OpenGov - Open Government Brainstorm

Nope. They are here without permission or authorization, no passport, no green-card, etc. That makes them criminals, which means they are Illegal Aliens to this country.

No more Political Correctness. Illegal Aliens should be searched-out, arrested, and deported. If an Illegal Alien is caught here after being deported the first time, they should be sent to prison for their criminal behavior. Preferably a cheap prison outside the U.S.

photosrme,

Those are horrible things to say. I do not agree that we should just "ignore" the problem and hope that it fixes it self on its own (after all that's what we've been doing for decades and it has not worked.) Remember that these people are here for the same reason our Founding Fathers moved to this country, to provide a better future for their families. The issue with illegal immigration has festered precisely because politicians have ignored it for too long. But the issue is much more complicated than just "roundin' em up and deportin' them." For instance, there are millions of children who were brought here at such a young age that they can not identify with any country other than the US. Many of them do not even speak any other language besides English. This may be hard to believe at first but remember that many people have lived in the US illegally for decades (12 million didn't happen over night.) Also, many have paid taxes for many years through an ITIN. An ITIN is a Federal Tax ID number the IRS issues undocumented immigrants so that employers can deduct all of the same taxes you and I pay to the Fed, State, local and social security taxes. The catch is that undocumented immigrants are NOT eligible to receive any of the same services for which they contribute. It is estimated that the US receives a surplus in the billions of dollars annually from undocumented immigrants who contribute taxes but do not collect them. you probably ask, why in the world would and undocumented immigrant want to contribute to the tax system? Well, at the end of the day these people are only here to work their behinds off to provide a better future for their families. Also, this is the way they can prove to the US Courts that they have been trying to lead an honest hardworking life while in the US.

I am a legal immigrant my self and grew up in a community were there are large numbers of undocumented people, many have not seen a doctor in 20 years because they can not afford it. This brings up another problem. Because hospitals are required only to provide emergency service, many immigrants wait until a health problem festers to its worse degree before they seek medical attention. Here's something that sounds like and oxymoron, it is cheaper for a hospital to provide preventive medicine to undocumented immigrants than to provide emergency services once the health problem has gotten out of hand.

I could go on and on with examples but I think you would agree that undocumented immigration is a complex issue and we can not apply a one size fits all mentality without sound irrational or inhumane.