U.S. businesses accept pesos. Immigration hawks go nuts.

[Steven Bickford]

A good summary of my view on illegal immigration:

"The problem of illegal immigration will not be solved easily, but we can start by recognizing that the overwhelming majority of Americans – including immigrants – want immigration reduced, not expanded.

Amnesty for illegal immigrants is not the answer. Millions of people who broke the law by entering, staying, and working in our country illegally should not be rewarded with a visa. Why should lawbreakers obtain a free pass, while those seeking to immigrate legally face years of paperwork and long waits for a visa?

We must end welfare state subsidies for illegal immigrants. Some illegal immigrants – certainly not all – receive housing subsidies, food stamps, free medical care, and other forms of welfare. This alienates taxpayers and breeds suspicion of immigrants, even though the majority of them work very hard. Without a welfare state, we would know that everyone coming to America wanted to work hard and support himself.

Our current welfare system also encourages illegal immigration by discouraging American citizens from taking low-wage jobs. This creates greater demand for illegal foreign labor. Welfare programs and minimum wage laws create an artificial market for labor to do the jobs Americans supposedly won’t do.

Illegal immigrants also place a tremendous strain on social entitlement programs. Under a proposed totalization agreement with Mexico, millions of illegal immigrants will qualify for Social Security and other programs – programs that already threaten financial ruin for America in the coming decades. Adding millions of foreign citizens to the Social Security, Medicare, and disability rolls will only hasten the inevitable day of reckoning.

Economic considerations aside, we must address the cultural aspects of immigration. The vast majority of Americans welcome immigrants who want to come here, work hard, and build a better life. But we rightfully expect immigrants to show a sincere desire to become American citizens, speak English, and assimilate themselves culturally. All federal government business should be conducted in English. More importantly, we should expect immigrants to learn about and respect our political and legal traditions, which are rooted in liberty and constitutionally limited government.

Our most important task is to focus on effectively patrolling our borders. With our virtually unguarded borders, almost any determined individual – including a potential terrorist – can enter the United States. Unfortunately, the federal government seems more intent upon guarding the borders of other nations than our own. We are still patrolling Korea’s border after some 50 years, yet ours are more porous than ever. It is ironic that we criticize Syria for failing to secure its border with Iraq while our own borders, particularly to the south, are no better secured than those of Syria.

We need to allocate far more of our resources, both in terms of money and manpower, to securing our borders and coastlines here at home. This is the most critical task before us, both in terms of immigration problems and the threat of foreign terrorists. Unless and until we secure our borders, illegal immigration and the problems associated with it will only increase."

[New001]

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Why is this such a big deal? I paid with Canadian dollars at a restaurant (national chain) in Bellingham, WA earlier this year. All that happened was I got raped on the exchange.

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Yeah, but Canadian people are largely white, so when they come and give us their funny looking monopoly money and toonies with ducks on them, it's not a problem. In fact, it's largely a source of curiosity, if not a minor annoyance because their stupid coins don't fit in American vending machines.

On the other hand, the dark people's money is obviously scary, threatening, and constitutes a grave and gathering threat to national sovereignty.

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No, the difference is that Canadians don't illegally immigrate into the US en masse.

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Yeah but their currency sure as hell does. I get those damn queen-laden dimes all the time. If I got a Peso back from some oblivious cashier, I'd think "hey cool, a Peso." Instead, I'm enraged every time I see those stupid dimes and pennies. Clearly, Canadian currency is a larger threat to our sovereignty than Pesos.

But more seriously, these businesses make extra money off of people paying with Pesos. So the damn Mexicans are taking our jobs, stealing our money down south, but then when they pay extra to put money back in "our" businesses, they're damn Mexicans again. I guess some people can never win.

[Steven Bickford]

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The issue here is American sovereignty, which is something that even your hero Ron Paul still believes in.

The fact of the matter is that the vast majority of those pesos are coming from Mexicans who entered the country illegally. That is why people are upset. As a sovereign nation, the US has a right to decide who can and cannot enter its territory, and Mexicans are no exception. The fact that businesses are now accepting pesos is symbolic of the complete lack of respect for the integrity of our borders. Ron Paul is right about us needing to build a fence along the Mexican border.

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Your a gimmick account right? The use of the Canadian dollar around our northern border is quite common yet you don't here any outrage. I am probably more of a hawk on immigration than most on this forum (because ddaahy tuuk eearrr jaahhhhhbbbbss) but to get upset over this is pretty dumb.

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People using pesos is symbolic of the larger problem.

[bkholdem]

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The issue here is American sovereignty, which is something that even your hero Ron Paul still believes in.

