Don\'t we need more immigrants?
 

Opponents of illegal immigration have several prongs to their agenda. One is to "secure the border' building a wall and posting guards. Another is to punish businesses for hiring cheap immigrant labor. Another is to deport illegals back to their home nations.

Ironically, the majority of those opposed to illegal immigration claim to be conservatives--that is, they also claim to oppose things like minimum wage laws, protectionism, and tariffs, and support outsourcing operations to nations where they can hire cheaper labor.

Much of the immigration rhetoric deals with "securing the border" as part of the war on turr, but why does border security have to be bundled with what is essentially a tariff on foreign labor? Shouldn't the supposedly conservative border security advocates also get behind real immigration reform that would allow business owners to purchase labor at true market prices much like they support purchasing it overseas?

Re: Don\'t we need more immigrants?
 

Mainly I think we need to know who these people are who are coming into the the country illegally. We don't want terrorist and murders coming in. Just look at the three killers in New Jeresy,if they hadn't come in the country illegally that horrible crime may have never took place.

Re: Don\'t we need more immigrants?
 

I got no problem with illegals, and am actually pretty in awe of their work effort, but its [censored] like this that pisses me off (all recent stuff from around where I live, and I vaguely knew the UMD kid who died):

Illegal immigrant held in U.S. 29 hit-and-run fatal to 2 road workers

By Michael Dresser | Sun Reporter
August 15, 2007

A Guatemalan man who is in the United States illegally was arrested early yesterday on hit-and-run charges after a traffic accident that killed two men and injured three other highway construction workers on the side of U.S. 29 in Montgomery County, police said.

The crash, just over the Howard County line, was the latest in a series of fatal traffic accidents involving illegal immigrant drivers in Maryland. It also added two names to the list of highway workers killed in on-the-job crashes recently.

James Cronin, 37, of the 7200 block of Judy Road in Glen Burnie was flown to Maryland Shock Trauma Center on Monday in critical condition and died late yesterday morning, according to Officer Melanie Hadley, a spokeswoman for the Montgomery County Police Department.

The previous day, Martin Ruffin, 30, of the 1800 block of Moreland Ave. in West Baltimore was pronounced dead at the scene of the 1 p.m. crash. Three others were taken to hospitals with injuries.

Montgomery police said the driver of a white Ford Econoline van fled on foot after plowing into a construction truck and hitting the workers, who were sitting on a guardrail taking a break.

Manuel De Jesus Gonzalez-Geronimo, 31, of Hyattsville surrendered to Prince George's County police about 12:30 a.m. yesterday, authorities said.

Gonzalez-Geronimo was turned over to Montgomery County police and charged with failure to remain at the scene of a collision involving death and bodily injury and with driving without a license, police said. At a hearing yesterday, he was ordered held without bond at the Montgomery County Detention Center.

Lucille Baur, another Montgomery police spokeswoman, said that Gonzalez-Geronimo said during the hearing that he is an undocumented worker from Guatemala.

The crash was one of several recent fatalities in Maryland in which illegal immigrants face charges.

In May, 20-year-old Matthew Watson, a University of Maryland sophomore from Ellicott City, was killed in a hit-and-run crash in College Park. Police charged Never L. Navarro-Montoya, 24, an illegal Mexican immigrant who had no driver's license, with driving under the influence of alcohol, fleeing the scene of an accident and possessing a false government identification.

Re: Don\'t we need more immigrants?
 

You can't have open immigration AND a welfare state. DUCY?

Re: Don\'t we need more immigrants?
 

because they took our jerbs!!!!

Re: Don\'t we need more immigrants?
 

I have a big problem with illegal immigrants. Before we reform the immigration laws we need to enforce the laws we already have.

Re: Don\'t we need more immigrants?
 

[ QUOTE ]
You can't have open immigration AND a welfare state. DUCY?

[/ QUOTE ]

Yes, absolutely. But we have so many so-called conservatives who would rather oppose open immigration rather than oppose the welfare state. This seems backwards to me.

Re: Don\'t we need more immigrants?
 

[ QUOTE ]
I have a big problem with illegal immigrants.

[/ QUOTE ]

Why?

[ QUOTE ]
Before we reform the immigration laws we need to enforce the laws we already have.

[/ QUOTE ]

Is this because you think our current immigration laws are good or that we should enforce bad laws?

Re: Don\'t we need more immigrants?
 

[ QUOTE ]
Mainly I think we need to know who these people are who are coming into the the country illegally. We don't want terrorist and murders coming in. Just look at the three killers in New Jeresy,if they hadn't come in the country illegally that horrible crime may have never took place.

[/ QUOTE ]

That's why the best way to fix illegal immigration is make legal immigration much easier. If we know who is coming in, but let everyone in is who can demonstrate that they are not a criminal, we will cut off the demand for the channels that facilitate illegal immigration, making it harder for criminals to enter the country.

As for concerns about abusing welfare, most illegal immigrants contribute far more to the economy than they take out in state services.

Re: Don\'t we need more immigrants?
 

It is because if you don't,can't,or won't enforce existing laws there is no need to reform or create new laws.