Originally Posted by AmyCarter
I'm going to take Eric's side in this argument. I really think we need to pay closer attention to his remarks. Let's for the sake of argument take him at his word, that he oppposes blanket amnesty, as S1639 would have provided. All of us here are in agreement on that. And let's assume this student of his is truly hardworking, smart, talented, gets good grades, and intends to go to college to study medicine, engineering, or something else more useful than literature, history, basketweaving, etc. But this student was a CHILD when his parents brought him here from somewhere else. And let's assume the kid was brought here when he was 1 year old. That's a lot of assumptions. But that's the kid I'm willing to make allowances for in any immigration reform. And there are some that exist, although extremely rare. This is the kid that's going to contribute to society, this is the kid that's going to be the backbone of the economy (NOT his parents, who are probably unskilled peasants sucking up our roads and parks and hospitals)
And I'm generally against taxpayer funded universities, but insofar as we're giving taxpayer money to citizens and residents, I'd give it to this kid, too. And I'd give it to every hardworking kid. A lot of the anger I've read in this thread seems to me,to be a direct consequence of this ridiculous open borders globalization policy this country's been pursuing for the last 30 years. Our own kids are getting shortchanged in the elementary and high schools, and we can't afford to send them to college. The bottom line is that our standard of living is sinking.
And I'm not willing to accept 20 million unskilled peasants for the 1 thousand of their kids that meet the above criteria.
I think the bigger point is, I'm worried that after 2008 there will be a worse amnesty bill that we cannot stop. Let's face it, the Democrats are going to pick up seats in the Senate, and all the Presidential candidates on both sides are pro-illegal aliens. So that leaves the House, and no one can predict that. I'm willing to negotiate today. But only once I see real workplace enforcement in place, fines levied, employers jailed, etc.