Shouldn't our primary concearn be with employong American citizens?
969609
American citizens must have priority in employment because the taxes will be properly collected by the government unlike low salaried illegals whose employers are exploiting them  to evade payment of taxes.
312646
Actually we hold job as president too important in my opinion. The president works for us, not the other way around. Bush has been telling the American people what to do and how to think about certain situations and i find this to be completly wrong. Like I mentioned above, the President works for us and he should do what we want. My loyalties belong to this country, not its president.
46611
When you hire a person to work for you in America, you have certain responsibilites, as they are not a piece of equipement or a machine.  The benefit you get from expanding your business by hiring people to work for you requires comes with certain responsibilities on your part.\n\nThe systems were set up to ensure that your employees would have some sort of safety net when they retired, so that no matter what happened or how cheap you were, if they worked for you their whole life, they would not be in complete poverty when they hit a point where they could not work any more.  \n\n\nThe lawmakers at the time decided that both the employer and employee should pay into this system, as they both had an interest in keeping a stable workforce with a promising future.\n\nOne of the alternatives suggested at the time was to require employers to provide pay and benefits to the employee at retirement.  That was scrapped in a compromise in favor of this proposal, as it is much more practical.
188145
No.All that is done is done because of economic interests...\nI also believe that most of US citizens only care for their own country,if not their own state and county!!That is isolationism,that's right.\nBut I do have a question...Since no more immigrants are wanted,then why the internet in every corner of the world is flooded by the US government ad "Come to US,join the lottery for a green card"??
628486
i think this should be required as part as their citizenship requirements. this country was founded on english beleifes and the constitution is written in english so why not.
516164
Cosax is right. both parties have NOT represented the American citizens at all. just special interest groups. taxes would go down if we stop spending all the money on stupid s__t! and we need to protect the borders of the country!
443719
Didn't your ancestor's get a chance at a better life by coming to America?  Why can't other humans, yes humans get the same chance?  \n\nI do believe there needs to be a wall or strictor laws for companies who hire illigal immigrants.  \n\nHow about offering a work program where all companies who need low paying labor help, could register in a program at the borders. These companies who profit from the illigal immigrants labor, could shoulder the cost of transportation and fines for permission to work in the United States. Don't you think that the contractors who hire all these illigal immigrants, are making great profits from hiring workers for 2 to 4 dollars an hour and they are actually getting paid by their clients (some of them by our government) more like 10 or more dollars an hour for that same labor. Get upset with these companies who are making a huge profit off the shoulders of these people.  And if some companies say we couldnt afford to pay these people more than pass the cost on to the public.  Then maybe we can actually see the cost of treating hard laborers as humans.\n\n\nWhy are people mad at the illigal immigrants? I would love to see any amount of American's who want to do the hard labor that the illigal labor force is performing at the price that they are being paid. How many Americans would work out in Houston's heat. How many American's would do the pain-staking labor of harvesting our farms? I would love to see all those retarded Americans who say that the illigal immigrants are taking your jobs, to go out to do the harvesting in the fields for one day and then receive the salary that they recieive. How long do you really have to stay in your ignorance. Wake up and smell the coffee!
568772
I think we should break down the question into three parts, and address the overarching themes (since we do not know what the final shape of the immigration bill will be).\n\nFIRST PART:\nShould there be immigration? The answer is a resounding yes. America is a nation of immigrants, and unless you're the great grandson of Sitting Bull, you are of immigrant origin. Immigration is what gives strength to this country: where do you think George Washington and Lincoln came from, spontaneous combustion? What about Einstein? \n\nFurthermore, while many sit around and complain about immigrants, the US is the country with the most transnational corporations in the world, which means we derive a great portion of our wealth from doing business abroad--so I think we can take a few immigants from those countries in which we do business. Mexico happens to be our fourth largest trading partner which means a lot of Americans have jobs because Mexicans are buying our products. \n\nAlso note that a lot of Americans are staffing the branches of US transnational corporations in other countries. For instance, Japan is the country with the second largest population of Americans (after the US, evidently, and excluding Iraq and Afghanistan were American populations are in theory temporary) and Mexico is the country with the third largest population of Americans (besides businessmen and women, note that a lot of Americans retire in Mexico, upwards of 1 million retirees, which is about 1% of the Mexico's population).\n\nIt's true that it would be good if Mexico could provide enough work for its own citizens, but the fact is that it cannot do that yet; as neighbors the US and Mexico need to sit down and work together to find a solution. Building a fence will not even help; we'll probably have to hire immigrants to help us build it! \n\nSeparately, someone claimed that immigrants come here to take advantage of Social Security and our welfare state. In fact, statistically speaking, it has been proved again and again that immigrants work hard enough to earn their Social Security, just like any other worker in America. In addition, it's also a statistical fact that there are more Americans on welfare than immigrants; illegal immigrants do not really have access to it, since they are not US citizens and cannot receive it.