The Immigration problem is an economic problem. Harsher punishment, long prison sentences, and military conflict along the border are not the answer to the problem. If we want to negatively impact our national security, treating our continental neighbors as enemies will achieve this goal. This should not be an option. The Mexican and American governments must work together and begin protecting the work force of each nation from corporate greed. The governments must work together to stop corporate practices that are perpetuating poverty in Mexico and lowering wages and eliminating benefits in America. To control population movement across the borders a border identification system for American, Mexican, and Canadian citizens is needed. The Free Trade policy should be complemented with a North American Continent Labor policy, so as to, eliminate the unfair advantages the Corporations have over labor. The people on both sides of the border should force their respective governments to pass labor protection laws. The redistribution of wealth to protect and perpetuate a healthy Middle Class is an absolute must for healthy economic activity. It’s a simple concept, those who receive the best of everything a society offers should pay more for that privilege. Taxation is the tool government uses to redistribute wealth. Presently the tax laws are favoring the upper and lower classes at the expense of the middle class. The citizens of America, Mexico, and Canada should be paying income taxes in the country they are working in and in the country they are citizens. The borders we protect should be the borders of our continent in cooperation and coordination with the countries of North America. If we are serious about security, freedom, and prosperity, we need to start right here investing and securing our own continent.

We need a international ID card, for Canada, Mexico, and the USA.
You can't buy or sell anything without it.
The church says it is the mark of the Beast,666,call it what ever, but we need it, NOW.

Your socialist idea of redistribution of wealth between countries is absolutely crazy and poorly conceived. We have no influence in other countries internal affairs - they are sovereign. (take a look at our success in changing Iraq) The corruption in Mexico will remain until the MEXICAN PEOPLE THEMSELVES take control of their corrupt institutions. The only gainers in the illegal alien/amnesty/guest worker/whatever you want to call the importation of cheap foreign labor - is the foreign worker and the business person - the U.S. middle class and lower class are the big loosers. I don't know what your real agenda is, but your new world order way of thinking is the recipe for social disintegration. The American public is not fooled.

It's beyond insane for America to continue permit our wage base here to be further decimated by the influx of millions more immigrants largely via amnesty for illegals while Mexico has less than NO intent to reform its economic status for its own citizens. President Fox has said it will take "generations" before Mexico will quit pushing its unwanted population excess across our southern border. Mexico's pushing of their unwanted population here is destroying the quality of life and wages for middle class America. Forgotten or deliberately ignored by all but a handfull of US politicians are the oaths they swore to uphold our US Constitution and to represent the interests of US citizens and legal immigrants.

US citizens for decades have endured far too much from illegal and overimmigration mostly from Mexico. My suggestion is that Mexico needs to be put at the back of the line for consideration of acceptance for more immigrants of Mexican origin for the next 4 decades at a minimum. I'm tired of illegals being able to buy houses cheaper in the US than can US citizens (subsidized on US citizen tax $$). I'm sick of illegals children becoming anchor babies at birth. I abhor every cent stolen from our approximately $10,000 cost per year/child to educate the children of US citizens and legal aliens being made so much more expensive because of the presence of millions of illegals' children. What total nonsense for us to be propagandized that the families of illegal aliens criminally here should be "reunited". Excuse me, but the only reuniting I'd find acceptable for the families of illegal aliens is being reunited -- through deportation of the family to their native lands.

America has reached carrying capacity in numbers. To deal with immigration in a responsible manner for the benefit of our own nation, American citizens, and legal aliens we're decades overdue for congress to slash the number of work visas available in all categories, reduce legal immigration to less than 100,000 total per year under all combined categories from all nations, and to DEPORT ALL ILLEGAL ALIENS CURRENTLY HERE never allowing them to re-enter the USA at any future time for any reason. While we're at it, the children of illegals who have skipped school to demonstrate need to be expelled and deported along with their parents if those parents are illegals.

Something no one on either side of this issue seems to even be considering is that once these "Guest Workers" get their amnesty, they will form unions and will demand better pay and health and safety conditions. They will NOT be the Cheap Labor any longer that the Corporations and the Agri Business love.

JackL Exactly how is an illegal immigrant able to buy a house cheaper than a native American? I'm very curious about this because I see some of themn moving into areas that I can't qualifiy for, even with a GI Loan!

