[memyselfI]

Originally Posted by jspchief

I don't believe that. Not even close to half.

I'm not normally the type to demand links, but in this case I have to call BS unless you have something that supports the statement. And I seriously doubt something like that exists.

There are estimated millions that come to this country illegally each year. For your "half" stayement to be true, that would mean that we allow millions of non-citizens into this country each year too, and that an equal number of them actually stay illegally. I don't think so.

Of course you don't want to believe it...

50 year old college professors from Ireland don't make the same kind of impact as a poster child as do 'person of Hispanic heritages' who swim rivers and climb walls...

but it's true.

The problem is you were restating my point as being half of all illegal people NOW entering the country are doing so while legal. That is not what I said. My point was that there are people here who've been here anywhere from 1 month to 40 years who were initally legal and never left when their visa expired. That is an enormous time span impacting literally millions of people.

Of course to know this you have to accept that not all illegal aliens are criminals to start with...something that some people don't want to admit. They'd rather lump everyone into one category and feel like they've fairly addressed the problem.

As far as Mr. Kotter's poll, there is a fundamental problem with having to prove your employment status. Many people are not working legally because it's illegal to do so. And which of their employers are going to step up and vouge for them and say 'yes, I've employed Jose for 15 years, where do I send the check for my fine?'