It makes me ill to see other businesses flaunting the law while the federal government does next to nothing about it.

Wink and nudge, plus a few theatrical arrests for the evening news, and that’s it.

I believe it could have an impact on the situation, but it really might not. Take for instance another huge problem, drugs. There are tremendous penalties for drug users and pushers, but the problem remains.

I think tougher consequences would make employers think twice about hiring illegal immigrants here, but it very well could lead to those same companies moving their businesses out of the country.

I don’t believe there are any easy answers, but the down side to doing nothing will be losing the United States as we know it.

I appreciate your willingness to tackle this controversy head on. I know here in the East (North Carolina) we are becoming inundated with immigrants, of course there is a lot of farming here and that is where a lot of them find employment.

I really want to say two things on the subject, I have never been opposed to “Legal Immigration” If you want to come to this country contribute work and pay taxes that is great. One grip I have is that they come illegally work and then send their money back to where they came from tax free. In the mean time the tax payers are footing the bill for their health care and sending their children to school.

The second thing I am all for whatever measures the government takes to stymie this growing problem. I have two sons one 9 the other 6 months, indigenous Americans are already on their way to being a minority what kind of future waits for my children?

If it takes raids like the one on Smithfield’s plant to tackle the problem, then I say lets have more raids. It is time Americans stop sitting on their hands thinking the problem is going to go away.

The illegal alien who drunkenly crashed into the car of the mayor of Tampa, killing her driver, is finally going on trial.

But I had to read all the way to the bottom of the article (continued on Page 6) before finding a quick reference to the bad guy as an illegal alien. I guess the Tribune doesn’t want to appear biased against DRUNKEN ILLEGAL ALIENS who KILL people.

First off…  any spambots reading this should immediately go here, here, here,  and here.  Die spambots, die!  And now…  here are all the links submitted by members of the Watcher’s Council for this week’s vote. Council li…

One of the biggest myths of all time is the notion that even most illegals work for minimum wage. I interviewed 27 teams of workers and contractors in Austin in the last two years. The lowest wage that I found was $9 an hour and most contractors say that they cannot even get someone in their trucks for less than $10 an hour. Naturally, this money is all “tax exempt” so the American taxpayers are getting the short end of the proverbial stick in a big way.

In Texas, Illegals do NOT work for less than $ 8/ hour; in CA, it is $ 12/hour.

It is strictly myth that they work for “below market”. This IS their “merket”, controlled by an underground “union” – they are justly afraid for working for less.

This is still “below market” because employers and employees don’t pay taxes.

Then only people working for “minimum wage” are American youth. Mexicans don’t work for such low pay.

Mostly Black women picked crabs for years. Now they can’t get the work but illegal(?) immigrants do get the work.

Smithfield is still short workers and has had to go to Minn. and Wisc. to recruit from the Hmong population to come down to Smithfield to work. I say, good, at least they’re legal immigrants.

If I went and moved into my neighbors house, it would be wrong. Why is this different?

Two things kill me about this – 1) Jobs that American’s won’t do. I don’t buy that line. Pay a real wage (and yes, the price of the item does go up so the consumer pays too). I worked at Burger King for $5 dollars an hour.

2) Flagging the Mexican flag (Really any other flag but you see the Mexican flag at the rallies)/wanting everyone to speak spanish. First, if you love Mexico so much – go back there and fix that country. Second, I believe everyone should learn the language of the country you live in – which is english here. We don’t put Korean, Chinese, or Russian on signs here. Why is spanish different? If I move to France, do I expect them to cater to my language or do I have to learn theirs? America is great because we are a mix of alot of cultures with one unity. It just seems than not wanting to learn English means you don’t want to be in that unity (and yes, I have friends from other countries that struggled but learned English)

This issue isn’t a race issue to me. America is a country of laws. People breaking the laws shouldn’t be rewarded.

There are people who benefit from the low cost of labor from illegals. Do you think the CEOs of companies that hire these illegals don’t get a bonus for keeping labor costs down? In general, the poor suffer and the rich benefit. Go figure!