Where does this idea come from that by enforcing its immigration laws America would suddenly be the “bad guy”? Our laws are no more strict than any other nation’s immigration laws, and they all actually enforce them (by they I mean Ireland, Great Britain, Australia, etc). If you overstay your VISA in Australia, guess what happens- you get kicked out within weeks of overstaying, you’re on the next plane out, and told to not come back.
Is our system broken? Yes. Having gone through the immigration process (still going through, acutally) with my husband, I can say that this system is broken. However, our laws are fine, and there should be no change to them except that we should actually enforce them.
This bill that they’re trying to push through is totally unenforceable. As others on here have said, it’s merely lip service to make pro-illegal immigrationists think things are getting easier, and anti-illegal immigrationists think that things would be stricter- in reality we would just have more unnecessary and jumbled red tape that isn’t actually helping at all.
A fence won’t help either. Desperate people will go to desperate measures, no matter how high the fence. The best you can do is to actually enforce our laws. If illegals knew that they wouldn’t be able to work here, and that deportation would be imminent, it would be a lot less appealing. We’ll never have 0% illegal immigration, but even if we cut it in half it would be a significant improvement.
Above all, do not give these people amnesty! Whether or not the system is broken, a law is a law. If our government rewards these criminals (that’s right, criminals- what else do you call someone who has flaunted our laws in our face) with citizenship in return for their illegal actions, I think I will be sick to my stomach. My husband and I have spent an enormous amount of time, effort and money to do this the right way- why should they be rewarded for doing it the wrong way?