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[echos]

Closing the border first.

Here's my take. Much like the war on drugs, illegal immigration is now a problem of the 'cat being out of the bag'. Illegal immigration just has been accepted for so long, that we are now reliant on it to farm our fields, run our restaurants, and take care of our kids.

These people, and lets remember that they are people, have been allowed to live among us, and be part of our society, for generations. And whether you want to admit it or not, a certain balance has been achieved.

There are now far too many interests at stake in this debate now that this cat is out of the bag. Whole industries depend on a certain amount of illegals getting across the border every year. And those industries are very powerful, as we all know.

There is also a humanitarian interest to this. Again, we have allowed this to happen now for multiple generations, and we have all benefited from this relationship one way or another. This has been an unspoken agreement for a very long time, and I think it would be wrong to just breakoff our end of the deal.

Labor wants to keep things the way they are. Farmers want protection and more rights to control prices. Unions want more members. Political parties either want more members or dont want the other side to gain members. Illegals want to eat and take care of their families, and not get abused.

Too many people have their fingers in this pie to allow for quick change. For what its worth though, I think we should at least enforce the current laws. Stop illegal employment and you solve half the problem. Enforce the borders, and you get most of the rest. We'll just have to settle for $6.00 lettuce.