Quote from ElectricSavant:
I do not know one illegal that makes less than minimum wage....I just do not get around I guess...
What do we do with them when they retire?
By the way this is not a racist comment. I have always stated this is about legal and illegal...and nothing else..
We are a land of LEGAL immigrants flying the American Flag and singing the American star spangled banner...IN ENGLISH
Michael B.
I know several
LEGAL immigrants who, because they speak broken english, work for about $4 - $5 per hour. Though I should say that they're all related, and they perform contracted labor on a per job basis, which often results in sub-$5 per hour pay.
To further elaborate on immigrant workers, I don't think they should be legal citizens. It should be like a gym pass, you sign up for X amount of months, and if you don't renew (by proving you are employed and have paid taxes) you can't use the gym. Pretty simple. They're not legal citizens, but would be entitled to many of the rights an American worker has, but not entitled to the rights American citizens have. Everyone should be allowed to receive Emergency treatment, but they shouldn't be entitled to any government assistance. As far as retirement, they should be allowed to attain personal retirement plans, but not entitled to social security. Immigrant workers should also have some type of clause that says after 10 years or so of full-time work in the US as a migrant worker, you could then go through the naturalization process. Then, they could be considered a legal immigrant. Furthermore, if a worker brings a non-working family to the US, they should have to pay extra into the school system and other public services. This way schools aren't crowded by non-tax paying illegal immigrants. If after all of these extra taxes, immigrant workers still want to come to America (which they will considering many don't make minimum wage now) I say let em. They're already here as it is, many of them contributing illegally to our economy. If we take these types of steps, the long term success of higher American wages, extra migrant worker taxes, and stiff corporate fines/penalties, then our economy could actually benefit in the long run.
(most of this is not directed at you ElectricSavant)
The "born in USA clause" does needs to be thrown out though. An Iranian, North Korean, or (ugh) French citizen could come to America on a temp visa, pop out a kid, and be considered a citizen. That's bogus, I for one don't want a French invasion.

(just kidding... mostly)
I rarely side completely with President Bush, but the Star Spangled Banner should
ONLY be sang in English. It's not a racist thing, it's an American Pride thing. If you sang in public "El Himno de Bayamo" in English, while on Cuban soil, Castro would have you shot on site. While that is a dictatorship and not a democracy, it should still be greatly frowned upon here. Want to here the Star Spangled Banner sang in Korean, by citizens of North Korea? How about we make a music video of Al-Qaida singing it in Persian? Will that tickle your fancy?