America has never been wide open to everyone who wanted to come here -- at least not since the Civil War (when even states had immigration laws). As was said, you had to have a sponsor or the financial means to support yourself; you could not be carrying a communicable disease. There was and is a quota system for each nation/region as to how may immigrants are allowed to come to America. Political asylum is left for those who have something to offer America, rarely the common man.

Immigration laws banning certain people deemed undesirable (originally, Chinese railroad laborers) were implemented in the 1870s (causing the first run of illegal immigrants). Laws before then were actually more about deporting undesirables and obtaining American citizenship than any sort of limits as to who could come to the U.S.

In reality, Lady Liberty's poem was always just that -- a poem. It was never meant to be taken literally. The Statue of Liberty began being built in 1875 -- after our first laws prohibiting Chinese laborers. Rather made it a sad farce, didn't it?

Personally, I don't mind an open-door policy. I do mind forcing taxpayers to support those coming in. Come to America, find a job, pay taxes, make this your home (not just a way to make money with the plan to leave here as soon as you've earned enough money). Learn English (no ESL in schools or elsewhere). Become an American citizen. Love this country as much as we do. Those that come with those goals, whether arriving legally or illegally, are welcome in my mind.

The Facts Are.....................
 

1. You quote a portion of a sonnet written by Emma Lazarus, a then-popular poet who contributed a hand-written copy of the poem to an auction as part of a fund raising campaign to get the funds to build the base of the statue. The government did not fund building the base upon which the statue, a gift from the people of France, was to be placed.

2. Friends of the poet later raised money for a bronze plaque to be installed inside the monument to commemorate her fund raising effort. The plaque included the sonnet. It was not, and is not official government policy.

3. This is not the only plaque on the statue. Among others, the cornerstone also bears a plaque placed by the Freemasons.

4. The "golden door" beside which Lady Liberty lifts her torch is the LEGAL FRONT DOOR, not an illegal back door.

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Bingo, redwitch. Bingo.

I have no problem with what Lady Liberty stands for or her inscription. When my mother came here she had to learn ENGLISH and the forms you had to fill out were only in ENGLISH and ENGLISH was the only language. Are you following my drift?

Imagine there's no heaven
It's easy if you try
No hell below us
Above us only sky
Imagine all the people
Living for today...

Imagine there's no countries
It isn't hard to do
Nothing to kill or die for
And no religion too
Imagine all the people
Living life in peace...

You may say I'm a dreamer
But I'm not the only one
I hope someday you'll join us
And the world will be as one

Imagine no possessions
I wonder if you can
No need for greed or hunger
A brotherhood of man
Imagine all the people
Sharing all the world...

You may say I'm a dreamer
But I'm not the only one
I hope someday you'll join us
And the world will live as one

Wouldn't this be great! No wars. No IRA bombs! No Vietnam! No Korea! People crossing countries like states and living as one! Unfortunately this will not happen in our lifetime.

Imagining Nonsense
 

The fool says in his heart, "There is no God." Psalm 14:1

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Totally agree. From what I have been told by some workers in some area of immigration--even the workers who used to come into this country to work on farms and to help pick various fruits and vegetables have learned that it is much easier to apply for every kind of assistance. So all of a sudden, the people who needed help on their farms, etc, no longer have any help. So they want to bring in more farm workers. The new workers also get here and are told all about "free everything" without the hard work. Are you seeing a pattern??? These are not just my thoughts, but people from the immigration services. I personally have heard it from pregnant patients who came to this country on a birth vacation solely to have their babies become citizens, They are given instructions on where to apply and what to say to get on all available assistance. They were very open and even proud of what they were doing. I don't have any children, but I really do feel very, very sorry for all the innocent children in many of the countries, although I think they are finding out that not all of these "children" are even actually children-saw a newspaper article about a "child" up north who tried applying to a school. This child has grey hair, looks very much like an adult, but without documentation???? The children I rally feel sorry for though are your children, and your grandchildren. Who will help them? I don't care who you are, you can't deny that this country is already in deep financial trouble, and a lot of even middle aged adults today don't have the savings we were very fortunate to put aside. Of course, that's going to go too with cuts in Medicare, SS, and increases in foods, drugs, insurances, etc. That's all from me. I am sure many will disagree with me, but we are all entitled to our own opinions.

I can't believe some people think lots ok to enter our country illegally ,if they plan to work.Do you cherry pick laws that you will abide by?
Would it be ok, if they took over your house, because they need a place to live and they intend to work
There is a right way to do things and no one who comes into this country illegally should be entitled to anything
We have to take care of our own legal citizens first
Debbie

1. Change the law, as mentioned earlier....the law that was passed by with all good intentions that has had unintended consequences and is the opening that is causing the immediate problem. Either by edict, as we are known to do, or by a few phone calls forgetting what votes we get or lose in the process.

2. Announce to those countries loud and clear that everyone is welcome if they follow the law, and do it loudly.

That is the short term that is causing the problem.

This is a welcoming and tolerant and giving country, but once it becomes a matter of simply pushing and shoving with no respect shown for our country and our laws, there has to be action instead of words.


All of this was mentioned previously in this thread.

I wish that more people would read the history of the US concerning immigration. The US only let in immigrants when it saw a need for them. Yes, we are country of immigrants, legal immigrants. I consider myself very lucky.

It appears to me that most of our posters still support immigration facilitated by a rational(enforced) policy.

What do we do about the unaccompanied children?

How painful it must be for their parents to send them for 100-1000s of miles to escape the brutality of their situations. Do they truly qualify as "refugees"

Are the actions of their parents truly motivated by love as suggested by Jeb Bush?

Seems to me that very few are concerned about the country which is facilitating this invasion of illegals. That is Mexico which allows for the free passage from border to border. While we put sanctions on other countries for misdeeds, there is none that I am aware of on Mexico. There should be major issues worked on by our country to stop the flow and that means getting Mexico to take action.

For starters we could enforce the rules and laws on the books. These are deemed unacceptable to current politicians who have other objectives in mind.

We could easily just adopt the rules and laws that Mexico has in place for immigration into their country. The single biggest difference is they do in fact enforce the existing laws.

As long as this subject remains a political issue it will never be resolved.
As long as we the people continue to stand by and let the government do as they please without fear of retribution or loss of election the issue of immigration will never be resolved.

Until such time as a terrorist action leading to the deaths of American citizens is linked to the open border, the immigration issue will never be resolved.

And when legal Americans finally become the minority.....I guess that will be too late....eh?

My post is not meant to be political .............. however, until we have term limits on politicians and they can no longer make being an elected official their business for life, there will be no changes to anything!

I'm interested in your opinion. Since we are now taking in more people than ever do you think that it has been revoked?

I somehow sense that you posted this with the huge influx of people coming here illegally being prevented from entering, being turned away and apprehended when found in the country.

What is your position? Would you have no laws or regulations for people entering our country? Would you not regulate who is a citizen? How exactly would you handle immigration?