On the one hand you have the Law that must be kept. If anyone thinks that illegal immigration continues to grow because congress CAN’T stop it, they are WRONG. Consider this quote: “The reason we do not have secure borders is because of an insatiable demand for cheap labor,” says Rep. Tom Tancredo, R-Colo. In other words, congress has the law, but refuses to enforce it because it benefits our economy….or so they think so.

In contrast, there is a valid argument that illegal immigration does nothing more for our economy than lower wages. Are there jobs that American citizens won’t do? Yes! Are there jobs that American citizens won’t do for a decent wage? No! Thus the influx of illegal immigrants does not necesarilly mean that they will fill jobs that Americans refuse to fill, rather they takes jobs for much less pay that otherwise the employer would have had to pay a higher wage.

Does more jobs for less pay equal better economy or does it simply mean greater earnings for employers who provide jobs to illegal immigrants.

Now, what about practicality and human dignity. It is not practicle for the United States Government to “purge” our country of the illegal immigrants found herein. Such a purging would inherently carry hints of Nazi Germany, not to mention the astrinomical cost to carry it out. In such a case, our government would be tearing families apart (i.e. marraiges of illegal immigrants to perminant residents). Furthermore, the persicution of illegal immigrants does nothing more than force them more and more underground. The result is an increased multiplicity of illegal immigrant activity out of public view (i.e. forgery of immigration and citizenship documents).

I think everyone agrees that it is a problem that must be fixed. amnesty supporters cite the forcing of illegals “underground”. Those who oppose amnesty cite that illegal activity is still illegal, no matter how you look at it.

They are both correct, however, if something is to be done about it, the solution must be practical. I has to be something that CAN ACTUALLY BE DONE. In my opinion, the only real solution would be to provide a difinitive way for illegal immigrants already living here to obtain naturalization and congress MUST finally let go of their double standard by upholding the laws and securing our borders by whatever means necessary.

“While the INS receives much-deserved flack for the deportation quagmire, a large portion of the blame lies with the independent agency in charge of the nation’s immigration courts, the Executive Office for Immigration Review (EOIR), and its appellate body, the Board of Immigration Appeals (BIA), which thrive on making the deportation process as time-consuming and unwieldy as possible. Together, these two independent agencies — separate from the INS, but also housed under the Justice Department — hold the ultimate keys to deportation. While the INS has responsibility for apprehending and bringing immigration charges against aliens, it is the little-known EOIR that has jurisdiction over the nationwide Immigration Courts and their companion appeals system. More than 200 immigration judges preside in 52 courts across the country. They oversee removal proceedings, as well as bond re-determination hearings, in which the judges can reduce the bond imposed by the INS for aliens in custody who seek release on their own recognizance before final deportation.”

“The BIA’s 20-odd members, based in Falls Church, Va., are politically-appointed bureaucrats who have the power to overturn deportation orders nationwide. The panel — comprised largely of alien-friendly advocates from immigration-law circles — receives more than 30,000 appeals every year, and has a backlog of 56,000 cases, of which 34,000 are more than one year old, 10,000 are more than three years old, and some are more than seven years old. There’s even a saying among immigration insiders in Washington about the deportation process: “It ain’t over ’til the alien wins.“

Compare the number of cases that these bureaucrats are capable of handling in a year with the number of illegal immigrants in the US and the millions of voters in the Democratic party who oppose mass deportation and who therefore favor these bureaucratic barriers.

Although the ‘deport them all’ way of thinking is appealing to native born xenophobes, and although there is no question that it is not ‘right’ that the situation has been allowed to get out of hand, the practicalities of cost, politics, and entrenched legal barriers make the ‘mass deportation solution’ a matter of political rhetoric rather than a practical social remedy.