Pesky Mexicans

For those who don't know, I am American born and bred, of Mexican-American descent. I grew up on the US/Mexico border and have watched the immigration debate with great interest. I submit to you that we will not have immigration reform until we answer the question..."what do we do with those pesky 12 million immigrants in this country illegally." Yes, the preponderance of them are Mexican. We can't simply ship them all home. Hell, we can't even find them, much less send them home. A large bus can handle up to 40 passengers, it would take 300,000 buses, are there that many road-worthy buses in the country? I certainly don't want to keep the criminal element in this country. Child molesters need to go, so too murderers and rapists and thieves. Did you know that American employers travel abroad to recruit foreign nationals to come here for good jobs. The Dallas Independent School District goes to Monterrey Mexico to recruit bi-lingual teachers, and a school district in my home town got in trouble for offering bribes in exchange for recruiting teachers in the Philippines. Its not really about immigrants taking jobs cause we have legal mechanisms in place to give away good jobs. Its about filling vacant jobs for which there are no American applicants. The point is that there are SOME immigrants who are here illegally that we might want to keep for "convenience." Some absolutely must go back, some we might want to keep, kind of like fishing. There is much ado about amnesty, but the definition of amnesty is to forgive transgressions. I have not seen one legislative proposal that offers amnesty. Some proposals, like the McCain/Kennedy bill requires fines and penalties. That is not amnesty. Please don't call it amnesty cause that just demonstrates an inability to communicate properly. I don't support a blanket "amnesty" for all undocumented immigrants, but I don't support mass deportation either. Humans, throughout history, have followed food sources for their very survival. I believe that humans have a right to migrate with the food source, both animal and vegetable. However, that does not translate into an obligation for sovereign nations to accept migrant populations. The dilemma is trying to decide which ones are keepers and which ones to throw back. Sometimes the keepers serve more altruistic ideals, like family unity. Sometimes not. But until we resolve this dilemma, it will persist and we will not have comprehensive immigration reform.