I read the responses... All of them. Doling out 'thanks' where I read something good or funny (Thanks Clint).
I think that the one thing we can mostly agree on is that it isn't a straightforward issue at all.
On the one hand, this is the USA and we have a fair amount of pride of our mixing bowl heritage. We always have been a conglomerate of differernt cultures which have come together and worked hard to build this nation to the greatness which is has achieved.
Likewise, we have hard working immigrants who want to come to this country to better their lives and to enrich our culture.
The flip side is that we have many people who want to come here and work, but do not want to enrich America, they want to enrich their homeland. They don't necessarily want to pay their fair share, and they don't want to follow the rules of our country.
This is, most notably, our country, and the citizens have a duty of acting in the best interests of our country. Deciding on what those best interests are is not straightforward and runs the range of "Let them all in" to "Shoot them on sight" - neither of which is a realistic solution, but both of which are ideas which could be, and have been, enacted througout the world historically.
So, what we have is currently a system which isn't perfect and is perhaps to liberal. The capability for foreigners, especially local and cheap labor, to get in easily needs to be maintained, and perhaps streamlined for those who simply are an import of temporary labor. It would be understood that while this is good for business, this is NOT good for our national stability because it would not be permanent people looking to build the USA, but people looking to enrich their homeland.
The citizen process is difficult, and where we hit walls is with the required balancing act. The simple reality is that while some may disagree, the overall consensus is that Americans want people with potential. If you don't have a job, then what will you do when you get here? If you don't have family here, then where will you live? If you aren't an educated student, then what do you have to contribute? With SO many who do want to be here, it is easy to find people that are educated, that do have a job, that have family and maybe even meet all three criteria.
While some may argue, and have the right to do so, that this is wrong. These same people often fail to address the economic viability issues of how to deal with an inrush of poor, uneducated people, looking for work, with no family and no place to live who would seek refuge in the USA.
I think the most important part of coming to this country is working towards the betterment of this country. I welcome visitors who are here temporarily and are just that - visitors. But, if you want to be a citizen of the USA, then I expect that you intend to put the USA before the country you were born in. Not that a person has to ignore or hurt their ancestry and homeland, but they have to maintain the American ideals and quality of life above all other nations. To treat your home, as your home, not as a guest house or a hotel room.
I have no solid numbers on what it would cost to shut down the border and to truly crack down on illegal immigrants, but I am personally in favor of it. I think many states balk at the cost involved because it isn't their problem.
But, it is a problem dealing with national security, regardless of which states are most affected, and that alone makes it an issue for every individual state of our nation.
