We are a nation of immigrants....

The big problem is that we have better paying jobs and freedom in the USA and many are repressed and paid slave wages in their home country. Of course they want to live in the USA.

Some good points.

That is an unusual approach...

This was the same issue with my late partner (from Iran). It was not just her but her husband and 2 kids. It took years and a lot of money and heartache. She would get really upset when others were given amnesty. It makes a mockery of our laws. Documentation is not just a formality. It is a very important step toward being assimilated into a new culture/

It sounds like you are for paying people below a livable wage.

@joeymf86 And you would be wrong. You ever known anybody that works in a beef plant for $17 to $20 an hour? I know hundreds. Even at that rate it's a shit job.

@sewchick57 Oh that's good. Glad you clarified.

The reason I came to that conclusion was you said a thriving immigrant community is good for the economy, then you followed that by saying they work shit jobs for shit pay. It just sounded like you were saying a benefit of hiring immigrants was that they will work terrible jobs and you don't have to pay them much.

@joeymf86 lol No, unfortunately even if they're legal immigrants they still end up with dead end, body destroying jobs. I live in probably the most diverse small town in the country. There are flags from 33 countries hanging in the high school this year because there is at least one student from that country whose first language is not English.

I hear this a lot. The message I hear is we want to help others but, at the same time, exploit them. This idea not only hurts the workers here who have fought for decent paying jobs with benefits but, in the end, hurts everyone including the immigrants.

I disagree strongly. It is not a parking ticket. The immigrant may not commit any other crime but there are other things to deal with. When I got my shingles vaccination I noted a world map with a color coding of infectious diseases. Much of Europe is experiencing an outbreak of Measles. The reason being was that many immigrants come from areas that have poor vaccination rates. There is a fact called externalities. This means things that are not readily apparent. Immigration (policy not people) is a very, very complex issue. Even Climate Change is being tied to excessive immigration.

@JackPedigo whether or not you like it, crossing the border illegally IS a misdemeanor. climate change isn't tied to excessive immigration; it's tied partially to certain kinds of immigration, and certainly not to people who cross our southern border or overstay their visas. the fact is, in america, we do NOT have outbreaks of disease because of immigrants; we have them because of stupid anti-vaxxers right here in america, native-born citizens who believe bad science. but the question wasn't about whether people should cross the border. it was about whether the people ALREADY HERE should have a path to citizenship.

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@genessa It is a misdemeanor because people don't take it seriously enough. Climate Change is anthropogenic which means people and their activities. When someone comes here from a low carbon footprint area their footprint goes up, often way up. It is just more of us using more limited resources. How can it be tied ton only certain kinds of people and not others? Everyone, needs resources, food, clothing, shelter, jobs a decent life. Should poor people who come here stay poor? Maybe, that is why we are becoming more economically polarized. My question is at what level should we allow others to come here? What would be an upper limit for the global population? Immigration is a very complex issue and way too many would have it made simple and one result is tRump and dictators like him. It has become way to emotionalized (love or hate) and all sense of reason has gone out the door. It should be about a sustainable and fair policy not individual people.

@JackPedigo no, it's a misdemeanor because the law says it's a misdemeanor. people taking something seriously doesn't bump up a crime from one status to another. it's been a misdemeanor for about forever. meanwhile, immigrants give much more than they take. don't blame immigrants for trump. (and if it's not about individual people, who CARES about policy? i lived in japan for 10 years and they always talked about the greater good. what ended up happening was EVERYONE suffered for the so-called greater good, but no one benefited, so how was there any greater good? how was there any good at all? i was on a bus once in the middle of a very hot summer and all the windows were closed. everyone was dripping sweat. everyone was suffering. i asked someone near a window to open it. she gladly did. then i asked why she hadn't opened it before. she said she didn't want to bother anyone. so everyone suffered in order not to bother anyone, but in fact there was not greater good there and EVERYONE would've benefited from the open windows!) and AGAIN you have skirted the issue, which was not whether people should come here but whether those who have already come here and been here a long time should be shown a path to citizenship. did you miss that in the original question? did you miss that when i pointed it out to you in my last response? are you going to continue to miss it? because if so, i can only conclude that you are doing so on purpose, in which case i see no point in further dialogue with you.

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@genessa I always tell myself not to get into another 'immigration' (note the athion not the ints suffix) but I always do. I really try and emphasize a rational aspect (my last sentence) and everyone take it emotionally. This is the problem.
I lived in Germany for 15 years and emigrated there, at one point. I had to fill out paperwork, get a Drs. certification, drivers license, swear I would not a job away from a German and on and on (this included listing my home and setting up a closed bank account in case I was needed to be deported so the government would not have to pay for my transportation). My late partner was an immigrant from Iran and, as I said, she also had to jump through a lot of hoops (a lot of what I feel was strengthened from her). I am also the godfather to a Syrian/Turkish family's first born grandson. I have a long history with immigrants and again it is not about the people, but a policy in which all people, citizens and immigrants alike, have to live. I saw what happened when the wall started coming down in Germany and what the influx of refugees from the east did to the country. Now it is happening again and Angela Merkel is not running for re-election because of the outcry. People complain about Japan having such a low immigration rate but then they scream about the increasing loss of cultures. We can't have both.
Maybe there were some people that didn't want the window open. Maybe people were all living within their culture and some yankee comes along and puts people on the spot. I have heard in Asia the motto is the protruding nail gets hammered down whereas here it is the squeaking wheel gets the grease. Pretty soon everybody will be the same and there will only be one culture.
Yes, I agree, if we can't debate on a rational level there is not point