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Didn't Ronald Reagan do exactly that back in the 80's?

It was The Immigration Reform and Control Act (IRCA), also Simpson-Mazzoli Act (Pub.L. 99-603, 100 Stat. 3359, signed by President Ronald Reagan on November 6, 1986) is an Act of Congress which reformed United States immigration law. The Act made it illegal to knowingly hire or recruit illegal immigrants (immigrants who do not possess lawful work authorization), required employers to attest to their employees' immigration status, and granted amnesty to certain illegal immigrants who entered the United States before January 1, 1982 and had resided there continuously. The Act also granted a path towards legalization to certain agricultural seasonal workers and immigrants who had been continuously and illegally present in the United States since January 1, 1982.[1
Wikapedia

It didn't work then and it won't work now!

For what it's worth....
it was lime-aid....

I don't believe in imprisoning illegals.
All immigrants- temp or aspiring Americans should have green or id cards.
This would allow driver licenses and taxation. It would also allow schooling and health care. If you make America a place where people WANT to be Americans- we will be better off.

the illegal immigrant problem is huge.

the solution is simple

any corporation or person who hires an illegal immigrant is subject to a $10,000 fine for each occurrence

a few examples:

walmart - westboro mass had illegals cleaning the store - most likely for years.

mitt romney- had illegals mowing his lawn - probably for years

these types of things are going on all over the country

when the under the table - illegal immigrant jobs go away - so do the illegals

but

big business' (like walmart) and agriculture love illegal immigrants

have you ever employed anyone and had to go through all the bullshit ie:
fed tax - 941 reporting
state tax - wage reporting
state unemployment
fed unemployment
workers comp
general liability

you have none of that with under the table - illegal immigrants

the solution should not include rewarding criminals as you suggest but punishing them!

I agree with Bob A., our current lifestyle in the US is dependent upon lower wages earned by undocumented workers and the big corporations that hire them.

Perhaps the plan should also include reevaluating trade deals with foreign countries that do not have the same standards for workers and the environment as we do. Most immigrants who enter the country illegally are leaving desperate situations behind in their home countries. Spreading democracy as well as the rights earned by workers in this country both need to be vigorously exported, but as long as agribusiness and Walmart are making dough and have control of congress, why would the administration do anything to go after the root causes of the problems?

Our grandfathers WANTED to become Americans. Illegals now want all the benefits of being American without the responsibility. There is no assimilation into our culture-press 2 for spanish. The problem is as much about illegals already here as those soon to come. Becoming American is more than a laminated free health card.

Danielle,
Wal-Mart does not hire illegal. Companies that are contracted clean their stores. It was them (the Contractors) not Wal-Mart that was employing Illegal Aliens. There is nothing wrong with Immigration, it must however be controlled and quotas adhered to or you get the problems we have now.
Ellen

Ellen

how convenient to say walmart does not hire illegal aliens

they were contracted

such bullshit

like mitt didn't know who was mowing his lawn

more bullshit

I don't recall saying I had a problem with immigrants. I don't. What I do believe is that our way of life has become dependent upon a group of desperate people working in a low wage hell without rights, security or benefits and that many businesses that lobby Congress have a vested interest in keeping them that way.

I have thought about this for a long time and over the years my thoughts have changed a bit. i once thought we should send any and all illegals back to where they came from period, end of story. But the reality is they will for the most part never be deported so they should be allowed to stay. the only thing I would say as an add to the above proposed regulations is i dont think the ones who have committed crimes while here illegally or in their own countries should be alowed to stay. I also think that after they are here for a while they should be tracked to make sure that they have assimilated and are working, productive members of society and not riding in the wagon instead of pulling it. In all fairness to them we have too many so called citizens who drain the system as it is, who will never be deported so that may seem unfair but lucky for them they were born here. The main problem is that the congressman who are in a position to make policy are focussing on the politicla gains, instead of the issue itself, democrats are accused of wanting illegals all here benefiting from social entitlement programs, so they win their votes for life. republicans want them all deported so that they can go back to their districts and win the hearts of the right wingers that vote for them. Its a classic case of they are so busy trying to keep their jobs, they forget to do their jobs. Peole should write their representatives and tell them to act on immigration policy. The President should call for action sooner rather then later so that he still has enough political capital to spend on it and if he waits too long he might not have the "coat tails" he has now

Bob:

your throwing grenades up in the air with regards to who had illegals doing what and where. The fact is when a business such as walmart hires a sub-contractor, the subcontractor must fill out an I-9 form stating that they and all their employees are legal with regards to their immigration status(whether they sign that form under fraudulant basis or not isnt the responsibility of walmart), they must also provide a copy of their workers comp policy and their general liability policy. there is now a program called E-verify that businesses such as mine use to check the status of a persons citizenship and there was a group of party politicians who wanted that to be federal law and it was shot down by the other party. if a company like walmart subcontracts to someone for lets say $50,000 a year to a company without those insurance coverages, walmarts insurance company will fine walmart triple the value of the amount that they subcontracted. so to insinuate that walmart, or any other "legitimate" business is doing that to save money is bogus because it will no doubt be picked up during the annual insurance audit and the fines far out weigh the cost savings of that. The fact is that it is often immigrants who run businesses such as cleaning companies or construction companies that hire and exploit illegal immigrants. also do people seriously believe that walmart is evil? they seem to hire more people with disabilities than any other retailer that i know of. we should move the debate forward and looking back to assign blame is not going to do that, it will however guarentee that the problem doesnt get solved anytime soon