEY TOOK OUR JOBS!
DEY TUK ER JAIRBS!
AHDEYTUUKERJARIB!</p>
<p>IMO, the Border Fence will come through (all 3 major candidates want it) and reduce the number of illegals coming in through Mexico. The ones here will get amnesty'd as long as they're not breaking any other laws regularly and have a job, etc.</p>
<p>And all of this won't happen in a day. </p>
<p>What we should do is help Mexico (a tad) so that the poorer Mexican people have less incentive to come over.</p>
<p>What we should do is stop spending over a billion dollars on a week on a pointless war and start helping those who for some reason are able to die by lack of necessities such as food, water, and shelter while we're over here dropping money like nothing for the hell of it. </p>
<p>Being able to exist in houses with electricity, computers and TVs in every room, gated communities, so much food and water that wasting it doesn't get a second glance, etc. while people still lack basic necessities sounds pretty inhumane to me.</p>
<p>
[quote]
What we should do is stop spending over a billion dollars on a week on a pointless war and start helping those who for some reason are able to die by lack of necessities such as food, water, and shelter while we're over here dropping money like nothing for the hell of it.
[/quote]
</p>
<p>If you're speaking of Central and South American countries, then I absolutely disagree with you. Like someone else said, its not our responsibility to dedicate any of our funds to other countries when the security of our nation is in jeopardy. That's not to say that the US isn't one of the most charitable countries in the world. If you're talking about helping out those in the United State's urban areas suffering from the above mentioned woes, then I truly agree with your assumption that we must help them.</p>
<p>Security of our nation in jeapordy is a bit dramatic. If that was the concern, the money would be focused there, not on a pointless war (unless you're implying that this war has something to do with our national security). </p>
<p>I was talking about within and without our borders. All over the world; borders should not discriminate, we're discussing human life here. Of course US life takes priority, but it's not the money that's the problem when it comes to helping our own. </p>
<p>If I was in the position where I made plenty of extra money after taking out what I need to provide for my family, I would use some of that extra money to make the world a bit more humane. A world leader such as the US should do the same IMO.</p>
<p>enderkin: "...Latin America's problems should not become our problems..."</p>
<p>ChaiMex: "...My Mother was born in the US (El Paso), as was her mother, whom was Mexican. She is one of 10, the first 3 were born in El Paso, the rest in Mexico with an American Born Mexican Mother (and Mexican born Mexican Father)..."</p>
<p>One of the "problems" south of our border is dogmatic adherence to ultra conservative catholicism. If the catholic church were to "permit" adherents to practice birth control, many of the problems in countries south of our border would self-correct within a generation or two.</p>
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[quote]
America is not here to solve OTHER's problems. It must take care of it's OWN citizens first. Think of America as a family.
[/quote]
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<p>I agree 100% with you. I wasn't born in our country, but I am as patriotic as can be. I love America because we truly are (imo) the best nation in the world. </p>
<p>However, we also have ALOT of problems we need to solve. Most importantly (for me), education, social security and the economy. </p>
<p>As the child of immigrants, I am able to understand the whole scope of the situation. I realize both sides, the pros and cons. </p>
<p>While I DO think that we need to close our borders ASAP, we also need to take care of the 12 million illegal immigrants already in the country (remember that approximately 4-5 million US citizen kids have both parents illegally in the U.S. If we actually deported all those people, we'd only create a future generation of angry citizens). However, this is by no means a priority. </p>
<p>Like someone else said, we are our own country and we have to take care of OUR problems. We can't dedicate ourselves' to solving the rest of the world's.</p>
<p>And IMO, saying all "Latinos" sympathize with the "illegal immigrants" cause is... well. It's like saying <<<over 90%="" of="" black="" people="" vote="" democrat="" because="" they="" feel="" do="" a="" better="" job="" with="" the="" poor="">>>. It's racist and humiliating. I am ethnically Hispanic but above that, I am American. I do not by any means, feel more "connected" towards "Hispanics". You can't say that all Hispanics should unite in a sort of "misfit group" because they all simpathize with illegal immigrants. Just like you can't say all Black people are more socialist because they are "all poor".</over></p>
<p>There is obviously no easy way to solve the problem of illegal immigration. First of all, the Mexican government needs to take responsibility for its people, provide them with jobs, and create reasons for its citizens to stay. (This is not just true of Mexico; I'm just using it as an example b/c it borders the US and most illegal immigrants come from there.) It is a well-known fact that the US is a very desirable place to live, but people need to come here LEGALLY. My parents were immigrants, came to this country legally, paid taxes, contributed to society, and waited for over 10 years until their citizenship was granted. To them, it was definitely worth the wait. We need to legalize the illegal immigrants already here so that they contribute something (ie taxes) to the country, instead of exploiting the money of others. That's not to say that that illegal immigrants don't make up a vital part of the economy; they do the dirty jobs that Americans don't want to take, and I think we should appreciate that. However, their illegal presence greatly harms our country, for a country is only a country when its borders are well-regulated. In conclusion..............this is a very sticky and complicated issue and idk....I have some conflicting views about it :b</p>
<p>The problem is, what if we create a path to legalization without strengthening our borders? Does anyone actually have a good plan how to do that? Because if we pass this legalization legislation first, it will only encourage more people to enter into this country illegally. I am all for a path to legitimization for the illegals we have now- though I don't think citizenship, I don't think they should have a right to vote when they got here illegally- I would only support that if we first secured our borders and could prove that the inflow of illegal immigrants has ceased. Then we can help the people we already have.</p>