The problem is, they don’t remain ‘temporary.’ They scatter into an underground economy with ‘sanctuary cities.’

@Varn Over 95% of them show up for their hearings, they are not necessarily undocumented. Of those that show up at the border only 20% gain legal entry and they do show up for their hearings, the others are turned back.

@silverotter11 That looks like 80% not checking in legally... We can never know beyond vastly varying estimates how many are here illegally. I’ve seen numbers from 11 to 22 million. Our recession/ depression slowed the flow, and Obama was tougher than his predecessor regarding border enforcement. trump’s no doubt got their attention, but when he’s gone, what then?

@Varn NO, those that do not pass the requirements for entry are turned away, they do not get in. We have a law that says anyone can present themselves at the border and request asylum, only 20% pass the test the rest are turned away or returned to their home country. As the courts have stated, trump cannot legislate from the WH. If the people of America want that law changed then congress and the senate need to write up something that can then be passed and signed into law.
If you go over, under or around the border and are caught it is a misdemeanor, like jaywalking which IMHO should not result in having you and your children put in cages.
I really wish our representatives would act more like adults, I call my reps on a regular basis. Everyone should, it doesn't take much time out of our busy days to do this.

@silverotter11 Those ‘not passing inspection’ are those attempting to enter legally.. Those sneaking across the border to live within our country illegally can not be counted.

Many make multiple attempts at entering illegally, which may have begun after a legal attempt. Yes, it’s the ones ‘not caught’ that most citizens are concerned with.

I’m unsure what you’re advocating?

@Varn You state a lot of stuff about bad players without any substantiation. I'd like to see any real data you have, not what you hear on Fox & Friends.

@Varn Following rule of law. We HAVE immigration laws on the books. A better solution to those thousands of people walking to our border would have been more clerks to handle the immigration process we already have in place. Most of those were not criminals seeking to harm anyone but asylum from fear of death in their own country.

@jerry99 Call it forty years of west coast observation.. I’ve witnessed first hand the extremely detrimental effects of illegal immigration in the USA. Provide ‘substantiation?’ I leave fox to the religious.

Illegal Immigration is a major and legitimate concern of most advanced nations. In my nation, the problem’s been kicked down the road ..for decades. One party views illegal immigrants as desperate, near slave labor to be exploited. The other party views them as eventual democrats, ‘loyal’ to the party that let them in.

Having listened to far more public political feedback than most, from every direction, for decades.. is all the ‘data’ I need. You?

@silverotter11 That election-timed ‘migration’ remains a suspected republican ploy, to me. My concern has festered for decades.. And I’m not alone. I’m certain a very high percentage of ‘crossover’ voters voted for trump because he appeared to be the first presidential candidate in recent history actually planning to do something about the inflow.

Problem is, he only followed the desires of ‘his base,’ uneducated racist bigots looking to intimidate and punish as opposed to simply enforcing our existing immigration laws. Granted, enforcement worked, as the detention of asylum seekers and economic opportunists sent a serious message to those planning to enter illegally. But as trump’s shown, he can’t moderate or negotiate.

A longtime neighbor and friend had taken a job after years of teaching HS Spanish that basically consisted helping attorneys, for the right price, tie up our system with bogus applications for ‘asylum,’ with their main goal being economic opportunity. She was appalled, and eventually quit.

The US needs to keep it’s hands off the governments of Central America, something most around here have likely advocated ..forever. But the citizens of those nations need to fight for their lives and liberty like those of their neighbor to the north, not abuse it’s generosity.

@Varn So okay, no data.

@jerry99 There’s no amount of ‘data’ to satisfy someone in denial.. It’s generally a ploy to avoid a deeper issue in which one participant in the discussion is lacking practical or logical experience. Anymore, I watch other fall for it, not me

@Varn, No, it looks to me that you have no data, just your own long-held, but unsupported opinions. So, I did a quick look and found some data for you: "As a percentage of their respective populations, there were 56 percent fewer criminal convictions of illegal immigrants than of native-born Americans in Texas in 2015," author Alex Nowrasteh writes. "The criminal conviction rate for legal immigrants was about 85 percent below the native-born rate." [washingtonpost.com]

@Varn I agree, we are the root cause of much of what has gone wrong in s. america. I sometimes wonder if much of our legislation is written knowing it will be exploited in some way.

@jerry99 So, what? Most illegal immigrants come here for economic opportunity, their crime is having ignored our entry requirements. Don’t expect me to defend trump's accusations, mine are reality based. Sure, there have been murders, rape, drugs, imported gangs along with illegal immigrants, but those are the most immediate and obvious violations (beyond being here illegally), excluding those here for economic opportunities only.

In a large part, people like you are why we’ve got trump.. Those picking a side, then attempting to support it with unrelated ‘data’ ..groping for excuses not to act. What I know is from time spent, decades in fact - talking with the active public, including politicians and activists of both sides.

The ‘data’ you seek is personal, guarded, not given in telephone polls.. It’s from observation, economic realities, depletion of resources, all observed by ‘ordinary people’ feeling powerless to curb it ‘with words.’ Instead, they use votes. As mentioned (if ignored), this remains a festering problem, not only within ‘our nation,’ but within most stable nations on the planet.

I could write a book - and on the pages of this platform alone - nearly have But I couldn’t force anyone to read, understand, or agree with it. It would & could ‘give data,’ but not snippets of unrelated numbers meant to bolster an unsubstantiated or naive perception, it would start centuries ago… So - you’re stuck with me, and me - you (till now )

You’ve obviously no desire to respect my experience or observations, but leaving our immigration laws unenforced and ignored will give those having silently sided with one candidate nothing but incentive to do it again...

For the win~!