(09-01-2017, 08:13 AM)The Real Marty Wrote: I think this would be a mistake.   These people came here as children, most of them probably speak English as their first language, and they are fully integrated into our society.   Imagine taking someone who's lived almost their entire life in the United States and telling them they have to move to Guatemala or somewhere like that.

I agree. No one adopts the American way of life faster than the children of immigrants. While I was living in California, legal and illegal immigrant parents (yes, mostly Central and South American) bemoaned the fact that next generation children lacked their own motivation and work ethic. In essence, they became Americanized. And why shouldn't they? This is the only place they've ever known. A friend of my daughter's, who spent the first five years of her life in Honduras and then immigrated here legally with her parents, absolutely hates visiting Honduras. My own immigrant wife constantly reminded our children how fortunate they were to live here.

This problem presents a cautionary tale. When a government, for mainly political purposes, refuses to enforce its own laws and borders, then moral and ethical complications ensue. I remember seeing a clip of Harry Reid standing on the floor of the House back in his earlier political days decrying the fact that illegal immigrants were having babies in the U.S. in order to bootstrap themselves into the country. Funny how his argument did a complete 180 when he figured out that by abetting this activity he could continue to draw a steady paycheck and position himself, and his family, to make millions. I use Reid because he's the first to come to mind, but this same crooked behavior is practiced by pols from both sides of the aisle. It's time for a wall, and not strictly in the physical sense. We should always have a culture of welcoming immigrants, as it always has, but with an unshakable ethos of enforcement.

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