OpenGov - Open Government Brainstorm

United States was founded by immigrants. All immigrants should go through the process as immigrants in the past have done. It's unfair to give millions of people a free ride just because they live in close proximity to our borders. Mexico is not so genorous when it comes to illegals in their country. And since they live so close, it will be easy for them to get back home!

In addition to those who have illegally COME into the country we have millions who have illegally STAYED in the c ountry. These people came here legally - as visitors - and then refused to go home when they had promised to do so.

Wow, Ricardo.

You contradicted yourself from the get go. Your opening statement mentions that: "Noo (sic) one is sure if we have 10 or 20 million illegal aliens..." You then go on to say that: "Everyone knows illegal aliens commit more crimes (proportionately)..." So if you are unsure of the number of undocumented immigrants (by 10 million) how are you so certain that they commit more crimes in ratio to the general population? You can't have it both ways.

Heidi, I do agree that this country was founded by immigrants. What always impresses me is that people fail to realize that it was "illegal" immigration that founded this country. Our Founding Fathers displaced, and killed the Natives to take over their land. The pilgrims did not carry passports with them. Neither did the Italians, Irish and Chinese who landed at Ellis Island and Angel Island. Just like past "illegal immigrants" have incorporated into the American mainstream so have current waves of immigrants. New immigrants have the same goal and dreams that old immigrants have had; to provide a better future for their families and be part of the American dream.

The problem is that immigration has been politicized so much by extremists that we now find it difficult to have an objective debate on the issue without falling victims to the demagogues, generalizations, fear-mongering, patriotism, misconceptions, stereotypes, racism and ignorance that is shoved down our throats on a daily basis by the liberal and conservative media extremists.

Most immigrants are law abiding and want to be part of America.

I can personally tell you that immigrants pay the same taxes American Citizens pay through and ITIN number. This is a number issued by the IRS so that undocumented immigrants can pay taxes like ordinary Americans with the catch that they can NOT receive any of the services they pay to support. Why would an undocumented immigrant do this free-willingly? Because when the opportunity comes for undocumented immigrants to become legalized this is the only way to prove their length of stay in the US and they can also prove to the courts that they did their best to contribute to the American society.

We have to stop seeing this issue as "us versus them."

There are undocumented children in this country that have been here from such an early age that they can not identify with any other culture that is not American. Some don't even speak another language other than English. To deport these young adults would be like telling your 21 year old daughter that everything she learned growing up in this country was a lie, that she is not an American even-though she talks, walks, acts and loves American. That in fact she is "Chinese" and she will be deported to "China" even-though she does not speak a lick of Mandarin and sees America as her native country. There are millions of children in this situation (remember that the undocumented immigration issue has been left to fester by politicians for decades.)

I can continue with many more examples but my point is that it is not as simple as rounding them up and deporting them. Many of these "undocumented immigrants," for all intents and purposes are Americans. Many have deep roots here and can not even related to their country of origin. In essence the only difference between a legal child from an illegal one that were both brought here at infancy, is that one of them has a piece of paper that says he can be here and the other does not.

Federation for American Immigration Reform

Earlier Today, House Appropriators Rejected E-Verify Amendments; Reps. Price,

Obey, and Wasserman-Schultz Spoke Against These Provisions

Earlier this morning, the House Appropriations Committee met to write

the annual Homeland Security spending bill and the annual bill that

funds Congress for the coming year. At the "mark-up," the

Committee rejected two E-Verify related amendments to the Homeland

Security bill and another related to the Legislative Branch spending

bill. E-Verify is an electronically operated system that ensures

American jobs go to American workers by allowing employers to quickly

check the work authorization status of their new hires.

Rep. Ken Calvert (R-CA) -- a true immigration reformer --

offered an amendment to the Homeland Security bill to extend

E-Verify. While that bill already contains a short, two-year

reauthorization of E-Verify, Congressman Calvert knows the true value

of the program and sought a longer extension of E-Verify. After

Calvert spoke in support of his amendment, Appropriations Homeland

Security Subcommittee Chairman, Rep. David Price (D-NC), spoke against the

amendment. Rep. Price urged the entire Committee to vote

against the amendment. Then, the Committee Chairman, Rep. David

Obey (D-WI), spoke against the amendment, as well. Obey argued

that the Homeland Security spending bill shouldn't contain an E-Verify

authorization at all!

Immediately following the rejection of the Calvert Amendment, another

true immigration reformer -- Representative Jack Kingston (R-GA)

-- offered an amendment to the Homeland Security bill to require

companies who contract with the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) to use

E-Verify. This common sense amendment would have ensured that contractors who

do business with DHS -- the same agency

tasked with enforcing our immigration laws -- do not hire illegal

aliens. Congressman Price AGAIN spoke in opposition to the

Kingston amendment, erroneously claiming that E-Verify is inaccurate

and that the program would be unable to handle the expansion to DHS

contractors. Even though Congressman Kingston pointed out that

DHS Secretary Janet Napolitano stated last month that the program

could indeed handle a large-scale expansion, and that the program has

an incredible accuracy rate of 99.6%, the House Appropriations

Committee still rejected the amendment!

Later in the morning, Congressman Kingston attempted to attach a

similar E-Verify amendment to the Legislative Branch spending

bill. This provision would have required contractors who do

business with the U.S. Congress to use E-Verify. This time,

Appropriations Legislative Branch Subcommittee Chairwoman Debbie

Wasserman-Schultz (D-FL) urged the Committee to reject the Kingston

Amendment.

In speaking out against these amendments, Reps. Price, Obey, and

Wasserman-Schultz effectively urged their colleagues to not only put

the E-Verify program in jeopardy, but also ensure that illegal aliens

can continue to work on federal contracts with DHS and the U.S.

Congress!

We need you to call the following Members of Congress who spoke

against E-Verify TODAY:

Rep. David Price: (202) 225-1784

Rep. David Obey: (202) 225-3365

Rep. Debbie Wasserman-Schultz: (202) 225-7931

Tell these Members that they need to get their facts straight.

Tell them:

* 14.5 million Americans are out of work and millions more are

underemployed.

* Americans, not illegal aliens, should be hired for any available

jobs.

* E-Verify is highly effective, and it works to protect American

jobs!!!

* Congress needs to start standing up for American workers, and

not special interests!!

Also, please call Rep. Calvert and Rep. Kingston, and thank them for

standing up on behalf of American Workers!

Rep. Ken Calvert: (202) 225-1986

Rep. Jack Kingston: (202) 225-5831

hey do u know who's running the most of the country now .. MEXICANS!!!!!..... mexicans are every were .... if u go to a restaurant or any store ... guess who's there .. MEXICANS!!!... plus mexicans are hardworker and dont care if they get minimum wage ... unlike you americans dont work as hard out in the hot burning sun and still fight to get a bigger wage ... you shall respect them ... they are the ones that built yalls homes ... and if we leave you would just have an abandon country and WILL regret saying what u said!!!!!...... so think about it!!!....

YOU ALL ARE JEALOUS BECAUSE YOU KNOW MEXICANS ARE BETTER AND MORE HARD WORKING PEOPLE!!! ... THEY DONT GIVE YALL JOBS BECOUSE YALL DONT DO ANYTHING ... ITS NOT BECAUSE THERES MORE MEXICANS... SOME OF U ARE RACIST AGAINST MEXICANS AND YOU THINK THATS RIGHT BUT WHEN U GO TO HELL U ARE GOING TO BE BURNING IN PAIN AND REGRETTING EVERY THING U DID!!!!