Comments about ‘Immigration reform requires understanding’

We need more voices like Wes Smith guiding us through this immigration debate. Nice to see the topic discussed without the tired old talking points and demagoguery we're so used to seeing.

If this bill passes less illegal immigrants will drive, as a broken tail light, or a missed turn signal may send them back to Mexico. It will be tougher for them to be productive members of the community and therefore will earn less. They will probably commit less crimes. Their children however who are probably citizens will grow up in households which are even less well off and will commit more crime. The illegal immigrant community will be driven underground more so than they are now, and a larger cultural rift will grow between Americans and illegal immigrants. If we do nothing more and more illegal immigrants will move into the state and take advantage of our generous medical care and social systems. The only way to decrease illegal immigration is to stop paying people not to work and allow a free market system determine the price, and amount of labor coming into Utah.

tired of reading and listening about this every single Day!!!
they dont Do Know Harm the Mexicans..We already have the whole United Nations here in USA!!!

It is good go have civil discussion. But Mr. Smith need to be asked if a person is legal why they will not be scared from the state by the enforcement of any immigration laws. Legal immigrants that I have spoken with are tired of having their transition here and status constantly undermined by those that come here illegally. Obviously, we want skilled workers, but the last time I checked our schools are full to the brim with new workers. Lets focus on getting them the skills and pay they need to stay in the state before we recruit for outside help.

Understanding!
learning adjusted with American living learn to read write'more plus stay Bilingual good for you if you know - Differnt Languages!!!!

Yes we have all Differnt Culture here..They live here for Pure living Quality in Venue~

its those that always Break the Law (keep out)

I would love to see a realistic analysis on how this will effect the percent of illegal immigrants moving to Utah, what effect it will have on crime, and how this will effect industry. The progressives will not admit that there is a certain point when the amount of illegal immigrants are driving down the wages of existing immigrants and creating unemployment, putting pressure on social programs and infrastructure, as well as overcrowding schools and hospitals. Many conservatives do not understand that if supply does not equal demand it is impractical to stem the market flow of labor coming into Utah. If we have less social programs, Americans who are unemployed will look for work, the extra work left over will be taken by immigrants, those without work will go home without the means to provide for themselves. The economy however can grow, a large source of cheap labor will attract multinational corporations. We can start to export again and compete with countries such as China and India. We do not need to have a one dimensional service economy, we can produce lower end products as well.

Comprehensive Immigration Reform is a moving target, but I'll try to sum up the main points on the table in DC these days.
1) More border enforcement. Comment: Great idea, but we have been saying this for five years with only about 700 miles of fence to show for it. Not good enough. Also, not effective without some push-back here in the form of mandatory E-verify, worksite raids and deportation of lesser criminals than present.
2) Streamlined processing. Comment: Bad idea. There are 3 million applications in the IN basket at CIS. We now issue 1.1 million green cards a year. That is too many. Streamlining will mean MORE green cards.
3) Family unification. Comment: Bad idea. We need to invite those who will create jobs, not more of the same.
4) Legalization. Comment: Bad idea. We must not reward bad behavior in our shrinking world.

Mr. Smith and the "business before laws" bunch scare me. The Salt Lake Chamber needs to put country before cheap illegal labor.

America's workers have been cheated for 25 years with depressed wages, due to the immigration laws not being enforced. A huge labor force drives down wages artificially and robs every American.

Over many years we have heard the bell and taken things slowly. We have crafted well thought out laws on the Federal level, that are fair to all groups. What we don't have is enforcement on the Federal level. It's time to take the exclusive enforcement away from them, and let all law officers enforce immigration laws, just like we do with Federal drug laws now.

Is it time to start talking truthfully? We are not going to get this mess under control until the Hispanic groups cooperate.

Reform means amnesty to the Hispanics, and apparently the Salt Lake Chamber. We can't afford the trillion dollar costs, nor the next wave of people coming here illegally for the next amnesty.

There is a big difference in immigration and illegal foreign occupation and the latter is most appropriate since non of the mexicans have even bothered to go through the department of immigration. Therefore, they are not immigrants, they are illegal foreign nationals who do not merit or earn any respect of the american people, let alone any amnesty for being criminals. America does not reward criminals now or ever.

Enforcing immigration and border controls are the duty and obligation of every state as evidenced in every war america has been challenged with. We have even met the challenge of many criminals from Mexico in the past with prejudice and now is no different from then. America is not the land of opportunity for criminals from Mexico.

January 2008 = Start of the E-verify Law, and the Stallinesque I.C.E. Deportation/Incarceration Programs, of America's Hardest most Devoted Workers, even away from their "Legal" Citizen Children.

January 2008 = Teh Start of "The Worst Recession in U.S. History".

Figure it out Einstiens!

This Recession didn't just happen!

