The solution to illegal immigration requires enforcement of our current laws

"1. I'm not talking about the fence they show on CNN. I'm talking about this fence: http://www.usillegalaliens.com....... It is double-panel, with patrol in between. Not as easy to get through as the one shown on CNN. With regards to those overstaying their visas, no one method is going to stop all, but the fence will stop some" Reply: Just look at any project of public housing. After a few years, it falls apart. Why? Because the government maintains it, and given there is no incentive to keep things well maintained, it falls apart. So even if the government did build some future, high-tech fence, it would be falling apart in 5 years. People who want to come to this country would just find a way to cut-through it, dig under it, climb over it, or just blow up parts of it. The fence would be about as useful as building a giant escalator to nowhere, a la the Simpsons. "2. The cost is justified. Those who enter the country illegally threaten our sovereignty." Reply: How exactly? Unless they are coming here with tanks and plan on running over your house, I don't think they are threatening your sovereignty. "How about instead of having the federal government do all these things it's not supposed to be doing, let's have it do one thing it is supposed to do for a change: secure the border." Reply: Secure from whom? Foreign armies or people looking for a better life? "Besides, they're not just entering the country illegally. If they are working and paying taxes, they've committed fraud with American documents. If they are working and not paying taxes, they've committed tax evasion" Reply: They make hardly anything, at least not enough to be substantially taxed. We should be making it easier for these people to become citizens, not harder. "3. Money? Are you serious? We have illegal immigrants in our prisons, on health care paid for by government, and in our schools. All those things cost us money, so obviously that's not why. Reply: Deporting someone isn't as simple as just throwing someone in a van and then driving them to Mexico. You have to be sure you have a place in Mexico you can take them to, verify they are not supposed to be in the country, etc. Also, some situations are complex, such as if the child is born in America and is a legal citizen and the parents are illegal. So the cost of implementing some mass deportation policy doesn't pay for the little reduction in costs of schools, health care, and prisons. If it were really an issue about social services, you would be more concerned about reforming those instead of trying to demonize immigrants. So, the question is, are you serious in thinking that the immigration issue is about money? From what I can find, in 2003, 7.5 billion was spent on educating illegal immigrant children, K-12. That comes out to about $25 dollars for every American. But by having their cheap labor, we save way more to cover that cost. So it's not that immigrants are bleeding us dry. And if you want them to pay more taxes, you have to make it easier for them to attain citizenship, not build a wasteful fence. Using the numbers from Farius.com, an anti-immigration group, the cost of illegal immigrants in 1996 was 24.4 billion dollars. Using the increase percentage in spending on education for illegals as a guide, a calculated the current figure around 31.4 billion dollars. That comes out to barley over $100 dollars for every person per year. Now lets say you run a business, and you hire an immigrant to do a job for $12 dollars an hour and the going rate is $25. That saves you $26,880 a year. So to say that immigrants are bad because of money just doesn't make sense. But that's not the reason most people don't like immigrants. Also, how much will the fence cost? $49 Billion. (http://www.sfgate.com...) And given the law that anything the government builds costs more than is initially stated, it could be much higher. Then you have to pay people to guard it, maintain it, etc. All to stop a fraction of illegal immigration. "It wouldn't be a huge expansion of government, rather it would just involve requiring proof of residency to be shown if people wish to have access to the treasury," Reply: I live in Oklahoma, whose claim to fame lately has been passing one of the state's toughest illegal immigration bills. (http://www.cnn.com...) You can't get a drivers licenses unless you show proof of residency. The result? It takes days to get a drivers license. Because it is just more bureaucratic hassle, which costs time and money. And everyone now hates the law. "With regards to the idea that we need to treat them for emergency care, I ask this: why should a federal law requiring us to treat illegals in emergency care be followed, while another federal law requiring them to be deported should be vigorously ignored?" Reply: It's has to do with who is carrying out the laws: Hospital vs. Government bureaucrats. The reason that the deporting one isn't followed as vigorously is because a government bureaucracy is doing it and can't do anything efficiently as a private hospital. Just wishing they would doesn't change the fact that a bureaucracy can't do anything. The law isn't that you have to provide emergency health care to illegal immigrants, but to everyone, legal, illegal, tourist, etc. So I don't think it is feasible to ask an unconscious person to show their documents that they are legal. "4. It doesn't need to be the prerogative of business. But when employers enjoy being able to hide these guys and pay them $3/hour under the table, etc... they know exactly what they are doing and should be punished." Reply: No, they shouldn't be punished, because they aren't doing anything wrong. You want to punish the business for hiring someone you don't like. Why not punish business for hiring gay people who marry illegally or break sodomy laws? "If government is unwilling to enforce its current laws, I don't trust them to enforce any new law. The 1986 amnesty had a promise they would enforce a new and tougher law, and that didn't work out" Reply: You still haven't given any reason why the government will all of the sudden be able to change and enforce the current laws? Just closing your eyes and crossing your fingers isn't going to make it so. "You're talking about a guest worker program, and that's a different debate" Reply: My solution actually deals with WHY immigration is happening and works on that. The current law has no relevance to effects and causes. A fence does nothing to address the issue of willing buyers and willing sellers. It is just a waste of money. Just deporting everyone doesn't work because it is too bureaucratic. Besides, there is no immigration crises. It's the same trick that gay marriage was 4 years ago. Find an emotional issue that people don't think rationally about and use it to wedge the electorate to thrust yourself to power. Last election, it was gay people who made Americans feel yucky. This year, it's immigrants. Both facades used to distract people from issues that matter.