I guess the latest craze in the news is immigration policy. You got hardliners on the right saying get all the illegals the hell outta here and you've got those in the "happy medium." I don't know what they are saying but it's probably not, get them the hell outta here.

Ok, I was thinking about this, and although a simple solution there is not, solutions are possible but it doesn't quite start here. The majority of "illegal immigrants" are Mexicans. Back in 2000 when Vincente Fox was running he made some sort of promise to make Mexico more like America, which hasn't happened. I kind of think it was a wink-wink situation when bUSH got elected, kind of an agreement that we'd continue to be soft on immigration so Mexico's economy can get the boost from immigrants sending money back home and big business can get cheap labor. I think Mexico's economy is better then shown, they've got oil and NAFTA but I think some of the riches are being skimmed by corrupt government officials.. ok enough on that.

I don't think the solution starts here in America. I think the solution lies in the Mexican people. They are willing to come to this country to provide a future for themselves and their families even if they enter illegally. Standard of living in Mexico probably sucks, they probably don't have laws governing minimum wage, worker safety or worker's rights. Mexicans need to organize and make this stuff happen. Mexicans here and there. Mexicans have a lot of pride in the country they are from, this I know and with where it is going, they have to be disappointed. The only way to change that is to create change has "the people" sort of like we did in America with Labor Unions.

Now for our end of the deal... we need to enact laws that cover those American owned companies in Mexico that say we must provide a decent wage to the workers. I don't think these are in place even through NAFTA, so that needs to happen I think. I don't believe people should be able to enter our nation illegally. It's a crime, obviously. It's also a security issue, IMO. But we've got to face the music. We haven't enforced the laws in many years so we do have illegal immigrants here and lots of them. We need to have a "grace period" where they can register for guest worker status, green cards, naturalization and those kinds of things. Once the grace period is over, those who are illegal still, need to be deported. Right now illegals know we aren't going to do much, so do those who are going to enter. If we show that we will uphold the laws we have that might slow down the influx of illegal immigrants.

I am not a racist bigot. I would just love to say some day "legal immigrants" about all immigrants, instead of "illegal immigrants" about some immigrants today. Our borders do need to remain "open." We ARE the land of oppurtunity. We need to be able to offer oppurtunity to anybody, but as long has they are legal immigrants.