A very wise 1840's French Historian said: "America is great because it is good, when it ceases to be good, it ceases to be great."


These "Good" Hard Working Immigrants have been here for up to twenty eight years, they are mostly Family units made up of both "Legal" Citizens and un-documented workers.

The Hard labor the Immigrants gladly do for America supports all other American jobs!

Wake up America, we are Far Better than this.

"Let he who is with out sin cast the first stone."
J.C.

C.T.R.

To: Good and Brotherhood, from sea to shining sea.

well, just remember that when the AZ law passed thousands of illegals left the state and headed to California, Washington State, New Mexico and Utah. Do you all know why? Because they issue drivers licenses to illegals; so we reward law breakers. Nice, really nice. "Skilled labor?" Are you serious? And free health care. Yep another reason why Utah/Salt Lake is flooded with illegals. I have a friend who works in one of the hospitals and she is disgusted at the arrogance of these illegals who demand to be taken care of when they are about to give birth. They laugh at the "stupid gringos" and their policy of giving medical attention to them for free and act as if this is their entitlement. Sorry, but if we stop giving free medical care they will leave and they should. We cater to them and they will flock to our cities. What part of "illegal" do our politicians not understand? But of course, it is all about votes and maintaining their power and career.

Immigration laws are created for a reason. If they are not followed chaos will reign. All the excuses as to why they are not good are just that, excuses. We are the most generous country on the earth when it comes to immigration. The question is; how much is enough?

Smith talks about attracting talent and highly skilled workers, but the reality is that we have millions of Mexico's poorest and least educated individuals and their families. Sure, businesses can make a buck by exploiting this cheap labor and driving down labor costs overall, but what about the long term costs to the country, Mr. Smith? You're just another special interest who's selling the country down the river.

If illegal aliens don't like our country's enforcement of existing laws, they should return to their home countries.

How can US citizes respect these illegal alien law-breakers who fraud American citizens on a daily basis?

If you are illegal, undocumented, etc, Go Home!
We are tired of paying the price to subsidize your life here.

It's time too deport illegal's and let them take there kid's with them. I think you're going to see the candidates supported by the tea party as well as millions of other Americans who don’t consider themselves part of the tea party are going to overwhelm the election in November. Voters are clamoring for the right cup of tea, and tea party candidates are just the ones who can serve up the grass-roots conservatism the country needs, says U.S. Sen. Jim DeMint. DeMint also described Majority Leader Harry Reid's plan to tie the DREAM Act to a military authorization bill as a cynical ploy. The summit, which began Thursday and ends Sunday morning, is the fifth annual such gathering of conservative activists and politicians. Sponsors include the legislative arm of the Family Research Council, the legislative wing of the American Family Association, and the Heritage Foundation, among others.

It's real simple here, put it on the November National ballot and let the people deside to deport the illegal's and their kid's, or, keep them here as their pets and suooprt them off of their pay checks and higher taxes. In my opinion, the judicial lawmaking that has been legitimately criticized as judicial activism concerns the interpretation of state and federal constitutions. This kind of judicial action is not reversible by the popularly elected lawmakers and cannot be changed by the sovereign people, except in those unusual circumstances in which a constitutional amendment is feasible. If such judicial action sets aside laws enacted or approved by a direct vote of the people, it offends two fundamentals: separation of powers and popular sovereignty."

The only thing immigration reform requires is:

ENFORCEMENT!


There will be no real reform without it.

Its obvious that an enforcement only solution isn't the way to go. Rarely is there a one size fits all solution with anything in life. To think that enforcement is the best solution is simplistic thinking.

A smarter approach would be to use enforcement with those who are criminals. Those who are hard working don't break serious laws are a benefit to our community and our nation, and should be allowed to continue contributing to our economy. Kicking them out not only hurts them, it also hurts us.

We've tried amnesty and that didn't work.
We've never tried enforcement. Not since the 1986 amnesty. Clinton had his 245i program which drained off the illegal aliens gradually by rewarding their law-breaking. What we have now is de facto amnesty.
We aren't just talking about 11 million people here. We are talking about 165 million people waiting in the wings. In what way is it fair to say that those here are OK, but "no mas"?
Sending people back sends the message that the borders are no longer open for business.
We need many more such messages because the third world isn't getting better.

We have a group of people running our immigration department. They come here through the back door, and when there were enough, they protest for amnesty. This happened back in 1986. (court cases lasted until the late 1990's, 1 million became 3 million).

We were promised it was the last time. Yet the enforcement never came. 1996 saw more protests for amnesty. They brought new laws and some back door dealing by Clinton. We were promised enforcement. But none came.

In 2006 protests hit again for amnesty. They promised enforcement.

This chain of illegal immigration and amnesty has become a back door for some groups to run our immigration quotas in their favor.

It can't continue. Either we give up America's right to control it's immigration, or we enforce the laws.