\n\nHaving said that, you might say, "OK, but there ought to be a legal process to allow immigrants". Fair enough. Which leads me to the second part of my answer.\n\nSECOND PART: \nShould there be a temporary guest workers program (which President Bush has proposed) that will eventually allow immigrants to become citizens?\nBy all means. Immigration is actually good to oil the global economy and the American economy. As economies develop, such as the US economy has, the citizens become more wealthy and better educated, which leads them to look for better paying jobs. If you are well educated, you are not going to apply for a fruit-picking job, you'll try to become a lawyer, businessman or a college professor, for example. Immigrants are the ones who help us do the jobs in sectors that suffer from labor deficits.\n\nThere are those who argue that if immigrants didn't come to the US, the minimum wage would be higher and therefore US citizens would be more willing to do those jobs. That's nonsense, because of what I just explained: a better educated population does not want to work in agriculture, work as house maids or delivery boys! If Mexico and the rest of Latin America fell of the face of the Earth, other immigrants would come from other countries to take up the jobs that nobody else is doing. In fact, that's what happened when most people came from Europe over the last 200 years. Do you think my or your great-great grandaddy was the Duke of Earl? He was likely as uneducated as any immigrant you meet on the Texas border!\n\nHaving said that, I understand the frustration that many people feel wh
389603
I have two American Children and is a foreign national myself. I am here legal and both me and my wife are highly educated and doing very good here. We could think about staying but the process of getting that done here is very difficult. I think Americans don't realize how difficult it is to live in the US as an alien witch is a pity because I think that would have change a lot of peoples opinions about immigration. So by other words if that would have made it easier I think in some cases yes and some cases no.
357105
It was not our choice for them to come here, so why should it be our responsibility to accomodate them because they do not speak english. If you come to the US knowing that English is the primary language you should be prepared to learn it.
161111
me neither, but america is supposed to be responsible for americans, some are not eligible for medicaid or medicare,welfare or other care,so the hit the streets,along with there children. but since they are already here, the government doesnt need to make thim friends, so they are forgotten,rather than take care of your own.\nkinda like teddy right,veterans we will take care of you, now it is only if you have other insuraance and are 100%, not 80 or 70, or just missing one leg, or arm or and eye and a arm, it is 100% service coonected.\nwell what about the 100% american citizen, like i said they dont need made friends with, and we need more quick food stop owners and cabbies for when all the american die off:)
416940
Nope.  I personally served alongside some Marines that weren't US citizens.  In several cases it expedited their naturalization process.  In all cases I respected that these men weren't citizens but loved America enough to serve.  I'd be first in line to say that these men should be citizens.
43079
As to whether we are a judeo-christian society or not I would say that yes we are, but we shouldn't be per the Constitution. And if we are then the promised land would be exclusive to that religion. That aside it is impossible to close the border even if we tried, for every person we catch there are 2 that make it across. The answer should be looked at a question first of why people are immigrating to the US. It for the most part is a result of people wanting a better life (and by better life I mean quality of life, not standards of life) due to policies that keep third world countries from becoming economically viable. To keep America secure today (due to a lack of options) the US needs to be economically dominant, we can not afford to have people who are not educated come in and challenge for jobs that have been lost to outsourcing or machines, and the decline of education and the wage rate has us competing enough between eachother as the gap between the rich and poor grows. The cheaper solution (other than building a giant wall that will be overcome or increased patrols) is to do tree things. The first being a national id card that needs to be presented if one were to apply for a job etc. However, if someone is sent back it isn't a big deal to keep trying until you succeed, or if thrown in jail an American jail is still comfortable compared to where one came from. The solution is educating immigrants that come here and allowing them to become legal so that they contribute to our economy. However, that will only entice more immigrants to come here and compete further. What we really need to do is look at our policies and attempt to raise educational standards in other countries so that they will become prosperous. Then it cycles back to our economy and whether or not we want to live a high standard of life or quality of life when our economy is challenged by the ones we helped create.
811661
American citizens should be FIRST priority, not illegal aliens.
1027920
Yes, for not all people in the United States are citizens (immigrants, etc.), and yet these people must be afforded protection under the law of the country when they are in this country.\n\n(In the past, abolitionists like Lysander Spooner had even argued that "the people" included those being held in slavery, and that therefore slavery was inherently unconstitutional.)
498456
I see what you're trying to say, but it needs rewording.\n\nYeah, just because they get over here doesn't mean they are entitled to any citizen benefits.
491515
Amen Brother!! I hear ya!! But the job and the duty of the United States has always been to protect and help other countries, even if we neglect our own citizens, redundant I know