I was watching this Lou Dobbs Town Hall Meeting last night on CNN from San Antonio. Besides being some of the most uncomfortable TV I've seen in quite sometime, I noticed two issues raised by the pro-Mexican members of the audience and panel:

1. Do you favor referring to people who illegally cross the border to come into this country to work as "Undocumented Workers" instead of the more traditional (but apparently more derogatory) "Illegal Aliens"?

2. How do you feel about the construction of this wall along high traffic sections of the border with Mexico (referred to as the "Wall of Death" by one gentleman).

1. I am generally against renaming things for the sake of political correctness alone. That said, I never liked the term alien in reference to a human being, so "Illegal Migrants" would be my compromise.

2. I'm not sold that the wall is going to be very effective. If people want in badly enough, they'll figure out something. If it is built, though, I don't see how it would make traffic worse than it already is with the checkpoints.

1. I didn't like "illegal alien" when I was a kid, because it sounds like ETs and shit. I might favor "Undocumented Immigrants" or something similar if someone would implement my immigration plan.

2. Walls are stupid.

I don't know about the rest of the country, but the ones around here should probably be considered both. They definitely came here as undocumented migrant workers, but many are now illegal immigrants. I personally only care about those individuals who commit crimes while they are here illegally, but I'm not sure what the solution is. I hate to waste our tax money keeping them in jail and trying them for crimes committed here, but I also doubt they stay in Mexico long if we just deported them and somehow persuaded the Mexican officials to keep them locked up.

I don't think the wall will really work, it might slow the pace of immigration, but not enough to have a real measurable impact. Let's face it, if you really want to get into the USA, there are quite a few ways to sneak in and not much we can actually do about it.

I usually confuse myself when I think about immigration but that much I'm sure of.

I'm all for securing our borders and controling immigration. But one of the reasons I've heard in some debates for building a wall is also to keep out terrorists who might try to smuggle in the so called 'Dirty' Bombs not just people we consider 'illegal'.

But woun't we have the same issue on the US/Canadian border too? So far no one, politicians or otherwise is talking building walls over there.
My Roomie claims that just a few years ago there was an actual attempt to smuggle in some explosives from that region.

Hey gang, they aren't all Mexicans. There are plenty of Salvadorans, Guatemalans, Hondurans and other Central American immigrants.

Excellent point. We have Mexico drilled in our heads.

The illegal immigrants we have here actually work, which is crazy these days and they're not taking any jobs from anybody cause nobody wants those jobs. They don't cause trouble and they open good resturants, so I have no problem with them. Also, I don't know how our sugar cane farmers could make a living without them.

I also believe 100% that if our current immigrant "problem" were comprised of Irish, Italian or Germans, it wouldn't be such a crisis.

I'll go 110% on that one.

Defintely. However, the Irish, Italians, and Germans can't walk across some imaginary line in the dirt to enter this country either. Some natural control on the situation. Also some parrallels can be drawn between the Irish, when they first came here and the Central American Immigrants of Spanish decent who are the topic of today.

I don't disagree. I'm just being hypothetical.

my neighborhood has gone gringo in the last four years.
between them and the Vietnamese (who were on their way to taking over the neighborhood before the mexicans did) i don't feel so short anymore.

i gotta tell ya, the food is good around here.

Use of the term "Illegal Aliens" has been around for years. However, it'll most likely stick 'cus it makes it easier to get rid of people we consider problematic. It's hard to kick out "Poor immigrants"

I'm all for letting these people enter the country legally. Sponsorship, etc.

I prefer the term "illegal migrants".

I'm not sure a wall will accomplish much.

1. Not all of them are working. So I prefer aliens.

2. I don't think the wall is the answer. No need to make a Germany out of this and alienate our neighbors. Can't Mexicans just cross the border as tourists, and then just not leave like Canadians?

Questions.

If they're gonna come anyway, wouldn't we want to make it easier for them to immigrate so we can document them, tax them, etc.? And wouldn't they want to be legal citizens if we made it easier so they could get minimum wage, other benefits of citizenship, and not have to live in fear of the INS or whomever?

Alot of them are working, doing jobs we don't want to do, so why are we afraid of them coming here?

I understand that we can think of them as financial burdens to taxpayers, so why not make them taxpayers?

That Guest worker program sounds good then.

Phil they are stealing jobs working in fields picking berries that you and I could have.

(Go ahead and grade my English on that sentence, Bubb!)

I agree, but I am going to point out that if you're making minimum wage you aren't paying income taxes.

i agree with what Prince said. But if they did become legal and earn minimum wage they might not get the jobs they are doing and then lose all incentive to become legal.

i think much of the blame goes to people hiring illegal immigrants.

Many undocumented workers are taxpayers. Oh sure, they may not be paying under their proper name or a legal SSN, but they are paying taxes.

I like the idea of the guest worker program.

"Illegal Aliens" also gives me images of lil' green men.

The wall is stupid.

1. No real opinion, but as derogatory as it may be in context, "illegal alien" is accurate and not racist.

2. I favor building the "Wall of Death" and renaming it the "Wall of Brotherhood"

Phil, they are stealing jobs that you and I could have working in fields picking berries.