So there's this debate on what to do about immigration. Some want to let everyone in, others want to shoot every brown thing that moves. I'm with the former. This nation was founded by immigrants, built by immigrants, and ultimately populated by immigrants. We let white people in from Poland, Italy, and others by the boatload, but now that brown people want in, all of a sudden we need to "secure our borders." It disgusts me as a citizen of a nation that was built on the belief that all are created equal, and all should be welcomed with open arms.

If they can pass a medical examination, why not?

Daft, much? We're not trying to shut off immigration as a whole. We're trying to reduce ILLEGAL immigration. We have legal immigration procedures for a reason. You can't just have people wandering into the country, settling down, and taking a slice of the American pie in a, for lack of a better term, clandestine fashion.

As for immigration itself, we're addressing the symptoms and not the cause. The real problem at hand is that the path to becoming a legal citizen is an arduous and unrealistic one. If you've ever seen a real citizenship test, it's full of trivia that really doesn't matter in terms of being an American citizen.

However, there is one issue that probably cannot be resolved in a simple fashion: learning English. If you go to France, you speak French. If you go to Russia, you speak Russian. Yet, if you go to America, you speak whatever you darn well want to because apparently America is the sole country where it's just too much to ask new citizens to speak the freaking language. This is only speculation, but I'd bet the whole "learn English" thing is a contributing factor to illegal immigration. Which does mean we'd still need to secure our borders.

I don't have a problem with immigration in principle, but what I do have a problem with is immigrants who aren't willing to learn our language. You can go with whatever weird cultural practices you want, but you need to be able to communicate with the people who live here, without expecting them to cater to you.

Precisely. Anyone who cannot speak English should be denied American citizenship. If they want to live here, they can learn.

That would be great, except English isn't the national language on account of we don't have one.

It's the most common one, so everybody should be expected to know it. That is, of course, quite reasonable.

A large percentage of America actually does speak Spanish, 10% according to the CIA. That's 31 million people, so I think it's unrealistic to demand that they all speak English too. 31 million people is more than enough to be able to survive by themselves in a community.

But since it's America, they belong to the American community, not the Separatist Spanish community.

America != English.

America is a melting pot of different cultures and ethnicities. If you look, there is a hub for every culture on earth.

Just because English is the most spoken language doesn't mean that it should be a requirement, it is possible to get around just speaking Spanish or Korean or Klingon, or whatever and get around just fine.

Also, separatist? Where the hell did that come from? o.O

It's the language of our legal system. If you don't understand it, you're going to have a hard time doing things like....following American laws, knowing your rights, and making court appearances.


http://www.nbcbayarea.com/news/local-beat/Students-Wearing-American-Flag-Shirts-Sent-Home-92945969.html

That's great, except the people shouting "SECURE THE BORDER" are the same people who made the immigration system as bad as it is, the sole purpose of which is to deny people access to this country because they look different from us. Arizona's new anti-immigration law is a sterling example of that line of thinking.

Proof? Sources?


It's radical, but it's not born from racism (or whatever you want to call it). We're dealing with illegal Hispanic immigrants. Which means we need to profile for Hispanics. So what if some "Kosher" people get detained falsely? There's worse things that can happen to a person. Buck up and deal with it. If you're Hispanic and feel wronged by this, blame Mexico. Even if the immigration system is FUBAR'd, it still works. We *have* legal immigrants so it's the fault of the immigrants themselves if they won't take the time to work their way through it.

Your ignorance astounds me. People are only "Illegal" because our broken system MADE THEM "ILLEGAL". People don't just hop your fence unless there's something wrong with the gate. Fix the fucking gate. I can't believe we're back to this. Hitler did the same thing 70 years ago, changing the rules to make a group of people (jews) second-class citizens, so he could label them, round them up, and get rid of them. Granted, we likely won't be sending "illegals" to death camps, but we're on the same track, and I fundamentally disagree with it.

As for my previous sources, it was what I could remember from Elementary School Social Studies. After looking it up, I was sort of right, but had the year wrong(been years since I was in those classes):

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_United_States_immigration_laws

If you read up on it, you'll find that the quota system that restricts immigration to this day was first introduced by Republicans. Hell, if you go back even further, you'll find that our whole system of immigration was born from racism against the Chinese in the 1880s, again, by Republicans.

It is entirely different. The Jews were either LEGAL immigrants or had lived in the country for generations. Also, no one is making Mexicans out to be second-class. I know some hard-working, respectable Hispanics (who are here LEGALLY). Mexicans are just as human as any Caucasian. But we do have a right to set rules for entrance to our country, as long as those rules are democratically enacted and popularly supported.

Besides, it's a device to improve national security.

Absolutely not. That is an *extremely* dangerous precedent that goes against everything this country stands for.

@me2labs: This has nothing to do with national security.

Elfprince:
http://www.cato.org/pubs/constitution/constitution_en.html

Looks like it's in Spanish.

That is only a translation of the constitution. First, that translation isn't what the legal system uses, so your SOL if it is a bad translation. Second, the constitution isn't the only set of laws.

Isn't USA official language English only?

Federal Goverment, maybe but local governments may vary. We get voting ballots where I live in English, Spanish, Cantonese & Chinese. Usually one ballot devoted to each language but sometimes they squeeze all four or more languages onto one.