Growing through immigration beats shrinking

[Calypso 464]

Well in my opinion they do risk their lives out there, and from what I've read their hands are tied somewhat in responding to drug traffickers etc.

by using "but" he's implying they aren't heros because they aren't stopping illegal immigration. Don't blame the person on the ground doing his best with what he has, blame the person in Congress for caving to special interests and latino votes.

You got my point accurately except that I am not a "he."

All right. Maybe I should change my opinion about the Border Patrol.

[Usui Takumi 1,562]

You got my point accurately except that I am not a "he."

All right. Maybe I should change my opinion about the Border Patrol.

That was sexist of me to assume you were a man, I'm sorry!

[scandal 951]

I actually posted this article on VJ last year when it first came out, but since it seems topical to the current thread, I thought I'd repost it here.

Greenspan Says Illegal Immigration Aids U.S. Economy

By Nicholas Johnston

April 30 (Bloomberg) -- Former Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan said that illegal immigration makes a “significant” contribution to U.S. economic growth by providing a flexible workforce.

Greenspan, appearing before a Senate subcommittee today, said illegal immigrants provide a “safety valve” as demand for workers rises and falls.

“There is little doubt that unauthorized, that is, illegal, immigration has made a significant contribution to the growth of our economy,” Greenspan said. An overhaul of U.S. immigration laws is “badly needed” to create legal avenues for skilled and unskilled workers to enter the country legally, he said.

“Our immigration laws must be reformed and brought up to date,” Greenspan told the Senate Judiciary Subcommittee on Immigration, Refugees and Border Security.

Congress is beginning hearings on an overhaul of U.S. immigration policies, a legislative priority of President Barack Obama. The Senate blocked legislation in 2007 that would have given an estimated 12 million illegal immigrants a way to earn legal status and would have created a new guest-worker program, a measure supported by then-President George W. Bush.

Obama again endorsed an overhaul of U.S. immigration laws during a prime-time news conference last night and said he will soon convene working groups with lawmakers “to start looking at a framework of how this legislation might be shaped.”

“No one is happy with our current system,” New York Democrat Chuck Schumer, the subcommittee’s chairman, said as the hearing began. “There is a recognition in America that the status quo is not working.”

A key sticking point during the last immigration debate was how to treat the millions of immigrants who are in the country illegally.

Opponents said giving them a path to legal status rewards people who broke the law. They also argued that low-skilled immigrant workers suppress wages for U.S. workers and burden local governments with demands for services. Greenspan dismissed those concerns.

“Economists generally view the overall economic benefits of this workforce as significantly outweighing the costs,” he said.

Greenspan also endorsed an expansion of the H-1B visa program for skilled workers that is backed by technology companies such as Microsoft Corp. and Intel Corp.

The 2007 legislation would have increased the size of the program to 115,000 annual visas, up from 65,000.

Greenspan said U.S. schools don’t produce enough skilled workers and the gap must be filled with immigrants who have advanced degrees.

“If we are to continue to engage the world and enhance our standards of living, we will have to either markedly improve our elementary and secondary education or lower our barriers to skilled immigrants,” Greenspan said.

Schumer and Senator Jon Kyl, an Arizona Republican, cautioned that it will remain difficult to reach agreement on the immigration issue. Texas Republican John Cornyn said the Senate devoted 36 days of floor consideration during the last debate to no avail.

“This will be very, very hard to do,” Schumer said. “Make no mistake, this will not be an easy task.”

To contact the reporter on this story: Nicholas Johnston in Washington at njohnston3@bloomberg.net

[Calypso 464]

That was sexist of me to assume you were a man, I'm sorry!

No problem.

I began having this negative opinion about the CBP when I watched a few shows on History.com featuring gang-related crimes in Arizona and Texas that got worsen by illegal entrants specifically those who were from Mexico. I was thinking that if the Border Patrol has done an effective job, those drug trafficking illegal aliens wouldn't be in the U.S. in the first place to infiltrate notorious gangs.

[w¡n9Nµ7 §£@¥€r 123]

No problem.

I began having this negative opinion about the CBP when I watched a few shows on History.com featuring gang-related crimes in Arizona and Texas that got worsen by illegal entrants specifically those who were from Mexico. I was thinking that if the Border Patrol has done an effective job, those drug trafficking illegal aliens wouldn't be in the U.S. in the first place to infiltrate notorious gangs.

they are underfunded.

[Calypso 464]

they are underfunded.

I faltered to consider that. I really should be changing my impressions on things by weighing them properly.

[w¡n9Nµ7 §£@¥€r 123]

I faltered to consider that. I really should be changing my impressions on things by weighing them properly.

you're human.

[one...two...tree 2,762]

i abhor journalists who mistakenly use 'immigrants' in lieu of 'illegal aliens' .

F*cktards.

The legal status of immigrants has no bearing on the data and why would it?

[Darnell 8,479]

The legal status of immigrants has no bearing on the data and why would it?

Really? Counting an illegal alien's child is not the same as counting an immigrant's child.

If you can't see that, I'm sorry, there's no Venn Diagram available to explain it to you.

[Calypso 464]

you're human.

I have been living in the U.S. for three months and one day. One of the things that relate to the government and affects me directly at the same time are taxes. I've seen my husband's pay stubs and it seems like half of it goes to taxes, different forms of taxes, making the final pay go down from five digits to four digits each month.

I sometimes read some Off Topic posts and it makes me think that perhaps the U.S. government isn't any different from the Philippine government.

[w¡n9Nµ7 §£@¥€r 123]

I have been living in the U.S. for three months and one day. One of the things that relate to the government and affects me directly at the same time are taxes. I've seen my husband's pay stubs and it seems like half of it goes to taxes, different forms of taxes, making the final pay go down from five digits to four digits each month.

I sometimes read some Off Topic posts and it makes me think that perhaps the U.S. government isn't any different from the Philippine government.

half? yeah right.

[scandal 951]

Really? Counting an illegal alien's child is not the same as counting an immigrant's child.

If you can't see that, I'm sorry, there's no Venn Diagram available to explain it to you.

Refer to Greenspan views, just above. To wit:

“There is little doubt that unauthorized, that is, illegal, immigration has made a significant contribution to the growth of our economy,” Greenspan said.

Steve is quite right. The economic effects of people living in this country: producing, consuming, being gainfully occupied - matters not a whit if they are here under legal or illegal status.

That is not to condone illegal immigration. I abhor it and think the laws should be fully enforced. It makes a mockery of the law when it is widely ignored and broached.

I am in favor of immigration reform, and of larger immigration quotas that reflect the reality of the pressures of those who want to enter the country, and the benefit we achieve when our economy grows more strongly through immigration.

[w¡n9Nµ7 §£@¥€r 123]

it is not simply enough to respect the law

law breakers must also be dehumanized and their contributions minimized

our rage demands nothing less

[scandal 951]

it is not simply enough to respect the law

law breakers must also be dehumanized and their contributions minimized

our rage demands nothing less

Perhaps we can reintroduce the Inquisition?

Maybe some tar-and-feathering, draw-and-quartering are in order.

[Calypso 464]

half? yeah right.

Almost half... federal income tax, social security tax, CA state income tax, CA SUI/SDI tax... and perhaps more.