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Activists disagree over efforts to toughen immigration laws

This is a national emergency. La Raza has millions of lobbying dollars and is behind most of the bills that keep popping up in the Senate. Bush is pushing his NAFTA/NAU/SPP agenda without total disregard for the desires of American Citizens. This is a REAL attack by many Latinos, illegal and some legal, to take our country over. If you don't believe this, READ, LEARN, STUDY. It is real and if YOU don't FIGHT it, you will lose your country. Trust NO politician. There is TOO much money being thrown at them by big business and Latino special interest. If the legal Hispanic Citizens kept their Pledge of Allegiance, they wouldn't be trying to persuade us to grant amnesty to illegals. They would be defending their country instead. You will lose your country if you don't use every effort to stop this combination of foreign attack and citizen/political betrayal. This IS a national emergency whether BUSH declares it or not. Have you known ANYTHING the man has done that is genuinely in the best interest of our country. Even "No Child Left Behind" was La Raza buying Special Ed for their Spanish speaking children.

If we don't stop the illegal aliens now your children will be slaves to the third world minority that is flooding our country. We have been warned to choose and vote for good political leaders, if we fail to do this we will throw away our children's future.

They don't call them ILLEGAL aliens for nothing. Coming into this country illegally IS a felony. Hence, these people are felons.

Would you allow a total stranger to break into your home, take up residents, eat your food, run up your utility bills, drain your family's financial resources without a fight?

I think not.

Let's not make this personal. Many of these folks are very nice, respectable people. However, this is a critical policy issue. Mexico, which is one of the more wealthy nations of the world, is exporting their lower class to the U.S. This has significant, long term implications for this country.

If we truly need immigration at this level, then why are we favoring Mexico above every other country? Why allow tens of millions of illegal Hispanic immigrants at the expense of all the people who bothered to apply for citizenship from all around the world. It's fundamentally a question of fairness.

Yapias and others like him are a danger to our society. What part of ILLEGAL do they not un derstand ? America sleeps while our nation is being taken over without firing a single shot....

Entering this country illegally is not a felony. Check your research. Let them come. Legalize the undocumented!

Ummm...
Wow.
Some angry posts.
Relax, realize that the reason so many Mexicans are here as opposed to, say, Norwegians is because the Mexicans want to be here (and I don't know a lot of Norwegians who would want to live in the US; I'm proud of being an American, but if I was from Norway, I wouldn't want to move here).
There seems to be a labor demand for hard-working Mexicans. I say we should start changing the laws, and allowing the best of the Mexicans into the country...legally. Right now, though, we have a huge anti-immigration attitude. We're repeating history. We were racist towards the Irish when they came over in hordes. Now we're heaping it on the Mexicans.

hey Jay,

If English Only was the standard you would get deported.

How do they take up "residents?"


Also, entering the country without documentation is not a felony. Perhaps it should be but it currently is not.

I am ashamed that we are citizens of the same country. If you went to public schools then I am changing my vote to yes on referendum one.

To Lou Dobbs Smith, yes they went to public schools so vote yes on Referendum one! haha

It is sad that there is so much passion that facts get in the way. As you point out, entering this country is not a felony but a misdeamenor. That's why in most cases when illegal aliens are arrested they are given court dates and released. That is pretty typical with misdeamenors.

From the beginning I remember the issue was Washington was doing nothing to enforce the law. And they then claimed enforcement wasn't working so they wanted some sort of Amnesty-lite.

After many years of political fighting Washington has really stepped up enforcement. Not perfect but the number of border crossings is down dramatically.

The battle is being waged though solving this problem requires more than just deportation. Economics demands something different. I worry that in all the hub-bub about enforcement we're lose the perfect chance to pass a real solution that includes both solid enforcement and workable visas.

I remember Throckmorton ran against Cannon on tough enforcement but even he recognized that the visa had to be fixed. Even Jacob and Merrill Cook talked about it. Are we there yet?

I am on Bill Hickman's side. He should be governor.

Anonymous said that entering the U.S. is not a felony, and that is right for the first time, but re-entry after being deported is a felony. Do your research.

Went to this meeting, Yapias did not tell us whether at age 14, he came to this country as an illegal alien or not! I wonder why?

He was pushed into admitting that "undocumented workers" ARE illegal aliens. That is a first for Yapias! He obviously is in support of these criminals getting away with their violations of our laws.

Why is it illegal for an American to find out from the Social Security Administration whether their OWN or their children�s Social Security Number is being used by someone else?

If all Americans could, as a preventive measure, periodically check their SSN, not just after they have discovered their credit has been ruined, and they have been stuck with illegals bills, and taxes, and have lost some of their own SS benefits, then:

1. Americans could proactively protect their and their kids' credit and finances from identify theft.
2. Illegals would be quickly discovered, and could be prosecuted and deported by ICE.
3. Most of the alleged mistakes in the SSN database would soon be corrected.
4. There would be far fewer "mismatch" letters for business to deal with.
5. For those SSNs that are fictitious, SSA could be held accountable for advising ICE, again reducing the burden on business.

Easy. But dishonest business wants taxpayer subsidized cheap labor, and politicians want the business PAC money. So Americans have to raise the roof and get this authority. Call your Senators, Congressmen and even state reps and DEMAND a change in the law!

The first entry may be a misdemeanor, but the second is a felony with up to 20 years in jail. We should probably change the law so the first entry is also a felony. In Mexico it is 2 years in jail for the first entry, they use the police and military to go after illegals, are butal as anything, and actually deport more people than the USA.

Wow, so many anti-illegal remarks. I wonder who is buying the government out, cause there is nothing that is being done about this issue. As a Financial Analysts I do a lot of forecasting and analysis of financial statements, internal controls and its effects etc. One thing is for sure is illegal immigration is not curbed in the near future, if we do not bring these people out of the shadow or deport them or at least make them legal. Our nation is going to put a heavy burden on future generations. This are the facts, if you want to know more, read the report by the Heritage Foundation, my only wish is that politicians put the whining and politics aside and come up with a comprehensible solution.