500,000 March for the Rights of Illegals in Los Angeles, etc

[gtalum]

Just for the record, I agree that illegal immigration is a problem. However, under our current set of laws, there's nothing that can be done to determine who is "illegal" and who is not, and therefore there is little that can be done to remedy the situation. There's simply nothing that can be done about illegal immigrants that are already here.

My proposal to open up free immigration to all mexicans or all North Americans would eliminate this problem because instead of sneaking across the desert, most immigrants would come across at established border posts and be recorded as they enter. Thus the flow of truly dangerous illegals coming across teh deserts woul dbe seriously reduced and become a much easier problem to control.

The newly legal immigrants coul dmuch more easily be forced to pay their share of taxes even as they use the resources they would then be entitled to.

[MiamiensisWx]

You are right. So here is our can of worms and there are over 500,000 marchers tomorrow to tell us that.

I agree. The real problem lies with that we continue to show apathy to removing barbaric leaders in foreign countries (such as Castro in Cuba). As a result, nearly all of the Latin American countries - even the Cancun area of Mexico - are extremely poor. The only thing that is keeping all the Latin American countries alive from Castro and others (who want to make all of the countries like Haiti) is tourism. This is where the big crux of all these issues lie.

[gtalum]

Actually, with our history in the region, much of the problems in Latin America are of our doing. Castro came to power because of abuses by Batista, a dictator that we put in place. Pinochet was an American plant and Noriega was as well. There are many examples of dictators in the region that were put in place directly by us or who replaced dictators put in place by us. The best lesson should be to leave well enough alone.

[MiamiensisWx]

Actually, with our history in the region, much of the problems in Latin America are of our doing. Castro came to power because of abuses by Batista, a dictator that we put in place. Pinochet was an American plant and Noriega was as well. There are many examples of dictators in the region that were put in place directly by us or who replaced dictators put in place by us. The best lesson should be to leave well enough alone.

Great points and I agree; however, this time we should put in people who are actually good at handling situations, building economies, and getting rid of poverty/abuses in Latin American countries, such as Cuba and Haiti; otherwise, the problem won't recede.

[gtalum]

IMHO Cuba will take care of itself when Castro kicks the bucket.

We should leave them all alone and let them pick their own leaders. I'm sure someone thought Batista was a good choice before Castro unseated him in a coup.

[Janice]

It is a shame that both political parties will not touch this issue. They both want the Spanish vote, but know that if they side with the Spanish in regards to immigration, the US Citizens will not vote for them. So we will not see anything said about this issue till they are faced with questions during the election and still then they will not answer the question. They want votes from both sides, so they have to keep their mouths shut now. You don't hear any of them saying much. This is a real shame.

[Janice]

The US and Puerto Rico are already ready to assist the people of Cuba when Castro dies. There have been plans in the making for years. Big business in the US are ready to go down there. Cuba will do fine. They will make a fortune off tourism, tobacco, etc. and another great dock for cruise ships. Don't feel sorry for Cuba, they will do great.

[gtalum]

I am truly curious. What would you personally recommendbe done about illegal immigration?

[greeng13]

We have illegals here too, by the thousands, Haitians and Cubans. They are in every state in the US.

i hate to bash but peurto rico is not a state yet. and it is my knowledge that no income tax is paid to the us from puerto rico or her citizens as well.

http://www.irs.gov/taxtopics/tc900.html

but they can and do get some of the benefits of being a state

http://prwow.com/html/fedgovernment.asp

[gtalum]

I had no idea. I need to move my business to PR!

[Janice]

No we are not a state, but the US makes a fortune off us. Every US company and business is here with almost 4 million people, so they are doing well. If the US was not making money they would give PR their independence. We are a good stragic region in the caribbean too. We are a benefit. We are the same as Guam and the US Virgin Islands, a US Terrority. We are all American citizens here and have all benefits except we cannot vote for US President, but we do have representation in Washington. We have been here 20 years because all the major pharmaceuticals are down here. Maybe someday we will become a state. It took Hawaii and Alaska a long time too.

[Janice]

I say we drink to this issue and wait till the elections and see if the runners will even talk about it.

[SouthFloridawx]

I say either way the issue is solved someone is going to be very mad.

[greeng13]

it is definitely coming to a head...that is for sure!

it is a CATCH 22. personally i don't believe in "illegals' rights" though....(except for what right would normally be given to a visitor to this country...i.e. not health care, welfare, lack of taxation.....)

but i do like cheap produce/services...but i hate to see many be forced out of jobs because an illegal will take the same job for less $$$$$

[SouthFloridawx]

it is definitely coming to a head...that is for sure!

it is a CATCH 22. personally i don't believe in "illegals' rights" though....(except for what right would normally be given to a visitor to this country...i.e. not health care, welfare, lack of taxation.....)

but i do like cheap produce/services...but i hate to see many be forced out of jobs because an illegal will take the same job for less $$$$$

Good for companies bad for american citizens?

[greeng13]

good for both and bad for both.

cheap goods for citizens (good) and cheap manufacturing/labor costs for employers/companies--many of which would probably outsource to another country if they couldn't get illegals to do the work.

less jobs for AMERICAN citizens (bad) and risk of alienating American citizens might become an issue for American companies (bad).

tax dollars supporting people who don't pay taxes (Bad for both---companies pay taxes too)

[Janice]

I remember about 30 years ago in Iowa, a huge lot of beef packers lost their jobs and were replaced with Vietnamese. I don't know the circumstances, but Sioux City was where some of this happened. My sis sold real estate there and sold a lot of houses to them. I think they cut back on workers, then hired them. But, I think when the US brought them over after the war, they gained citizenship. We have had K-marts, Targets and really cheap discount stores way before the illegals were getting in and this was not an issue. I remember 30 or more years ago shopping at them only because they were cheaper than Penneys, etc. Everyone shopped there then like we shop at Walmart now. Cheap prices are nothing new and we had cheap prices before illegals and Americans took all those jobs too. We did not need illegals to fill them.

[greeng13]

it is not a need for illegals to fill them...they are more than happy to do it...and the company knows that they can get by with paying them less. so they gid rid of the higher paid employee and hire the lower paid one and the price of the goods either goes down or stays the same (in the case that it would normally go up year after year with inflation/cost of goods, etc.....)

[Janice]

This would be a good discussion for the chatroom tonight.

[Lindaloo]

I wonder if these illegal aliens have to wait as long for their benefits as the people who were hit by Katrina.

I doubt it! Our government is actually paying for them to set up businesses. Go figure!

Mississippi is fixing to round them all up.