I can only speak for myself, but think people mischaracterize those of us who are opposed to **illegal** immigration. My mother was an immigrant, but she came here legally. Most of the families I grew up with were immigrant families. Most of the people I’ve worked with were immigrants. About half of the people I’ve dated were immigrants. More than half of the people I’ve lived with were immigrants or children of immigrants. This is NOT about “immigrant bashing,” and the constant name calling only serves to stir up the passions on both sides and leaves us much further apart than if we could discuss the issues calmly and rationally…using LOGIC, not emotions.
The cold, hard truth is that we have limited resources, and those resources have to be divided among our citizens. If we have uncontrolled, illegal immigration…and most of those illegal immigrants do not bring their own wealth into the country, then they are a net drag on our economy and severely depress the quality of life that many generations of natives and immigrants have worked so hard for.
You are absolutely correct about one thing, though — we are blaming the wrong people. We are subsidizing all the people who employ illegal labor and expect the taxpayers to pick up the slack because those employers do not pay payroll taxes or provide any benefits to their workers, and they don’t pay their workers enough to enable them to stay out of the welfare system (using that term loosely).
Additionally, I think we need to help Latin American counties get their s&!t together. All I know is that corruption is so endemic, it’s nearly impossible to eliminate. Not sure if we could do anything about it, and I highly doubt Mexico wants our military personnel hanging around with rifles threatening to shoot any Mexicans who appear to be breaking the law. I don’t know what the answer is there, but I do know that EVERYONE is a loser with the uncontrolled immigration we are getting, and that includes the workers who are exploited by the employers who hire them.
Again, I think you need to depersonalize this and look at it from a cold, objective perspective. To claim that we who oppose illegal immigration are somehow inferior or evil or “racist” is wrong. We can show you numbers and facts that back up our beliefs. Until the advocates for illegal immigration acknowledge that there are some very severe problems with the system as it stands now (only based on FACTS), then this problem will never be solved.
