It's an open question whether you ever make a serious argument. Or are simply in a never ending campaign to be elected "class wit" in the yearbook. Nevertheless, you a fan of Simpson Mazzoli? You figure it worked out? I think we should be as humane as possible. And that includes, among other things, allowing the children of illegals who have been graduated from high school, to pay in state tuition. Bob Gray and I went 'round and 'round on this one. Both sides are playing politics here. I'm not a fan of the Senate bill. Nor am I entirely happy with the House GOP approach.
In the 80's I interviewed Dr. Donald Huddle, a professor at Rice, who had done some research on this matter of "illegals only take the jobs Americans won't take." Thus suggesting no harm to citizens. He found that not to be the case. If you believe the only jobs illegals can get are as stoop labor in the Salinas Valley, then you'd be right. But that's just an ancient stereotype. For instance, most major American cities have congregating points where illegals make themselves available for contractors. These contractors pay the prevailing wage but don't make any withholdings, so their cost for that labor is lower than for competitors who follow the law, even though both are paying the workers the same hourly wage. There are countless other examples where illegals are gainfully employed, not being taken advantage of economically and potentially depriving citizens of employment.
We should want illegals to become citizens. That would give them the rights and responsibilities of citizenship (unless Democrats get their wish and illegals are allowed to vote). But that desire should also take into consideration those who are following the rules and waiting patiently for their opportunity to become citizens. We shouldn't devalue their efforts in a head long rush to give Democrats what they evidently hope will be a permanent electoral advantage. And it's imperative we take into account the lives led by those we put on "the pathway to citizenship." Plus, we have a moral obligation to improve the integrity of our borders. The United States has the right and duty to control the number of people coming to this country.
Opie, in this post you've made sense for half of it and delved into nonsense in the other half. For you, that's a banner day!
Lets get the nonsense out of the way as you seem to be channeling Rep. Steve King (Racist-Iowa). The question that conservatives bring up repeatedly is that passing the Senate bill will give Dems an electoral advantage, and that in itself is reason enough to not do so. Amazing that so-called independent posters like yourself and joecct who NEVER parrot GOP talking points always seem to fall in line behind them.
So, 11M people we're talking about. It'll take at best 13 years to achieve citizenship and vote. Most likely its longer than that. This assumes that 1) everybody becomes citizens (many could just remain permanent residents), 2) all of them register to vote, 3) they have a 100% turnout every year, and 4) they vote in a similar way as the last election (roughly 67/33 for the Dems). Obviously all this is ridiculous and the effect wouldn't be felt for a decade and a half or more and who knows what the politics will look like then.
Illegal immigrants becoming voters won't be the death of the GOP. What will be is the fact that legal Hispanic residents are coming of age and becoming eligible to vote at a much faster clip than the creation of new crabby old white guys. Don't pass the bill and they're gonna know who to blame. Its like this student loan bill. Students know who's holding it up, and these are the very people one would think the party would try to appeal to.
What you are correct about is putting to bed the notion that immigrants do the jobs Americans won't do. I only agree with that premise when it comes to agricultural work and this bill handles those workers separately with temporary visas. Otherwise Americans will do construction, roofing, etc.
So, if I were running things, its pretty simple for current illegals. 1) Anybody who's served in the military is in. Get your discharge and take the oath. No waiting. 2) Anybody with a college degree in an area of need (science, engineering, etc) is now legal and can go through the process of becoming a citizen. 3) Anybody brought here as a kid and with no criminal record gets to stay if they register, start the citizenship process, pay back taxes, etc. If you aren't in these categories you're out of luck although I suspect more than a few will fall into the AG worker pool.