Immigration?

LEGALLY, yes. Illegally? No. Cross over from Mexico.

My wife had a patient who broke his leg jumping the fence. His medical bills were paid out as charity from the hospital & doctor. He was then deported. Two months later, he was back in the hospital - with the same leg broken. Jumped the fence before it was fully healed. The hospital she works at has a LOT of illegal immigrant patients being treated for free. They also have a deficit resulting in cutbacks to the number of nurses and PCTs. That affects everyone who goes there...

Entering legally is a painful process. It applies to anyone except Mexicans and those who pass thru Mexico.

And yes, this DOES affect all discussions on current immigration. We don't have an illegal English immigrant problem, or an illegal Filipino immigration problem, nor an illegal Canadian immigration problem.

I agree with bsms it is a valid discussion about immigration and it is a civil one.
Bsms there are plenty of people here from europe and other countries whose status is questionable they just happen to blend in.
I have helped interpret or negotiate leases, contracts, bill payments, and problems with utility bills for close to a hundred people or so that are undocumented over the years. Every one of the adults WORK in those families that I have encountered
As long as employers will hire them, people will sell them cars, lease apartments and sell them houses we will not see a reduction in the problems we are experiencing due to those here illegally.
Not to mention the current war raging between the drug cartels that has claimed tens of thousands of lives in Mexico alone. 70,000 in the last 8 years alone. 90 so far this month. The US, Mexico and the nations of Central America all are responsible for the problem of undocumented workers. Shalom

Alex, I know plenty of people who got GC through american citizen spouse, and it only cost them the forms (around $1000 or so). It gets expensive though if you need to hire a lawyer (and many of the people immigrating through the relatives don't hire one).

And yes, I also know LOTS of people who immigrated through work immigration. While it's tough, it's still possible if you have an education.

The sad part is there is SO MUCH fraud in EVERY type of immigration that it's getting ridiculous.

Immigration based on marriages has the huge number of frauds. Probably more than any other type of immigration.

I do NOT think immigration through the relatives or job should be stopped, but it should be checked very very carefully for each case.

Some stuff you can ONLY buy with the stamp "made in China". I often try to find US-made alternative if I can (even if it's more expensive), but for certain things it's impossible to find.

While I don't disagree I also don't see how this relates to the OP's question (neither did my response - it was just to point out that coming in legally is not easy and not cheap)
Maybe if you do go back to the 1900's there is a comparison of sorts to illegal immigrants - I don't know what if any requirements there were then so maybe prior to immigration laws everyone (other than the Native American Indian) was a sort of illegal immigrant and no control of who came in. I have a direct line of ancestors who came here in the early 1700's and established themselves in the northern parts of the west coast area- some moving into Canada. They were all farming people. Of course no benefits in those days so people had to provide for themselves. As that family grew and flourished other family members moved to the US & Canada to join them up until the 1950's. My father & his cousins visted many times for reunions.
Given the tight restrictions to qualify now to get here legally (other than by marriage/family) I would say that the immigrants now are more likely to be professional people with relevant qualifications as they have to prove they will add value to the society and not be a drain on it.

For a few of you who think that they should not even allow legal immigrants.... I think you are forgetting where all of us here in the US came from.

If you want to go after someone... go after the employers/farmers/ranchers who hire the illegals.

In some places, it is illegal to check to see if someone is here legally or not before hiring. In those places, an employer cannot know in advance if he is hiring someone here illegally. E-verify needs to be expanded and required.

Really fighting illegal immigration isn't that hard. Simply pass a law that if name and social security number doesn't match, employer can't right off that workers wages. Employers would quickly divest themselves of any illegal aliens they have hired. They'll self deport quickly when they can't get a job.

Agreed, and if it was a parking ticket, I'd do it alone. However I don't know what I don't know, and do I know enough to know when I am wrong?

I did 3 years of a 4 year law degree, I think it's something I could manage, but it's scary. It has a massive impact on my life if I make a mistake. I have foster kids, 2 dogs, 3 cats, 1 horse, 1 husband. We have a house we are renovating. This is my WHOLE life, I'd rather pay a professional.

I know people who completed a form correctly, in the wrong color ink. The form was returned to them, and they had to pay the filing fee again. This is my life, I can't afford a dumb mistake, so I'd rather pay a really good lawyer, it's worth it to me.