Why People Support Illegal Immigrants

Sorry if I wasn't clear.... I know there are many people who are opposed to illegal immigration too. I guess what I am trying to say is, I understand why people oppose to illegal immigration - because, obviously, it is ILLEGAL. What I do NOT understand is why some people support illegal immigration. And I am trying to find a reasoning behind that.

Some good points.

Some good points

While I cannot agree in the least with illegal immigration, I have heard a few sides of people who do.

In the minds of some people "illegal" immigration shouldn't exist. American is one gigantic "melting pot" and most of us were born in this grand country because somewhere down the gene pool, someone from our ancestry Immigrated to this country.

They feel because of this that America should have more of an "open door" policy.

There are others that just have big hearts and feel it wrong that we American's are doing soooooooo much better than people in other countries thus we should open our doors for these people to come to the land of equal opportunities.

Then there are those who are supportive of illegal immigrants because of the ones that have family here, have made their way here, are trying to start a life, and have children here, and are now suddenly being ripped away from said children and the children are left parentless and hopefully have family here to care for them.

I cannot claim to know the answer, but I don't think we need anything like an open door policy... or even a "knock and come on in" policy.

I think your points have some validity, Selene -- out of sight, out of mind.

However, any measure of public opinion indicates that Americans are overwhelmingly and emotionally against illegal immigration.

Good points , mostly GREED IMO:-(

I honestly feel that those that support illegal immigration want to have a steady supply of cheap labor to depress wages in this country. Americans are some of the hardest working people on planet earth, but they want fair pay and benefits for a days work- I know I do!

If these would be employers were wiling to day decent, then Americans would be lined up around the corner to fill out an application. For an employer illegal labor means increased profits, no union, no worker comp claims, no demands for health insurance, no OSHA complaints, no taxes because you can pay them in cash, and someone that will generally accept a lot of BS that no American or person here legally would stand for. Legal labor is always more expensive so to increase profits employers turn to illegal labor especially if their competition is doing the same thing. Illegal labor is cheap and is heaven for an employer.

It all comes down to the almighty dollar!

Most people are against illegal immigrants but the media usually paints them as the down trodden and makes the bleeding hearts waffle.

You made an excellent point though about people caring only about the things that directly effect them. Of course they always want the other guy to pay for everything as well so.... Selfish indeed.

"American is one gigantic "melting pot" and most of us were born in this grand country because somewhere down the gene pool, someone from our ancestry Immigrated to this country."

I'm not sure if we are a big melting pot any more. It use to be that people were glad to be here and they learned the language and were proud to became Americans. I think that now our melting pot has a few lumps in it. Many cultures come here and they do not want to assimilate. In fact, in some cases I think it's exactly the opposite. They want America to change for them and their language and culture. They won't learn English. They want to fly the Mexican flag above the United States flag. They're only here for the goodies and whatever they can send back to Mexico. At least that's the way I see it.

Sorry if this is off topic. I just wanted to respond to what Melanie S. had posted.

Lera....that is exactly why I am against illegal immigration.....I think it shoud be a crime to be able to fly another flag above the American flag...I think anyone living in the USa should learn English. I know a few people who know it but refuse to speak it. I think that is wrong...way wrong. When I meet people like that..even if I know their laungauge..I refuse to speak to them in anything but English.

thanks for sharing

I had thought that the majority of the Americans "should be" against illegal immigration, but a large number of articles on Gather showed otherwise. I have seen many pro-illegal immigration articles or comments ever since I joined Gather. I was surprised.

I dont think that most of the people on gather that argue for illegals actually support them I think they just like to argue.

Good article.

I think that there is a % of people who feel superior to the rest of the world by being for "the oppressed," just so long as "the oppressed" remain their gardeners and nannies and don't move in next door. These people call themselves progressives or liberals but I don't. There is a % that never had an interest in politics. It is the rest of us who's responsibility it is to be the informed citizens who make their decisions based on reason as the Founding Fathers intended.

BTW do we really need 12 to 20 million illegals to pick our lettuce, as my over educated son tells me?

Seriously, how can illegals even apply for citizenship? Are you talking about now or if the so-called bill now in the Senate is passed. I am very left brained (logical) and somehow illegal /= (doesn't equal) citizen. But then if I was as smart as Kennedy/McCain I'd be a millionaire too!