The Senate is Pussyfooting with Immigration Issue

In the U.S. Senate Democrats and Republicans seem to be caving in to illegal immigrants. In the middle are the vast majority of Americans who do not believe amnesty is an answer.

The 12 million illegal immigrants now living in the country have broken the law, and they should be undoubtedly castigated. An example has to be established if we are to stop reoccurrences of that kind.

Richard M. Ruiz
Medellin, Colombia
thevoiz@tutopia.com

This is coming from a wife, who's husband made $30. an hr as a journeymen electrician, until the last influx of illegals. That salary is not $16. and falling, how much further it will go is impossible to say. I think the only way to stop this to make finding employment so hard that they either leave or don't came at all. That would entail fining corporations, resturants, hotels, et al, in sufficent amounts to make hireing an illegal economically unadvisable.

Somebody breaks into your house, refuses to leave, then proceeds to tell you they have every right to prop their feet on your coffee table simply because they are there? You call the police but they simply get them out of your house but refuse to lock them up? Makes about as much sense as our immirgration problem!
5000 imigrants protesting in the street? Bring in about 50 I.N.S. buses, load them up & carry them back to the boarder!
Mexico needs to be told that if they won't allow labor unions to organize down there we will null nafta. Like them or not labor unions are the only reason we ever had a middle class in this country. Weirdwilly

Yes, and that is EXACTLY why I voted for Ross Perot in 1996. I still remember the debate between Al Gore and Ross Perot. Big Al told us how NAFTA would help the US by helping Mexico but he was wrong on every score. Ross Perot was right on. How is it that I, and ordinary citizen could know that but Gore did not? The truth is, he did know and so did Clinton but just as Republicans do, Democrats go with the money.

Isn't it wonderful that the "Land of the Free" has more people in prison than Communist China, or even the USSR at it's height?
The scariest thing about this country right now to me personally, is the idea that elected leaders, are major stockholders in Private Prisons, and benefit from the incarceration of Americans. The largest group involved in this slave labor conspiracy is called ALEC, and has had the President, Vice President, and Attorney General as guest speakers at it's meetings.

ALEC is a powerful force in the promotion of the stiffer sentencing for lesser crimes agenda among state legislators. One of its major functions is writing model bills that advance these principles, and working with its members to have these bills introduced. The Corrections Corporation of America (CCA), the nation's largest operator of prisons for profit, has been a corporate member and a major contributor to ALEC and a member of its Criminal Justice Task Force. CCA executives have co-chaired the Task Force over many years. As a result of the model bills developed by the Task Force, ALEC claims credit for the widespread adoption of Truth in Sentencing and Three Strikes/Habitual Offender legislation. Through its support of ALEC, CCA is helping to create greater demand for its services as a result of changes in state policies that keep more people behind bars for longer periods.

Although this aspect of its work is not given a major emphasis in public, it surely represents the most troubling impact of for-profit prison companies. With more than two million people behind bars and the highest rate of incarceration in the WORLD, the U.S. certainly does not need companies with a vested financial interest in further growth influencing our justice policies.

Now we see these people pushing for laws to make Americans Criminals for "helping" illegal aliens, that this government has allowed to stream across the border practically unchecked by the millions. What an opportunity for some additional slave labor, at the taxpayer's expense!

Yes, the land of the free is becoming a scary place. Who ever thought it would be Illegal to smoke a cigarette in a BAR? Who thought it would ever be mandatory for a science teacher to teach some Adam and Eve Fairytale in a SCIENCE CLASS?!?!
It's just unbelievable that this is the same country I grew up in?

Well said Fixer. MORE people in prison than Russia or China. "Land of the Free", indeed. Where else can a "private" person own the jails and then advocate for people to spend more time there? Why, right here in the 'ol US of A. Not to mention the camps they curently are building for us, THE DISSENTERS.

Doesn't it figure that the criminal cabal that is operating out of the White House would be one of the main culprits.

The taxpayers in this country are used to getting the shaft. Under this "president", wages have not even kept up with inflation. Outscourcing continues due to globalism. This president surely does not get it. Nixon scared me but with Bush I have abject fear.

I did my time in Vietnam...This is not the country I went to war for. This time I would refuse to serve. Iraq is illegal, and Bush should be impeached for war crimes.

