Ok, speaking as a legal immigrant to the USA, the process is indeed a beauracratic pain in the neck that involves driving to cities you don't live near, getting photographed and finger-printed, filling out and filing form after form, and paying large fees for the privilege. But it isn't impossible.
I'll admit that on occasion, I've been frustrated by the hoops I have to jump through in order to live here, but on reflection if I pile up all the benefits that the privilege of living in the United States has afforded me against those inconveniences, it is literally like comparing a mountain to a mole-hill.
I also recognize that the freedoms that I have here, were (as the cliche puts it) not free and it wasn't my or my family's blood, sweat, and tears that purchased them and accordingly I have a responsibility to view living here as a gift rather than something I have earned or have an inherent right to. To merely cut a hole in a fence and walk in, would neither be right, legal, nor respectful. It wouldn't be very different from my breaking into my neighbor's house, and claiming a right to one of his bedrooms, and then arguing that although I wasn't invited, that I entered illegally, and that I and mine did nothing to pay for the house, that I should be allowed to stay because I am willing to do some of the chores his son moans about, like taking the trash out for a cut of his allowance.
Anyway, just a few thoughts regarding the practical implications of illegal immigration:
1) Many illegals do indeed vote. Motor-voter laws make it incredibly easy to register without proof of citizenship. On several occasions I have been solicited by the volunteers at the DMV to register to vote. The only proof necessary to do so would have been the drivers license I already had and a willingness to swear to a falsehood. I have met "resident aliens" (on Greencards like myself) who are registered and do vote illegally.
2) While many illegals pay S.S. via bogus numbers, an even greater number pay no taxes whatsoever because they are paid as day-laborers under the table. Many of them take advantage of public services such as schools and various public programs.
By far the worst effect of this trend however is on hospitals. Emergency rooms are legally obligated to treat all people regardless of their insurance status, illegals know this and have taken advantage of it. As a result, in many areas where there is a high illegal immigrant population, hospitals have been forced to shut down because of mounting debts. This endangers the entire community.
3) The largest growth sector for the American prison population is illegal immigrants. At present Illegals make up over 29 percent of prisoners in Federal Bureau of Prisons facilities. This population is actually growing faster than the rate of illegal immigration, largely fueled by the fact that drug trafficking in the USA is much more lucrative than laboring - at present over 72,000 illegals are arrested annually on drug trafficking charges.
In any event, the question really boils down to get serious or give up. Either accept that the south western states are going to become part of Latin America, and eventually look politically, economically, and culturally very like those societies, or close the borders and deport the illegals. Half-measures are never going to solve the problem. Your answer I suppose will depend on which future you would prefer. Having visited Mexico, South and Central America a number of times, I would personally prefer if our society didn't look like theirs, but I'll endure either way.
- SEAGOON