Does anyone in this forum understand how big the lobby is for Big Bisuness? You want to know what all this is about (Its about the bottom dollar). What is the big companies hiring these Illegals willing to do to make more MONEY? You want to know who is selling this Country to the lowest bidder (Its big bisuness). What big bisuness doesn't understand is that within 20 years we are going to be another 3rd world nation just like Mexico and most of South America. Our Senators are nothing but Puppets with there strings attached to big bisuness.
Now lets talk about what is going to happen with all us pissed off Americans if somehow we get our Senators to pull there heads out and Vote no for Amnesty. Are we going to go back into our status Quoe holes and let this problem go away by ignoring it? The problem doesn't stop at getting our Senators to Vote No on amnesty. Think about the uprising this is going to stir up in the Illegal Imigrant Community and I am not just talking about Hispanic I am talking Red, White, Black, Brown, Olive, Yellow. We are fighting a huge problem and it needs to start being fought by not getting complacent and allowing what has happened over the last 25 years to continue to happen. Enforcement is everything and its not always going to look pretty when we are enforcing the laws that need to be enforced. Next problem is all the bleeding heart liberals that are going to start screaming when they see a Imigration officer putting a Illegal Mother and her kids on a bus and shipping them back to where they come from. Oh they cant do that its inhumane. Maybe our bleeding heart liberals should see the conditions that the governments of the countries these people are coming from and then judge our Imigration officers. Why dont we start looking at our policies regarding where our kids can work. Why is it that my mother and father could work in a field picking cotton and harvesting vegetables but our kids cant. Is it because they might miss some time behind there X-Boxes? We couldn't have that but we can put Illegal Imigrants in the jobs that we wont put our kids in??? Lets stop and think about this problem a little more than what we are. I dont think giving Illegal Imigrants amnesty is the solution to this problem but if we are willing to complain about this problem lets see it to its solution not just yell at our Senators and say thats good enough.

From the statistics I remember reading, most of the crop workers are here legally. A lot of the illegal workers are working in the trades type jobs like construction and some meat packing businesses. These are not low paying jobs that Americans won't do. So, I do not believe that argument.

Jack, I do think that you have a point when you wrote that some people feel superior to the rest of the world by being for "the oppressed". I was in a discussion just a few days a go about immigration where the writer of the article gave me the distinct impression that she felt morally superior to those of us who would like to see the laws enforced.

I also wonder if some of the defenders of the illegals have some feelings of guilt that play a role in their support of them. I'm talking about well to do people feeling guilty because they have so much and the illegal immigrants have so little. Does anyone have any thoughts about that?

Now just how the heck did I miss this article?

I have always thought that the " pro-illegals " are being paid to blog here for either big buisness, political parties, the news media or perhaps Gather itself. Todd L and I were just discussuing this possibility.

Just think about it....Just last week there were pro-illegal immigrant articles all over the place, and neither Todd or I had ever heard of the authors of those articles. Also, all of those articles just happened to be published about the time that the new Immigration Reform Bill was before the Senate...hmmmm

Great article Selene and a good one to debate as well.

What I am curious about is the fact that democrat politicians want amnesty for illegals. They want the future votes and the new victim class to pander to that we are all gong to have to pay for. But all the die hard liberals here are against it. Where is the liberal backbone in this? Where are the marches? Please....all you white liberals might get what you want.....but you aren't included.....

Timothy, remember my article was far from supporting illegal criminals rom being allowed to continue here. Selene, you have made some good points. I think since people are not truly affected, then they are not aware, nor think that there are Legal Americans that are being affected.

Lera - About your last question about the guilt... That was another paragraph I eventually deleted in my article. I decided to talk about one trait at a time. But yes, I do think that some people feel "sympathetic" to the illegals, and "guilt" probably comes with it.

But I don't see people being sympathetic or feeling guilty to a bank robber. No one says, "Oh, that bank robber just wanted to feed his poor wife and kids. Just let him keep the money he robbed, and welcome him back to the bank and pick up some more free money." How about that.

Tim - I don't really think those people are paid to post on Gather... Maybe I am naive. But I have seen pro-illegal arguments ever since I joined (Aug 2006), so I tend to think that they are not part of a big conspiracy. But what do I know?

Now Lets talk about the American Consumer. How many people in this Thread shop at Walmart, Target, Costco, Price Club? Take a look at the tag hanging in the shirt you buy. Where is the compressor you buy built? More than likely your purchasing most of your goods from China,Malaysia, Korea, Mexico or somewhere in South America. Do you understand that the people Slaving to make the Items we buy are getting paid on average about 20 to 30 cents an hour. What are our bisunesses paying for the Items we buy? If they are being made for this amount they cant be buying these Items for top dollar. Yet when I hear that these multi billion dollar companies cant afford to pay there workers Medical Insurance. If you want to fight the good fight lets start making Made in America mean something again. Sure we will have to pay more for things but that means we can ask for quality goods that will last and we wont have to pay for the same Items over and over again. This all means we need to stop supporting the 3rd world nations that are supplying our needs to buy things for cheap. Its easy to look the other way when you dont see the faces of the people who are providing the cheap goods. If we realy want to start fighting the Imigration problems we are having we need to start fighting the battle right here in the companies who are exploiting these third world Imigrants just to bump up there profit margins.
There is another options, we could always completely lower the economic structure of the USA and get on the same playing field as the rest of the world. What if the $750,000 house your setting in was worth $75,000 and the $250,000 house is worth $25,000. Of course the money is worth the same your just getting paid less and we lower the amount for the goods we buy. Would big bisuness alow this to happen? Where would there profit margins go? I would ask that we start looking at what is happening in America. Our jobs are being sent to countries like China, Costa Rica, Mexico. Ask yourself who is to profit from it? Is it the person who is getting laid off here in America? Is it the top dog in the Bisuness that laid the American worker off? Ask yourself how much the worker is willing to work for from these countries and see where the greed starts to come into play. Its not the worker in the other countries its the top dogs in our companies. We as Americans need to stop this visous cycle. What is happening is that the Middle Class Americans are slowly getting cut out to bump up the profit margins (If We dont have to pay there Healthcare, Disability Insurance, pention plans we will make more money).

