grab a snack and brew, and sit back...and watch this

[Steel2686]

It's all about a lack of respect. Legal or not.

I grew up in this town. I've lived here all my life. This was once a great place to live. I've watched the immigration increase ten-fold, and subsequently, my town degrade. I can remember Christmas shopping on Main Street with my Grandparents. We would walk from one end to the other, going in and out of various stores. Now? Main Street is full of places with signs like "Checks Cashed" and "Bail Bonds".

Excuse me if I sound like I wish there wasn't so much immigration here, but that's exactly how I feel. They have absolutely destroyed this town. One of my best friends is an officer here. He arrests two to three immigrants... legal or otherwide... every night.

If they respected our downtown... Our schools... Our laws. I would have no problem with it. Show me something first. Anything.

[raroZ28]

It's all about a lack of respect. Legal or not.

Now? Main Street is full of places with signs like "Checks Cashed" and "Bail Bonds".

To believe that is the fault of immigrants is pure ignorance. Too much finger pointing going on toward immigrants. You could always move to Canada.

[Steel2686]

To believe that is the fault of immigrants is pure ignorance. Too much finger pointing going on toward immigrants. You could always move to Canada.

Who's fault is it? The shops they now occupy are run down and a shell of their former self. The buildings and old victorian houses they live in are in rough shape. The crime rate has gone up.

I understand this is what they were used to in their countries of origin. They escaped poverty to live in a better place. The unfortunate part is that many have brought their unhealthy living culture with them. Sorry. It's a fact.

As far as Canada goes, as beautiful as it is, they have looser borders than we do. No thanks.

[Dave Vince]

I think Joe 1320 paints the picture of what the future United States will look like. In other words a shell of its former self.
Politicians are only looking to get elected, but if you put enough pressure on those bums you can get action.

[MN6WS6]

Man, this thread blew up in a day!

The arguments here are not about legal or illegal, it's about immigration PERIOD. And race has nothing to do with it. If it were 400 million white people in 10-15 years it would still be too many. It's numbers, not race.

The really sad thing is something that others have touched on already. They move here for a better life, then get treated as lesser people (legal or illegal) and work many times harder for many times less pay. So it takes that many folks to buy that one house. But, with the amount of them here and the amount of illegal ones coming every day, they are hurting their own race's chance for a better life. So it's a Catch 22 for them. So then they go back to their previous lifestyle, which unfortunately means crime and violence because that's all they've ever known.

The bottom line is it has got to stop, and it's going to take some politicians with some nuts who don't worry about what gets votes but what is the right thing to do to change it. And since that won't happen anytime soon, it's up to the rest of us to educate ourselves and the others in this country as to how bad this problem is and is getting so that those spineless politicians WILL do the right thing and get to keep their precious votes.

[Black97]

As far as Canada goes, as beautiful as it is, they have looser borders than we do. No thanks.

Canada may has a looser immigration policy but we don't have a border like the US does to the South where you can take your pants off and walk across the Rio Grande and be in the "promised land".

The fact is Canada wants a certain amount of new legal immigrants every year and they ususally are below their quota.

It's not just North America. Look at the European Union. More and more countries are going to be member and people can move relatively "freely" (with a job offer) amongst the member contries.

Switzerland who is not a member of the EU has problems with illegal immigrants too and crime is on the rise with people out of the former Yugoslawia. Not surprisingly they recently voted for a stricter immigration policy.

[wolfdogs]

Canada may has a looser immigration policy but we don't have a border like the US does to the South where you can take your pants off and walk across the Rio Grande and be in the "promised land".

The fact is Canada wants a certain amount of new legal immigrants every year and they ususally are below their quota.

It's not just North America. Look at the European Union. More and more countries are going to be member and people can move relatively "freely" (with a job offer) amongst the member contries.

Switzerland who is not a member of the EU has problems with illegal immigrants too and crime is on the rise with people out of the former Yugoslawia. Not surprisingly they recently voted for a stricter immigration policy.

who wants to move to canada anyway...its cold....and exspensive..and the people tawk funny

[Rhode Island Red]

I feel the biggest problem we have when facing immigration is companies who deliberately hire illegals, give them slave wages, and suppress wage increases overall for everyone. Just from drudgereport.com this morning

case in point: dated Dec 13 - Largest workplace raid ever: Feds nab 1282 workers. Swift & Co. tried to block immigration raid

Immigration officials last month informed Swift that it would remove unauthorized workers on Dec. 4, but Swift asked a federal judge to prevent agents from conducting the raid, arguing it would cause "substantial and irreparable injury" to its business.

The company estimated a raid would remove up to 40 percent of its 13,000 workers. Greeley-based Swift describes itself as the world's second-largest meat processor with sales of about $9 billion.

How can we even attempt to fix immigration when we have corporations who welcome them with arms open wide who constantly lobby congress to look the other way... It's the law of money... Money talks and politicians want all of it they can get, even if its selling out our country

[Steel2686]

Canada may has a looser immigration policy but we don't have a border like the US does to the South where you can take your pants off and walk across the Rio Grande and be in the "promised land".

The fact is Canada wants a certain amount of new legal immigrants every year and they ususally are below their quota.

It's not just North America. Look at the European Union. More and more countries are going to be member and people can move relatively "freely" (with a job offer) amongst the member contries.

Switzerland who is not a member of the EU has problems with illegal immigrants too and crime is on the rise with people out of the former Yugoslawia. Not surprisingly they recently voted for a stricter immigration policy.

I wasn't trying to bash Canada in any way. Believe me... I love it up there. It's just a 4 1/2 hour trip from here. Been there a few times. It's an absolute fantastic country, and the people are all really nice (except in the city limits of Montreal. They seemed to hate Americans.)

My point was how lax the security is of legal immigrants entering the country. They have since tightened up, but it's still lacking a bit. A good part of the 9/11 terrorists came from there. They couldn't get passage into the US, so they went next door. Canada has done quite a bit to help in that manner as of late.

If I came across as slamming Canada, I apologize. It was not my intention. This just tends to be one of the few subjects that gets me a bit fired up.

[Black97]

Don't worry I didn't see it as any bashing. Just thought I put my 2 cents worth in. Yeah those French speaking "extremists" in Quebec. I don't think it has much to do with Americans, a lot of them just don't like anybody that doesn't speak French.

Allthough I must say we spent a couple of days in Montreal last Summer and people were speaking English with us once they realized we were not doing French.

15 years ago when we were there it was a whole other story.

[Black97]

I feel the biggest problem we have when facing immigration is companies who deliberately hire illegals, give them slave wages, and suppress wage increases overall for everyone.

A while back didn't they have some demonstrations going on where illegal immigrants wanted to show how much they are part of the US workforce. I think they said that several major food processing and packaging plants had to shut down for a day since they didn't have any workers!

[Black97]

who wants to move to canada anyway...its cold....and exspensive..and the people tawk funny

Yeah it's cold up in Canada and we think that y'all talk funny down South. I wouldn't say too much about it being expensive, Ken. Virginia isn't a cheap place either with all the property taxes on houses, cars, bikes and so on that you pay. I lived there for 4 1/2 years.

Another plus for Canada, we don't have GWB.

[Jeff_in_Atl]

Another plus for Canada, we don't have GWB.

You should be so lucky. You have it worse with Stephen Harper.

You didn't have to say that.

[Black97]

You should be so lucky. You have it worse with Stephen Harper.

You didn't have to say that.

Well there are always different views and opinions. I say GW is bad for the US while you say Harper is for Canada.

It won't be long until we have another election and it might all change with the new Liberal leader taken a run at it.

I guess I all depends on which side of the border you're at.