Comments on: CBS Poll: Most Support Immigration Reform

Key Provisions Of Reform Bill Receive Wide Support From Both Republicans And Democrats

[metz62]

History also shows that the first major immigration bill was passed in 1881 to address the growing concern of immigration. With the passage of that bill, Ellis Island was opened in 1882 to receive and process all immigrants. It was our country's first attempt in some way the to manage immigration. History also shows we knew we had a border problem back in 1980 and the passage of the amnesty bill did not address include anything to real deal with the problem....same as this bill.

Point of concern,,,,,,this bill does not have any meat in it to address or stop the continuing illegal entry nor to discourage it. Nor is the finanical implications these illegals are putting on our social entitlement programs nor how it will be funded/absorded with the pending retirement of the baby boomers and shrinking tax paying base (tax payers who pay more in taxes then they receive in governement services/programs.) These are the points our government needs to address but is afraid to.

[peter776-2009]

The question of whether illegal aliens pay some taxes due under false social security numbers is only one part of the equation. The other parts of the equation include the small amounts they pay in taxes (seeing as they almost all hold jobs paying minimum wage), the present costs imposed on the US taxpayer by the services and benefits they and their families consume, and the future costs of social security, medicare, and medicaid. When all these costs and benefits are considered together, each illegal alien costs the American taxpayer about $20,000 per year (after adjusting for the tzes they pay). Under the proposed legislation, this number will grow, as will the number of new immigrants who will enter this country under the Z visas grnated to illegal aliens already in this country (e.g., spouses, children, parents, etc.) The bill will cause a financial catastrophe in the country, and will bankrupt social security, medicare and medicaid in relatively short order. Please tell me how this bill makes any sense at all for the American taxpayer.

[lostcountry1]

likeitis, in another 20 years the mexicans will be in control of the U.S. and wont need amnesty from anybody.

[SamThornton]

Wow! This topic really brings out the loonies. Haven't seen so much misinformation and screwy reasoning in one place since the last Republican Presidential Debate.

[lestb35]

Deporting all these workers is unrealistic because we don't have the resources to locate and process them all and we don't have the substitute labor to replace them.Posted by realpatriot1 at 11:47 PM : May 26, 2007


You're assuming illegals only do farm labor, they don't. They're taking jobs from Amrican workers in many areas. Besides all this feigned sympathy for agricluture like the family farm will suffer if we don't give them slave labor. There are very few family farms left, it's all big corp, big ag. is highly subsidized by US taxpayer and they don't need slave labor. What next. Big Oil needs slave labor too. What industry doesn't need slave labor. I need slave labor for crissake, I need a cook, gardener, maintanence guy, and a cutle little maid.

[lestb35]

Posted by realpatriot1 at 11:47 PM : May 26, 2007

The system changed under Reagan which may have been a response to farm labor starting to organize. Farm labor used to come up, do the work, live in labor camps then after harvest go back to Mexico with a lot of money. Reagan gave them amnesty and here we are. Same problem, same proposed solution.

[makeafence]

Those interested in deporting the illegals may not be able to find everyone, but ICE cross referencing Social Security and IRS records for mismatches might be a place to start. If the jobs magnet is dried up by prosecuting those who hire illegals, deportation would be augmented by attrition. Add in border security and, even if it did take a real long time, the law would be being enforced and the numbers would be getting more manageable.

[realpatriot1]

I don't know exactly when Latin American workers started coming to America to perform farm work but I know that when I was in High School in 1968 it was already quite common in the agricultural areas in Ohio where I grew up and Cesar Chavez was trying to organize farm workers in California for better pay and working conditions. This is not a recent phenomenon and certainly is not the reason why American workers have been put in such a squeeze in recent years.

We've become so used to having these workers perform the work that Americans don't want to that most of us have no concept of how it would screw up our economy if we lost the labor and the food went unharvested.

It's stange that for all these years that our immigration system was letting this happen, nobody got upset until efforts were made to get control on the system.

Deporting all these workers is unrealistic because we don't have the resources to locate and process them all and we don't have the substitute labor to replace them.

The only other options are to continue to do nothing and let the problem get worse, or try to develop a system that allows for the workers that we need,makes sure that these workers and their employers are on the radar and pay into the system, and gives naturalized citizens hiring priority if they actually want the jobs.

[realpatriot1]

Likeitis,

There's one little problem with your stolen social security theory..it makes no sense.

If they steal a baby's tax return to file a tax return, whose income had tax withheld from it..the baby's? If they file a return they need a W-2 for income earned and withholding. The only reason they would have to file a return is to report their own income and withholding.

[randalds]

I'm not surprized that the bill's opponents don't know enough American history to get your Polk and manifest destiny refeence. To those of you in the border states, since we stole your territory from Mexico, you should know that to Mexicans you are the illegal immigrants.Like I've told some of my southern friends, to Latin Americans, we are all Yankees.
Posted by realpatriot1 at 10:28 PM : May 25, 2007

Me either. Far too many people today think things happen in some sort of vacuum. They have little or no understanding of the context of history (that's how we got stuck in this quagmire in Iraq...no proper learning of history or ignoring it.). Polk was a warmongering expansionist who honestly believed that God himself has destined the White man to rule the whole North American continent. To take it away from the Native Americans and Mexicans who already lived there and to force democracy on them (sound familiar?). This is what Manifest Destiny was. Conquering via the will of God. Of course throwing the relative chickenfeed of 15 million at Mexico was just to try to calm down the anti-Mexican war crowd, led by a young Congressman named Abraham Lincoln.