Selene makes one of the better points I've heard in a while. Out of sight, out of
mind. Well, here's a few suggestions that maybe we could all think about and speak about, and people may get to feel like they ARE being harmed by illegal
immigration.
How about overcrowding ? Schools, hospitals, jails (early release crime ?), roads and highways, stores and parks and recreational facilities ? I went to a fishing pier recently and it was overcrowded. Take away all the Spanish/no English speakers (AKA illegal aliens), and there would have been more room to fish.
Also, I don't care if this sounds "nativist", or whatever they're calling it, but I
feel uncomfortable hearing Spanish all around me. A cultural erosion.
Let's not forget the impact on our overcrowded highways from this unneeded influx of population. And more people using gas, means more demand, means
higher gas prices. I'm also finding lines in stores longer lately. And the stores aren't making more money because they're getting sales from lower waged buyers.
Last, the Dept of Health and Human Services has reported a big increase in diseases which were considered eradicated, in this country, most notably Leprosy.
This is kind of chilling to me, especially when you consider that illegal immigrants
aren't being checked when they enter the US, as legal immigrants do.

Randy..I wasn't talking about your article.

What has never made no sense to be..is when these illegals receive legal status...the goverment thinks this will correct the problem....It didn't the first time. So How can it this time? Secondly, all those illegals when they become legal will go after your job or my husband and push us out. Than who is going to work in the fields or so called jobs us Americans don't want for low pay?......Yeah,...give an insentives for more illegals to start the cycle all over again. It is like goverment is proudly announcing.... Come illegals..it will only be that way a little bit..than everything is yours for the taking..if you haven't already.

Everyone Check out this link.
Be prepared to be sick to your stomach not from graphics just content. Hope all of the Tax Paying Legal Americans see this.

http://www.forthecause.us/media/ftc-video-CNN-AmnestyBillsWorstProvisions_070523.wmv

I have a problem with people coming here illegally and not learning the language. There are parts of Miami that you go into a store such as Walmart and there is no one there that speaks English. I am tired of hearing of their rights when they are here illegally in the first place.

I think that all the people that were given amnesty back in 1986 should have that grant rescinded due to that fact the only part of the amnesty that was actually orchestrated was to give blanket amnesty to 2.7 million people. This was called the IRCA,The Immigration and Reform Control Act. Somehow, someway they forgot the second part------the REFORM CONTROL ACT.

While the business lobby is powerful, you have the greater power. YOU Can let your Senator know how you feel and that this immigration laws must be enforced or you will vote for someone who will enforce them.
Still in America, no one can buy your vote.
You can blog all day long and not have the ijmpact of a strident phone call to your senator's office.

I don't think illegal immigrants take away anyone's job. They are mostly in construction, hotel or farming. Americans in general do not seek for these jobs. I think illegal immigrants are not criminals rather victims who only want to have better life. They get exploited by the big business. I think we should be outraged at the government and the big business for making the situation of Immigration so worse.

Syed,
Everyone wants a better life and, to be hones, most of the world want to live in the USA. Most of those people however, respect law. Those who come here illegally have already demonstrated that they are willing to break laws of their own country and ours. They cannot work without documents so they get fake ones from counterfeit rings who are usually also drug dealers.
It is not the illegal who is exploited...they are making good money, better than in their home country. But employers use the illegals to hold down wages for citizen.
Syed, contruction jobs used to be good union jobs.. A man could support his family with a contruction job. Now the illegals have ruined all that. American minorities suffer the most when illegals come in and compete for jobs with them. It depresses their wages while driving up the oost of living, especially rent.
Syed, your perpective is not at all consistent with reality.

Ron, how do you know that the most of the world wants to live in this country? Have you been following the international media news? Unfortunately, not many foreigners want to visit America or live here anymore.
Being an immigrant, either legal or illegal, is a difficult task. No one wants to leave their home and become a "second" class in a strange land. In other words, no one wants to "dislike" where they come from. But, due to unfortunately incidences, they have to do what they need to, in order to live their lives.
I am not sure if you ever lived in any of the developing (3rd world) countries but... The conditions are different.
I suggest that you try to understand other people, besides your own.