[fabsroman]

Val,

Val, your presumption regarding who I hang out with is dead wrong. The people I hang out with are not usually my clients. I have three best friends. One is an F-18 pilot that graduated from the Naval Academy, the other is an accountant, that graduated with me from undergrad with a 3.95 gpa and whom works in the corporate headquarters of Black & Decker/Dewalt which is still a decent American company, and the third is a fellow attorney that graduated with me from law school. I believe all three of them are honorable men.

Along with my immigrant clients, there are plenty of sleazy Americans too. If every American followed the letter of the law, and required all the proof that an I-9 requires, these illegals would not be able to get a job here. However, us Americans are the ones breaking the law along with the illegals. So, don't think that it is all the illegals fault. If all Americans paid the taxes they owed and filed completely legit tax returns, then this country might have plenty of money to deal with the illegals and the cost of health care. As far as the illegals draining the health care system, I don't think it is necessarily all their fault. I know plenty without health insurance who do not go to the doctor unless they are dying. Nah, the drain on the medical system is the people that run to the doctor for stuffy noses and little things. That is why a lot of insurance plans are now making the insured pay a huge deductible before covering health care costs.

For you to assume that life is as easy as shutting down the border and deporting everybody, think how much those starving vets would be paying for food and other goods because Americans do not want to do the work that the illegals do for the same wage. I am sure that any farm owner out there would hire an American before an illegal if the American was willing to work for the same amount of money. If I took a survey of the people on this board, I am willing to bet that most of us do not pick fruits and vegetables for a living.

Look at the trouble GM and Ford are having because American workers want a ton of vacation, retirement benefits, and health insurance benefits that are not provided in China and the other Asian countries.

Yeah, deporting the illegals and putting the criminals to work is a much better idea than taking over latin america. Sad thing is that we wouldn't have California and a lot of the West if people didn't think like me to begin with.

At the end of the day, your ideas are about as good as mine (i.e., terrible). So, that is why we need to come up with a compromise.

Last but not least, do not assume that all illegals are terrible people. I know quite a few that are law abiding citizens, except for the fact that they are illegal. I know a lot of hispanics that have work visas and they are pretty decent people too.

Everybody in the US came from somewhere other than the US, with the exception of the Native American, but we tend to lose sight of that too. However, I also agree that the immigrants to this country need to become Americans and view this country as their country, like my parents do.