Comments about ‘Solving our problems with ingenuity’

Florez has used the classic left-wing red herring here. He accuses the public of being anti-immigrant, when in truth, the public is anti-law breaker.

No sensible person can deny that this Country needs immigrants to fuel the economy. However, what it needs are LEGAL, not ILLEGAL immigrants.

Turning a blind eye to illegal immigration simply makes it all the more difficult for legal immigrants to enter the country. This unfairly harms immigrants from Africa and Asia who cannot enter the country illegally as easy as others can.

In short, if Florez really has the compassion he claims he does, he will abandon his call for ignoring the law. Only by following the law can all immigrants receive equal treatment.

@John Spring: And you use the classic conservative ploy of claiming to be pro-immigrant but anti-illegal. That's nonsense, because legal immigration is a tiny fraction of all immigration. You speak out both sides of your mouth because on the one hand you want everything legal, and on the other hand you advocate making it tougher to become legal.

To "Invisible Hand | 11:07 a.m. " how is it a conservative ploy to say we want immigration laws obeyed?

How is that speaking "out both sides of your mouth because on the one hand you want everything legal, and on the other hand you advocate making it tougher to become legal." John Charity Spring has not advocated for making things harder, just uniform, like the constitution says they should be.

What the conservatives say is much better than what the liberals say. The liberals tell us that there is no violence along the border, and that securing the border is their top priority. The fact of the matter is that the border is more violent than it has been in a very long time, and the liberals prevent funding to secure the border every chance they get.

Illegal immigration criples our Nation and steals our tax dollars. American's come first, deport illegals. The rich might want to paint, draw, write, compose music, sew, or cook up a new recipe, but with the middleclass and poor is another story, the housing market has not bottomed out yet, more and more people are becoming homeless, there's no jobs out there, prices are skyrocketing everywhere, they can't get their heads above water, they lost everything in 2008 when America crashed, and there's still no light at the end of the tunnel. Then the rich whine about entitlements we ask for. When we had our problem not so long ago, a few years ago, oil was almost $150 a barrel. They're blaming the banks, and the banks were terrible, and lots of other things were terrible, but I give a lot of the credit for the almost collapse of this country to the price of oil. It's going to be up there again very soon and youre going to have another catastrophic problem. Our economy mirrors this chain of events, "To Understand the Future, You Need to Look at the Very Recent Past."

I agree with Florez about there being a double standard with lawmakers blindly turning an eye to law-breaking employers. It is demoralizing that two subsets of society have been getting away with cheating the law for so long (illegal aliens and knowing employers) while the rest of us are expected to follow the rule of law. We all should have to abide by the law, or none of should have to. Remember, the rule of law sustains civilizations.

Rep. Chris Herrod plans to introduce a bill that will deal with the employer side of the issue, Rep. Sandstrom's bill will deal with the illegal immigrant component, and Rep. Karen Mayne's bill will help with the "independent contractor" element of this problem. I support these bills and hope others will too.

I doubt that there are very many people who are truly anti-immigrant and don't know anyone who thinks that way. My family and friends (including quite a number of immigrants from various lands) and I are decent, kind, honorable, respectful, hard-working people who respect the rule of law and wish everyone else would too. We are anti anything illegal, including illegal immigration.

@Redshirt: What constitutes "funding to secure the border"? Billions for a silly fence that is nothing more than an expensive monument to futility?

My biggest problem with the typical conservative attitude on this is that they spend so much energy on an issue that is far less important than the growth of government, welfare state and budget woes. Focus like a laser on the things that matter. Blaming immigration for our problems is counterproductive.

Illegal immigration has dropped dramatically since the recession started. It's supply and demand. Less jobs = less immigrants. No amount of government intervention will change that equation. So enough with the immigrant bashing, and let's do something that matters.

TO "Invisible Hand | 12:48 p.m. " based on the number of people trying to cross the border, the first that should be done is to put more border enforcement people out there. Those people should be armed based on the violence coming in from Mexico.

I am not blaming immigration for our problems. Our current economic problems come primarily from the Government trying to intervene and control capitalism. The other source of our problems comes from peoples ignorance of how wealth is developed.

The problem with thinking like yours is that you are just bailing out the sinking boat, rather than plugging up the hole. Does it really matter if we ship 400,000 illegal immigrants back to their home country if 1 million cross the border.

Plus, the border is more than just an economic issue, it is a security problem too. Just last week a Muslim Cleric named "Said Jaziri" was caught trying to sneak into the US. He is a violent radical musilim cleric. We cannot have an open border if violent people are allowed to get in.

@Redshirt: I fully agree with your statement that our economic problems come from government trying to intervene to control capitalism. But isn't government intervening to tell me whom I can and can't hire an example of that very thing?

I never suggested sending 400,000 people back to their country of origin. That's the worst idea ever put forth regarding immigration. I agree with border security to a point, but the incremental returns for spending vast amounts of money on it are small. And by focusing on this issue we can't concentrate on more important things.

Mr. Florez lives in a world of his own making. In actuality, when there is no law, those who enter this country illegally will be treated as slaves by those who have nothing to loose.

Our laws protect ALL of us. They protect the businessman from other businessmen who were born without morality in their genes. They protect the honest worker who depends on that wages to provide for his family. They protect even the illegal who would come into this country and work for slave wages paid by the businessman who who promise the world but pay cents on the dollar for honest labor.

No person can disrespect law and gain. It cannot happen.

To "Invisible Hand | 2:55 p.m." it wouldn't take "vast amounts of money" to secure our border. The constitution says "To provide for calling forth the Militia to execute the Laws of the Union, suppress Insurrections and repel Invasions;" So, what does border enforcement fall under, executing the laws of the land or repelling invasions of illegal immigrants.

If you take the military members that are already trained, along with military equipment, securing the border is not that difficult or expensive. We are already paying for the military, and the added wear to their vehicles will cost less in the long run than allowing thousands of people to cross the border.

At least in Florida we deport illegsl'd and know whay we are doing. Fla. judge rules health care law unconstitutional.

More drivel from Florez. Why doesn't the DN just print last weeks article or the one before that? They are all the same,,, illegals are victims and we are all evil for enforcing the law. Same old, same old. Next week we will get another batch of nonsense from him,old wine new bottle.Nobody is buying the baloney you are selling John, face it for once.

This is the 4th article that I have read in the DN. Illegal immigration must be an important issue. Or is the DN trying to soften us to their view that we must have some sort of amnesty

As a teacher I learned that the best way to create bad behavior was to tolerate it.

There are three bills presently before the legislature
HB-170 by Rep Sandstorm Illegal Alien Enforcement Act, similar to the AZ bill

HB-253 by Rep Herrod If passed and enforce would make it very difficult for illegal aliens to get a job.

HB191 by Rep Wimmier Would deny illegal aliens from receiving taxpayer instate tuition, allowing about $5.5 million to go to the education of our own citizens

Are bills such as this the reason the DN seems to be in a panic?