If they in this country, they should have either citizenship paperwork or valid work visas/paperwork. PERIOD.

And none of this "but they've been here for twenty years and so should get immunity/amnesty" or "their kids are US born so they're citizens and it'd be cruel to send the parents away just becuase they're illegals".

Pony up or get out.

<font color=skyblue>Despite the fact that I have so many friends who are illegal, I whole-heartedly agree with what you said. I just wanted that to be clear, in case I sounded like I was supporting a contrary view. </font>

If they've been here long enough to plop out an anchor baby, then getting a green card is ez-sauce, so the refs should at least do that.

Ok, I have a stupid question: How can the baby of two illegals be legal? Granted, my brain is boggled from reading stuff about nuclear powerplants and all, but the concept of two wrongs making a right is baffling me.

<font color=skyblue>I hear that it stems from an old law on the books that was made for another reason, maybe from slave rights but I might be wrong,,,but that law was left on the books and now Hispanics are exploting its power for themselves. </font>

The problem is, if they're legal citizens, there's nothing for them to come for in the US. They're only there because companies can hire them at below minimum wage.

So it's a bit of a Catch 22 for them, either they're legal citizens and they don't have jobs, or they're illegal citizens and they do have jobs, but risk getting thrown out and don't actually have much in the way of rights.

I'm pretty sure that the ones who CAN get legal jobs get work papers, after all, they'll get paid better that way, and the reason they're in the US is to earn money.

Of course, it's possible that a lot of them don't KNOW about the proper procedures and so forth. After all, I doubt that most of the Mexicans sneaking across the border have much in the way of education. Perhaps it might be interesting to see how many would try to go the legal way if they knew about the details of it?

Distribute some pamphlets or something.

Out of curiosity, what ARE the requirements for getting a valid work VISA or a US citizenship? Just in broad terms, of course, I'm not expecting the entire, no doubt somewhat lengthy, document to be quoted.

Just wanted to add something, for everyone's info:

The INS is no more, hasn't been for a few years (Since March 1, 2003 - hmm, seems like we were occupied with something else at the time...). It was quietly dissolved during the ascension of the Department of Homeland Security into two organizations: the USCIS: US Citizenship and Immigration Services: http://www.uscis.gov/portal/site/uscis

and ICE - Immigration and Customs Enforcement: http://www.ice.gov/

The difference? Something I'm rooting out with my research...

[ 02-14-2007, 12:57 AM: Message edited by: Lucern ]

http://www.lapollalaw.com/immigrant1.htm

This is pretty basic, and I'm far from an expert in immigration law, but it's relevant to Purple's question. Might provide the answer you want.

Part of the problem also lies, I think, with the non-requirement that they speak our 'native' language, English. Even if willing, it's rather difficult to read the pertinent info if it's not in a language you understand. Which brings me to my next point:

If you're in this country to work and live, LEARN ENGLISH! Like it or not, this is the predominant language in all its myriad accents, dialects and forms. You no speak English, you no get job. It irritates me beyond belief to call my electric company or phone company and the FIRST thing I hear is "For English, press 1. Para Espanol...."

Read there...The State wants to cut this program, or cut that program, but I'd bet they could save a million dollars a year, in Kansas alone, if they only sent out your paperwork in English. It's not like they don't know that I'm a Caucasian male, after all. I have been in the office a few times. I think of how much ink, and paper it takes to do that, and I know how much the ink cartridges cost for my printer, and mine are cheap. This is paper work for both Welfare, and Social Security. I get page and half letters from SRS all the time, front side of each page is the English version, back side is the Spanish version, and it's a page and a half document. They could print the whole thing in English, on one sheet of paper. Less ink, less paper, lower costs. The same holds true for printing out the application forms, one language. I hate to think about how much money it costs to print that stuff up in 15 languages, when it should really only be in one.