Illegal Immigration

[Rico]

I am a ham operator, and I just participated in a conversation about the issue of illegal immigration. One of the participants feels that the best solution to the problem would be to round all the "Mexicans" up and ship them back to Mexico. Another person thinks it would be a good idea to clear our jails of all the illegal immigrants, and he also thinks that illegal immigrants are taking jobs away from even those with college degrees.

With the one who thinks we should round them all up and ship them out, I tried to make the point that, from a logistical standpoint, it would be a nightmare to round up the 12-14 million illegal immigrants we have in this country and send them back to Mexico, not to mention how much it would cost. He went on and on and on about how they're not paying taxes, contributing to our economy, etc., etc. We need to seal the border, etc., etc. I told him I agreed with him that we need to seal the border, but a better solution would be to offer amnesty to the illegals who are already in the country once we get the border sealed. That way they don't have to live in hiding, taxes taken out of their paychecks will actually find its way into the system, they would have more of an incentive to learn English. I also tried to point out that, even though they are illegals, they are still contributing to the economy because they buy food, gasoline, cars, and shop at Wal Mart for clothes and their necessities just like the citizens do. Rounding them all up would eliminate 12-14 millions consumers from our economy and how can that help us?

The more this guy talked the more I began to suspect that he's really a racist. The thing that got me to thinking this way was when he resorted to complaining about how the Mexicans send some of the money they make back to their families. I basically told him that it was their money, they earned it, and, if they want to send it back to their families in Mexico then who am I to condemn them for doing it. I asked him if he thought anyone should have the right to tell him what he should do with his paycheck and that pretty much ended my conversation with him. LOL!

I don't think the other fella is a racist. He did make a good point about sending illegal aliens back to their native country upon being convicted of a crime. I don't have any argument against that. What didn't make sense to me is when he tried to blame illegal immigrants for taking jobs from Americans with college degrees. They're not coming over here and landing jobs in corporate America! They, the illegal immigrants, are working on farms, in restaurants, in construction, at meat plants and other factory type jobs. that part of his argument didn't make any sense to me.

So, my question for all of you is what do you think the solution to the immigration problem is? Should we seal up the border, round them all up, and send them home? Should we seal the border, clear our jails of illegals, and give amnesty to those already here? Do you think illegal aliens are taking jobs away from college educated Americans? What's the answer?