Why can't we deport 12 million illegal Mexicans who broke our laws?

Question

The only reason is that we have spineless politicians on both sides that are paid for by US corporations.

People, the United States of America defeated the imperialist Japanese and Nazi Germany at the same time. We've put a man on the moon and cured many of the world's worst diseases. Don't tell me we can't get rid of those law breakers who are stealing American jobs and keeping wages low.

Keep contacting those worthless politicians who support amnesty and not our laws.

Wasn't our government able to somehow round up every law breaking draft dodger who didn't wan't to serve in Vietnam and throw them in jail?

Answer 1

It's not a question of whether we can. Of course we could if our country wanted that and was willing to spend the money to make it happen. Immigration issues just aren't that simple.

Yes, illegal aliens, many of which are from Mexico did break our laws to come here, and yes, something should be done about that. But chances are in the last 2 days, you drove over the speed limit so that makes you and me both law breakers too.

Comparing poor illegal immigrants, many of whom are hard-working, peaceful, law-abiding (aside from the afore-mentioned coming here) to "imperialist Japanese and Nazi Germany" in World War II simply isn't an intelligent comparison, as those were countries that were attacking us, with the intent to overtake us. Mexicans come here because their own country lacks the infrastructure to provide them a means to truly get ahead. Plus they are here largely by our own doing.

Currently illegal aliens (primarily from Mexico) do a lot of jobs in food service & sanitation that most Americans simply won't do, and they do them very well.

America, by creating welfare, food stamps & disability and allowing their sigificant abuse, has created a society where many people choose to not work rather than take lower level physically hard jobs. In the 40's & 50's, Americans were proud to do those jobs, but not anymore, although I am generalizing here.

This has created significant need, which illegal aliens happily fill, and if you have ever eaten in a restaurant or walked through a clean department store you have probably benefitted from this.

That being said, it is wrong for anyone to come to this country, benefit from our services and not give back in return, in the form on income taxes. Taxes help pay for the benefits we all enjoy, and while no one likes paying them, it is wrong to reap the rewards of this country and not do your share.

Should illegal aliens be kicked out? Absolutely not; after all, unless you are Native American, at one time your family were immigrants here too.

There should however, be tighter restrictions and penalities for future illegal aliens, amnesty for those already here, and the immediate legalization of those being given amnesty with the understanding that as citizens or legal immigrants, taxes and following the rules of our country are non-negotiables.

Why restrictions on future illegals and/or increased border patrol? Because like any country, our resources are finite, and if everyone in the world came here because they didn't like their home, our country would become over-polluted, over-crowded and eventually un-liveable. It also gives people less incentive to work to make their country's standards & government better, a drive for which is ultimately what created the United States.

Answer 2

Illegal immigration causes many problems that's for sure. That is an indisputable fact. Given your estimate of 20 million illegals let's proceed from there. Let's say even 1/3 of them are holding jobs. That's almost 7 million people in the workforce. Contributing to the tax base etc. That would leave 7 million job vacancies. Would our nation be able to handle that many leaving the workforce? Probably not. Would Americans step into these jobs for the pay offered? Probably not. Companies bottom line is profit. Would they raise wages to get Americans to work these jobs? Probably not. More companies would begin to outsource. Thus leaving many Americans out of jobs that now hold jobs. Our entire country would collapse and the Great Depression would look like a cakewalk. As I've said illegal immigration is wrong and needs to stop. But we also need to be realistic on deporting as you say 20 million people. Believe me...It's not going to happen for various reasons. So we must move forward and think of realistic ways to deal with the situation at hand and also insure the illegal situation is stemmed in the future. Better border security and visa systems need to be taken care of first and foremost so the situation doesn't progressively get worse. Once the flow is stopped we can then work on what to do with those already here.

Answer 3

Something called practical reality. First of all, we do not have the law enforcement capabilities to find them all. We don't have the facilities to detain them all. We don't have the mechanism to deport them all.

For example, currently, for a deportation, around 42 days of detention are required for processing. Currently, though, the US only has room for about 19,000 (no where near 12 million). Also, it has been estimated that there are 4,000 illegal immigrants for every 1 interior enforcement agent. Currently, the deportation "record" in a given year is 150K. At that rate, it would take 80 years of "records" to process all of those deportations. A line of busses would have to be created from one end of the west coast all the way to the other in order to deport 12 million.

Without some positive incentives to come forward, we will never solve this problem.

Answer 4

Not feasible given that the borders are porous to begin with. Police, immigration, etc. all have their hands full already. And in many cases cops and other have their hands tied- they can't even look into/or ask on immigration status (bunch of crap).

On top of that, even if we had mass round-ups of illegals, we could not possibly hold them nor process them all. We don't typically just throw them on a bus and catapult them over the border. We arrest them, schedule court hearings, etc. It all takes time and huge manpower. We don't have that manpower.

Ok, now that all presupposes that our leaders on both sides of the aisle actually WANT to deport all the illegal aliens (read that as enforce the law).

btw-- I'm not condoning illegal immigration, just being practical

Answer 5

Hi Bucko. Nice to see you are beginning to grapple with political issues. Throughout your education, try to open your mind to see the whole problem, especially the gray areas of law, politics, morality, and ethics. You are focused on the extreme of one issue, which is more of an illustration of your juvenile grasp of immigration issues than it is a legitimate stance that would have any feasibility whatsoever.

Your argument eats itself: you talk about the damage that immigrants do to your economy, yet you fail to see the giant waste of resources that would have to be devoted to investigating, searching, arresting, processing, prosecuting, and deporting 12 million people. Not to mention the millions of those 12 million who are helpful additions to our economy, society, neighborhoods, and families.

Moreover, by law any child born in the US is a citizen. Therefore, deporting the immigrant parents of any US-born child would expose us to a giant influx of orphaned or abondoned children who have every right that you do to remain here.

Unfortunately, you have simply seized the simplest mental shortcut that your growing mind stumbled on and held it up as high law.

Try again.

Answer 6

Its that to literally track down all 12 million would be impossible. But I don't see that as a reason to give up and leave all become legal. Its just the sheer numbers is what prevents all from being caught. Just like you can not catch all speeder, drug dealers, etc.

Answer 7

I agree. It seems like only a handful of Senators and the President are supporting this non-amnesty immigration reform. Unfortunately for me, one of my Senators is Arlen Specter. We have traded emails. He always argues in favor of immigration reform. I always say the government should secure the borders and stop the illegal immigration.

Answer 8

actually we can, our government is just making things really difficult, laws are already on the books, just need to inforce them, for real not playing at it

Answer 9

You can't because it won't happen.

Answer 10

you can't because you can't live without them