[randalds]

Today lets start with a 1,000 that we already have in jail for crimes. Tomorrows not so go as day say 850, day after tomorrows great 1275 and so on.

Posted by denniscliffo at 06:08 PM : May 26, 2007


Even at a very very very optimistic 1000 per day that would still take more then 32 years. Not counting of course all of the new ones that come across in the meantime.

[rich1620]

When most people think of illegal immigration they think of Mexicans who are uneducated, and work cheap. Mexicans are not wimps like they pretend to be. Many of them carry knives and can cut both you ears of before you know that the are gone. However, only sixty percent are estimated to be banditos from Mexico the other forty percent are considered terrorist and foreign spies.

While terrorists are using military tactics to lure all our fighting troops out of our country, they been infiltrating our borders by the millions without no one here to stop them. Our nation%u2019s leader has fell for one of the biggest tricks in any military manual. Now we are helpless and the clock is ticking waiting for the right time to overtake our country (first taking our elected officials in Washington DC, our brass in the Pentagon and then the state governors)

We have been warned in the past by a foreign power that this country was going to be taken over without firing a shot. I can%u2019t understand President Bush%u2019s motive because government officials will be the first ones killed when a takeover occurs. I believe him appointing a Mexican as an attorney general during this time is relevant.

Our only defense that we have here at home is the few Federal, state and local law enforcement agencies which are staffed with just enough personnel to respond to isolated incidents. The only exception to this is the war veterans.

[soccerscott5]

Answer NYT/CBS poll question #74 is missing in many reports, along with other questions by who try to mislead or didn't read for themselves. Other questions responses are missing as well.

74. Should illegal immigrants be prosecuted and deported for being in the U.S. illegally,
or shouldn't they?

69% should be
24% should not be
6% DK/NA

The entire poll was not about immigration.
To see the 35 page poll either go to the times website or directly view the poll with the link below:
http://graphics8.nytimes.com/packages/pdf/national/20070525poll.pdf

Please be completely informed.

[soccerscott5]

Answer NYT/CBS poll question #74 is missing in many reports, along with other questions by who try to mislead or didn't read for themselves. Other questions responses are missing as well.

74. Should illegal immigrants be prosecuted and deported for being in the U.S. illegally,
or shouldn't they?

69% should be
24% should not be
6% DK/NA

The entire poll was not about immigration.
To see the 35 page poll either go to the times website or directly view the poll with the link below:
http://graphics8.nytimes.com/packages/pdf/national/20070525poll.pdf

Please be completely informed.

[soccerscott5]

Answer NYT/CBS poll question #74 is missing in many reports, along with other questions by who try to mislead or didn't read for themselves. Other questions responses are missing as well.

74. Should illegal immigrants be prosecuted and deported for being in the U.S. illegally,
or shouldn't they?

69% should be
24% should not be
6% DK/NA

The entire poll was not about immigration.
To see the 35 page poll either go to the times website or directly view the poll with the link below:
http://graphics8.nytimes.com/packages/pdf/national/20070525poll.pdf

Please be completely informed.

[jmiller114]

I think that you are asking questions about the illegal immigration in the way that you can get the answers that you went.

[jmiller114]

I think that you are asking questions about the illegal immigration in the way that you can get the answers that you went.

[likeitis5050]

makeafence Thanks for making the point that the reform being considered doesn't correct the problem to begin with...the system is screwed and is *** us over. There is no way we are going to see an exodus of millions of illegal immigrants just because a bill passes. Some business or agency is already lined up to get the contract that will make them filthy rich while knowing they aren't 'fixing' anything. It will get a lot of publicity and will shut people up for a while (the media will simply only report the positive spins). Then, as you stated, in another 20 years we will simply give amnesty to another 20 million criminals.

[lestb35]

"If these people receive a check, they will have Federal, Social Security and Medicare withheld."Posted by equinek9 at 05:23 PM : May 26, 2007

They claim exempt and not have any federal witheld but most work under the table or get paid as contract labor and never file. The gvt. been trying to get them into the system by letting them file and apply for ITIN # but really they're not paying taxes and have far too many kids to ever pay federal taxes. The only taxes they're paying are gas taxes. Which BTW, one argument is that gas prices keep soaring because of limited refinery capacity,30 million less people (deported illegal immigrants) would give us a lot more gas, prices go down. Then again it's less gas taxes for local govt. to gobble up.

[likeitis5050]

equinek9 This is how they don't pay taxes. They spend $500 to buy someone else's SS# (illegals who have children here sell their SS# sometimes as many as 4 times before they make a dash back). They steal identities. They go through obituaries and are especially fond of babies who have died...no one is going to miss their SS#. Tax preparers boasting about filing so many returns on illegals will also tell you 30% can't remember what SS# they used 5 minutes after they've left the office. Thus any taxes they might inadvertently pay...are't being paid by them.