Why not. Shouldn't we encourage allegence to the US? I mean you don't lose anything if you become a citizen. Only if you don't. Why should our SSI system be open and our borders be closed?
Because the fundamental premise of the system is that if you pay in you qualify for benefits. This is a good thing and I really don’t want to change it. Believe it or not, many non-Americans pay into the system for an entire career. Why should they not be eligable for benefits?
Start by closing the borders. Build physical or virtual walls, add massive amounts of manpower, I don’t care, but let’s start by stemming the flow.
But you do have to be documented. There are older cases where, I think, undocumented workers were able to, but the lack of SS#'s prevents that now.
Sorry, but if you’re undocumented and working under a bogus SSN I don't think you should be eligible for benefits.
Good. OT: Was it SuperDave that once proposed illegal immigrants would save the SS system? I loved that theory.
The start is with the employers. If they are fined heavily they will stop hiring illegals. Don't waste time or money on a wall. The flow will stop if they know there are no jobs for them. Then they can increase the pressure on Vicente Fox and others to clean up the corrupt governmental systems of their own countries.
What does that do exactly, other than start a labor shortage? Are you willing to increase the flow of legal immigration? Are you willing to grant a work visa to a lettuce picker? Exactly what do you expect to gain from sealing the border?
Some of y'all wanted stats on some of the negative consequences of illegal immigration, well here's some: http://www.newswithviews.com/Wooldridge/frosty2.htm -In 2003.....57,600 cars were stolen in Phoenix -Illegal aliens displaced American workers at a cost in excess of $133 billion dollars last year according to Harvard Professor George Borjas -75 percent of drugs arrive from Mexico at a net cost of $120 billion hard currency that leaves our country for good -alien(s).....(are) filling 30 percent of our federal and state prisons -Over 300,000 women annually arrive pregnant and drop them on U.S. soil -The average head of household illegal alien costs you $2,700.00 in welfare -$56 billion in pure cash illegal migrants sent to their home countries last year and every year -The lifetime net fiscal drain—taxes paid minus services used—for an adult immigrant is $55,200.00 according to Carrying Capacity Network -You paid $27 billion to provide forms, ballots, interpreters and brochures for languages other than English in 2003 -One in two adult African-Americans in New York is unemployed -It costs you, the taxpayer, $68 billion a year JUST to pay for the resettlement of legal immigrants -Illegals are arriving at over 4,000 per night according to Time Magazine -Only 22 companies in 2003 were taken to court for hiring illegal aliens. None went to jail.
"Closing the border" was a poor choice of words. Let's get "control" of the borders. And yes, I think legal immigration levels should reflect this country's labor needs rather than the economic problems of other nations.
A friend of mine, here on a green card and studying for his citizenship test, came up with this idea: Stop money transfers from the US to the three countries with the highest number of illegal aliens in the US. Comments?
Surely, that article focuses on some of the problems illegal immigration causes, but he doesn't really cite much in there either, and a few of these are obviously wrong.
But then what do you tell those that did come here legally, paid the fees, stood in line. Do you tell them, HAHA Joke on You! I have been accused as being close to an open borders person. Personally, I would allow anyone in who signs the guest book, tells the ICE where they are, agrees not to be eligible for public funds for some probationary period, and abides by the law. But I think a blanket amnesty is not a good thing, and I think any guest worker program (which is a step I strongly support, though I would assume the guests will stay and we should prepare accordingly) must be coupled with stronger enforcement. Make an example of a few big employers known to hire illegals. Do an Enron on a few corporate executives pour encourager les autres