There was a time.

[redguard57]

Prior to 1924 these were the immigration laws:

You are free to enter the U.S. if...
1) You undergo a medical screening and are deemed healthy
2) You have no record as a political subversive (do not want to overthrow the United States)
3) You can pay for the passage to the U.S. in order to get checked for the first two.
4) You are not Chinese.

Prior to 1883, eliminate #4.

Those were easy rules to abide by. It's a lot more complicated now.

[Costaexpress]

Originally Posted by Yeledaf

Both sides (and we know who they are) have to bear the responsibility for the passive response to illegal immigration from the south.

One side, as posters above have referenced, saw early on the possibility of creating masses of partisan voters as wave after wave of immigrants entered the country illegally, established themselves, and were granted amnesty. This is about to occur again, in a major way, and the politicians on that side are fully expecting to benefit for decades to come as the gratitude of the new citizens expresses itself in votes.

The other side needed a source of cheap labor to keep costs down and profits up. They were (and are) secretly delighted with the state of things, while pretending to be outraged at the wholesale flouting of our immigration laws. Not only do they have virtually unlimited access to sub-minimum wage labor; they also have a bludgeon to depress wages for all unskilled workers in the US.

It is wrong to place the blame for the situation on the illegals who have come here to better themselves and their families. Who among us, faced with the same hardships, dangers, and lack of opportunities in their home countries, would not have done the same? And the claim of others, most notably Mr.Trump, that illegals are bloodthirsty drug-running criminals, ignores the fact that were it not for the voracious demand for narcotics that exists in the US, such illegal trafficking would not exist.

We now have a fait accompli on our hands. Our country is undergoing a transformation to a dual-cultural, dual-lingual nation. That this is happening without our having had a national conversation or a plan for the unprecedented influx of people from Latin America is indicative of both naked greed and the relative ignorance of all Americans -- our political leaders, our business executives, and the general public -- of what national identity means and how a constitutional republic needs to work.

As has so often been the case with post-World War II America, we are moving forward blindly, having forgotten to open our eyes and prepare for the future.

I agree with most of these, but with some variations. First, it's not just the other side that wants to keep costs down and profits up. That is shared by both sides. In other words, the Democratic Party and the Google rich capitalist liberals want to keep costs down and profits up, while potentially harvesting political votes in the future. They get the best of both worlds. They are the biggest hypocritical elephant in the room. They want partisan interests well above national and public interests. They want ever more greed while pretending to criticize it and secretly negotiating a new trade agreement. They destroy the middle class and its path to prosperity. They make it harder for low income people and minorities while singing the social justice song.

Don't get me wrong. The republicans aren't any different. But I find the political left a marriage between the worst of capitalism and the most superficial socialist vocabulary. This is what hypocrisy is meant to describe.

But we might note that all of these can happen, not solely due to the collapse of political ethics on Both sides, if there are even two sides, but due to the ignorance and indifference of the American people. This wouldn't have happened had Americans took to the streets the way they did on the Vietnam draft. But Americans disagree on these issues. There is no public consensus. Even among liberals, views on immigration differ significantly. Much of this is the constant mainstreaming of the media, the business community, and the political parties. People are confused.

I would even put it this way. Think about it. The republicans know that immigration in general is good for cheapening labor and increasing profit. They do it with that purpose in mind. But hey, when they oppose immigration, especially illegal immigration, do they ever point out the economic argument. In fact, if they do, they would get support from much of the left, including unions. But they don't mention it, consciously. They are not trying to reduce illegal immigration. If they do, they would do it much more effectively. They use racist language to please social conservatives. They know those on the left would be immediately turned off by it. Thus, a divide in the population has been created. The real goal, and let's be honest here, is to delay the discussion of immigration, while illegal immigration continues rampantly. A divide in the population will serve that purpose. I wouldn't be surprised if the democrats are in this too. This isn't much of a conspiracy theory. It's just common dirty politics.