Jez! Some of you bloggers are really ANGRY! Me, I'm a native Californian (my parents came from Minnesota, however, crossing many borders to reach CA. No one EVER told them to "Go back to Minnesota, where you belong!") I began learning my CA history when I reached the 4th grade. Do all you angry bloggers KNOW that once upon a time CA. (and Texas, New Mexico and parts of Nevada and Arizona)actually BELONGED TO MEXICO! We stole it from them - yes, we overpowered the Mexican military, who had very outdated weapons and couldn't defend their country properly. How, I wonder, would you feel if Mexico had not only retained it's borders in our war with it, but acquired the States of Washington, Oregon, Idaho, Montana and all the praire states? Stop whinning and think about it!
I believe it's quite possible for Canada, the US and Mexico to use a single, standard valued currency. Once our 3 countries have economically stabilized, we could then open the borders between Canda and the US, and our southern border, to Mexico. We'd have free travel between borders, each still keeping our original citizenship and voting rights. We could work and live where we wanted. As we assimilate and our economies meld and stabilize, we could then consider adding other (Central American) countries - with the idea that North and South America can either become one or even two independent stable economic units. Bottom line: We need to join together - NOT fight one another! Brothers and sisters of the human kind, we do not need to kill, maime or imprison, but nurture one another. You'al sound like a very whimpy and angry Georgie-Porgie, who's crying in a "corner" of our Oval Office,(hiding?) now that his ratings are very low! elgee

Fixer, well said! Bruce (@top) your are a dead set Commie nong. "Those who receive the best of everything a society has to offer should PAY MORE for the priviledge..." What the? Right mate, please let us know what rock you live under so none of us 'priviledged' business people will ever invest capital in your area. Let's punish anyone who risks his all to create capital works and employment. Bah. Here's an idea. I have actually LIVED in Mexico, cabron. Did y'all know NO non-Mexican citizen is allowed to buy land in Mexico? Nope, not a square metre. Instead one must take out a 99-year lease and after that the property reverts to the govt. So, the Mexican Govt. should immediately repeal this law. The result? An influx of capital, immigrants and employment opportunity to Mexico FROM The States!!! Heh heh.

Two easy solutions -

1. Abolish the private corporation called the Federal Reserve Bank and abolish their fractional banking (& usurious) practices (i.e. abolish monetization of debt). Replace the currency with interest-free, debt-free money, which will be spent into circulation via public projects such as public transportation infrastructure.

2. Impose tarriffs on imported goods to level the field. That way it will prevent corporations from taking advantage of cheaper labor outside USA. (& deport all illegal immigrants).

"Me, I'm a native Californian (my parents came from Minnesota, however, crossing many borders to reach CA. No one EVER told them to "Go back to Minnesota, where you belong!")"

elgee,

No one? It sounds like you and your parents weren't listening. Better pack your bags. The Mexica Movement wants you out! Not back to Minnesota, they want you out of the North American continent.
http://www.mexica-movement.org/ENTERHERETEXTONLY.htm

you belong!") I began learning my CA history when I reached the 4th grade. Do all you angry bloggers KNOW that once upon a time CA. (and Texas, New Mexico and parts of Nevada and Arizona)actually BELONGED TO MEXICO! We stole it from them - yes, we overpowered the Mexican military, who had
elgee

I believe the Native Americans were here before the Mexicans... And seems everyone supposedly stole the land from them. So, you are wrong, it actually BELONGED TO THE NATIVE AMERICANS

Greginoz,
Oz is a fantasy world. It is typical of a fascist pig to expect the rich to pay less in taxes and the middle class to pay more in taxes. As the self-proclaimed speaker of the privileged business people of America and former Mexico resident, you are probably well versed in dollar a day wages for your employees. Let me enlighten you to what your ownership in land is all about in America. Stop paying your real estate taxes and you’ll find out who really owns your property. As far as your idea for economic prosperity for Mexico is concerned, your apparent greed is overshadowed by your stupidity.

Remember kids, just say no to communism and the new "undercover communism" as seen by ignoramus' like "elgee."

Dear Bruce, am delighted to finally be called a fascist pig, delighted. I actually snorted my (imported) short black, in laughter! So, you would be one those types that approves of the minimum wage and bans child labor, yes? Welladay, money, like water, finds it's own level. Would a starving person (or child) rather EARN enough to EAT or would they wait for FEMA to 'save' them? Government intervention equals market failure...a platitude...but oh so true. PS taxes are for wage slaves:-)