The fact of the matter is that the vast majority of those pesos are coming from Mexicans who entered the country illegally. That is why people are upset. As a sovereign nation, the US has a right to decide who can and cannot enter its territory, and Mexicans are no exception. The fact that businesses are now accepting pesos is symbolic of the complete lack of respect for the integrity of our borders. Ron Paul is right about us needing to build a fence along the Mexican border.

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Your a gimmick account right? The use of the Canadian dollar around our northern border is quite common yet you don't here any outrage. I am probably more of a hawk on immigration than most on this forum (because ddaahy tuuk eearrr jaahhhhhbbbbss) but to get upset over this is pretty dumb.

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People using pesos is symbolic of the larger problem.

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And people who put faith in and value symbols, and get emotionally wrapped up in symbols, is a larger problem than that.

[DVaut1]

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Why do you say that? It doesn't fit the policies of any of the major neo conservatives in America.

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Name one "neo-con" in America that favors strict immigration controls. Say what you will about their war-mongering, "neo-cons" are generally orthodox free marketers. The Bush Administration, heavily populated by neo-cons, does their best to counter the will of the anti-immigration GOP base. I don't know what you mean "it doesn't fit the policies of any of the major neo conservatives in America". The "neo-cons" and libertarians are the only cohorts in the party who don't march in lock-step with the right-wing orchestra who want stricter immigration controls/deportation of illegal immigrants/etc.

[BCPVP]

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The fact of the matter is that the vast majority of those pesos are coming from Mexicans who entered the country illegally.

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Prove it.

[Ron Burgundy]

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We must end welfare state subsidies for illegal immigrants. Some illegal immigrants – certainly not all – receive housing subsidies, food stamps, free medical care, and other forms of welfare. This alienates taxpayers and breeds suspicion of immigrants, even though the majority of them work very hard. Without a welfare state, we would know that everyone coming to America wanted to work hard and support himself.

Our current welfare system also encourages illegal immigration by discouraging American citizens from taking low-wage jobs. This creates greater demand for illegal foreign labor. Welfare programs and minimum wage laws create an artificial market for labor to do the jobs Americans supposedly won’t do.

Illegal immigrants also place a tremendous strain on social entitlement programs. Under a proposed totalization agreement with Mexico, millions of illegal immigrants will qualify for Social Security and other programs – programs that already threaten financial ruin for America in the coming decades. Adding millions of foreign citizens to the Social Security, Medicare, and disability rolls will only hasten the inevitable day of reckoning.

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Government assisted theft is a problem with government, not the people who take money if it's offered to them.

[adios]

First of all if the business can arbitrage the exchange rate for Mexican pesos vs. U.S. pesos then they can make some extra profit. I'm positive that's what they're doing. Go to your local bank that will do currency exchanges and convert some U.S. pesos to Mexican pesos. Then get a quote on the exchange rate from U.S. pesos to Mexican pesos and see how bad a deal you got at the bank. I'm sure that business is giving an exchange rate that's worse than at the bank.

How has the U.S. peso done vs. the Mexican peso? The U.S. peso has been on slide for quite some time. If the Mexican peso has held it's own against other currencies then it would make even more sense for a business to do this.

[BCPVP]

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First of all if the business can arbitrage the exchange rate for Mexican pesos vs. U.S. pesos then they can make some extra profit. I'm positive that's what they're doing. Go to your local bank that will do currency exchanges and convert some U.S. pesos to Mexican pesos. Then get a quote on the exchange rate from U.S. pesos to Mexican pesos and see how bad a deal you got at the bank. I'm sure that business is giving an exchange rate that's worse than at the bank.

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From the link:
"In fact, customers are getting ever so slightly charged for the use of pesos, since the company set their conversion rate slight higher than the official exchange of 11 pesos per dollar."

[Richard Tanner]

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Why is this such a big deal? I paid with Canadian dollars at a restaurant (national chain) in Bellingham, WA earlier this year. All that happened was I got raped on the exchange.

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Yeah, but Canadian people are largely white, so when they come and give us their funny looking monopoly money and toonies with ducks on them, it's not a problem. In fact, it's largely a source of curiosity, if not a minor annoyance because their stupid coins don't fit in American vending machines.

On the other hand, the dark people's money is obviously scary, threatening, and constitutes a grave and gathering threat to national sovereignty.

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Right. It's getting harder and harder for people to hide their xenophobia, if they're even trying any more. Of course I have a legit gripe because I used to sell oranges until I got undercut by a Mexican. Damn Mexicans always DERKIN' MA' JERBBB!

Cody