CB> As long as the parents can get jobs in the U.S., the parents will
 CB> continue to cross the border illegally.  Please read the article I
 CB> posted a couple of days ago written by Al Shanker on this issue.  I
 CB> think he articulates my concerns far better than I can.
The major fact that I see being ignored here (except by Ron) is that
many of these children are US citizens.  The parents might bring a
couple of kids with them, however then proceed to have a handful more.
Even if INS does catch up with them, there is little that can be done
because you can't deport the caretaker(s) of a minor American citizen.
Theoretically, the parents can apply for green cards for themselves on
their child's behalf.  It just takes a good abogado de migracion, & you
can find those advertised on billboards on every other street corner
around here.
To make a real dent in cutting the cost of illegals receiving government
services, the first thing to do is to change the constitution &
immigration laws, as did Great Britain in approx. 1981, so that being
born on American soil is not an instant guarantee to citizenship.  One
would have to prove that at least one parent is a citizen or become
naturalized through the process already in place.
TC>>The victims in this are the American children who receive a lesser 
uality
TC>>education than they might have due to the loss of funds to educate the
TC>>illegal's.
 CB> So, we should make the innocent children of foreign workers the victims
 CB> instead?  We're talking about little 5- and 6-year old children here,
 CB> Tom, not pieces of meat.  Have some compassion!
The thing is, if these children aren't in school, where are they?
Working in the fields?  In factories?  What about child labor laws?  If
the kids aren't in school, they are many times roaming the streets &
breaking into homes.  It makes sense if you think about it.  When do
most home break-ins take place if not during during the day?
I agree theoretically that it's not fair either to American students or
American taxpayers that American funds are being expended to educate
citizens of somewhere without our State Dept. taking the hit in their
budget belt.  But the kids are here & need to be somewhere, preferably
somewhere supervised & most preferably somewhere which will inculcate
them to survival in our society without killing the rest of us for our
stuff.
TC>>The American children who might not receive medical care
TC>>since the funds have already been depleted by the non Americans.
 CB> It is seldom that anyone is turned away from medical care in this
 CB> country, despite the fact that we have one of the highest infant
 CB> mortality rates of any civilized nation on earth.
AZ's public health system has stopped providing anything but emergency
care unless one can prove citizenship.
 CB> TCTyson foods right here in Arkansas hires hundreds of them as do the
TC>>migrant labor camps.
 CB> Soooo, let me ask you - who's deserving of the greater disrespect, the
 CB> illegal immigrants who will do most anything to get a job so they can
 CB> care for their families, or the wealthy SOB's that own the companies
 CB> that encourage those immigrants to come here by hiring them?  How about
 CB> we educate the kids, then, and when we catch someone like Tyson (if,
 CB> indeed, they are guilty of hiring illegal immigrants), we force them to
 CB> pay fines for the cost of educating those kids?  Or should we punish the
 CB> immigrants who are doing exactly what you want poor people all over the
 CB> world to do - getting a job?
Something else to think about...while those folks are living here, they
are paying taxes, if not income taxes through payroll deduction (altho'
some do,) then certainly sales & excise taxes on items such as groceries
& gasoline, not to mention indirectly paying property taxes if they
rent housing.  They have no representation in government & no possible
way of recovering withheld income & FICA taxes (it has been reported in
the paper here that often as many as 20 different people will be using
one "legal" social security number to obtain work certification.)
TC>>I understand the complexity more than you realize.  I also understand
TC>>the consequences for Americans if they continue to allow our country to
TC>>be invaded by foreign nationals.  If I wanted to live in a third world
TC>>country I would move to Mexico.  Just a point of view. I would prefer my
TC>>children not have the burden of supporting an ever increasing population
TC>>of takers and dead beats.  I am looking twenty years down the road and
TC>>at that point I won't be the one paying the bills. Probably won't even
TC>>be alive.
 CB> And as *I* look down the road, I see the possibility of reducing the
 CB> number of dead beats.  By educating those who live here we have a far
 CB> better chance of making the children of today into the productive
 CB> citizens of tomorrow.  As illiterates, they'll have no chance at all and
 CB> indeed, the nation will be inundated with dead beats.
Certainly.  They're not going to pick up & just go back wherever because
we gripe about it.  Mostly, the ones who are here are going to stay
unless forcibly picked up & taken away.  The first priority should be
enforcing our borders, followed by making it clear that living here
illegally will not ultimately be rewarded with resident alien status or
citizenship just for being able to evade the long, frail arm of
immigration authorities for X number of years (which was what the last
immigration reform acts effectively did.)  Many were able to wait it out
then use the posturing of baffled politicians to slip in through the
cracks of legislation designed under a flag of surrender.
Leona Payne
... "What do you mean you `Killed him, cha-cha-cha'?" -- Lister
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