If you are both interested in my proposals (much more detailed than this discussion will ever be) during the 2007 amnesty bid, there are available on this blog (it was a four part set which did include some redress for current illegal immigrants – look in the June 2007 time frame). Note, however, the posts were very much first drafts (even after posting them there were things I would change).

The Bush immigration plan was a step in the right direction. It wasn’t perfect, but it also wasn’t sitting around doing nothing, which has made the problem worse. I don’t suppot the tricks that congress allows to get things done out of the spotlight, but I do applaud them getting something done. Maybe our western states will have workers to harvest the crops this year.

In this case, the compassionate solution also makes sense economically.

In my opinion, your blog would be more effective if you were less condescending and mean spirited. It is sometimes hard to look past the vitriol. If you are who I think you are, we met once, and you were very nice. I don’t always agree with [redacted], but I am never offended by [them]. Maybe you should take a page from [their] book.

No matter which laws we enact, we will end up with illegal immigrants. Enforcing those laws is not foolish. If the government, would have done it’s job instead of letting the problem fester we wouldn’t be in the mess we’re in. If a labor shortage had ensued, you can bet business (and their lobbyists) would have been barking at Congress to do something (and they would have). Instead, the law was ignored bringing us up to this point.

As far as ID theft goes (this includes much more than illegal immigrants), the portion of the motive would be withdrawn if identity verification is required. Even without that, amnesty will solve the problem for the ID thieves but the victims still hold the bag (you appear to be fine with that and you are entitled to your opinion).

If you think the crimes are a problem due to motivating factors, then there are a lot of crimes we should grant amnesty for. One that comes to mind would be the legalization of currently illegal drugs. I know several groups argue for such, do you also support this? (I’m asking this honestly). What other current crimes would you support providing amnesty/legalization for?

I also believe open borders will hurt Americans. If we don’t know who is entering, we are opening ourselves up to criminals and the like, as well as different labor pools (and remittances) which place a serious drag on the economy.

I would like an answer to the question about attempting to sneak unrelated provisions into bills to get passed typical public discourse.

While I understand that such a tactic may be used by a minority pursuing an issue with major popular support, this isn’t the case here (not even close). The only thing this is achieving is further distrust of Congress (both parties) on this issue, when they should be building up trust in order to hammer out a decent solution.

No one is arguing for making it harder for current victims of ID theft to get their lives back…only for withdrawing the primary factor motivating the majority of id thieves. If you make these people legal there won’t be any further reason for them to be identity thieves. Unless one is being deliberately obtuse this is obvious.

Personally, I vehemently oppose shoving unrelated issues into bills. It only leads to unwanted provisions, such as pork, that would have no chance if openly debated.

Is the ’sneak it past open debate’ tactic ok for you, as long as it is something you support?

Your desire for open borders is up to you – I entirely disagree with such a policy. Part of a nation’s sovereignty is based on controlling who can enter that nation. Under the open borders you would like, particularly when dealing with certain countries and their legal systems, you would have no clue who you were letting in. Further, even with those already here, I hope you are aware that ID theft and doc. fraud are felonies which would disqualify the majority of those who work (or have worked here), by your own rules.

While I do think we need to streamline the immigration process, I still strongly believe we need an effective screening process and blanket amnesty and open borders are not the answer.

If you think current laws governing id theft are meddling, then lets give amnesty to all identity thieves. What other laws do you consider government meddling? Who else should we give amnesty to?

There won’t be anymore unfairness and there won’t be any more incentives for immigrants to steal identities since they’ll be legal.

Why do you automatically assume that the correct answer is more government meddling at every level when, as is usually the case, less government will solve the problem?

I also think it is anything but pragmatic to absolve identity thieves of their crime while letting the victims (frequently children) clean up the mess. Nor do I consider it pragmatic to reward those breaking our immigration laws and turning our backs on others who have followed them.

Amnesty is not a solution to identity theft. The identity theft can be significantly addressed by identity verification provisions. The first step of such was taken in the last State legislative session.

Finally, if the Senate was really on to something, they would have the guts to do it in the open rather than trying to bury their wishes in unrelated bills and the like.