Right but that is my point exactly-if you don't contribute through being a taxpayer, and you and your family don't speak english(thus not assimilating), that is exactly the thread topic's point

Why would they return to Africa, that makes no sense. For one, African American culture is much closer to European than African so they will have to deal with that, then they have to change languages, etc. Finally, there is much of a chance to live a great life in Africa either, I mean, look at the living conditions there, its horrible.

Ugh, immigrants, legal or illegal, contribute more to the economy than they take away. If the US was losing money over illegal immigrants the border would have been shut down years ago.

Lets not start an argument about this but I can provide sources if you want.

Binky by implication you are equating an inability to speak English (and thus assimilate) with a lack of legal status. Not all illegal immigrants fit that picture and many legal immigrants do.

Without racist nor prejudice attitude--landscaping, tourism/resort and food industries would collapse if the illegal Latin immigrants were deported. How is that for your economy?

Disastrous?

Possibly, but didn't the europena immigrants have to learn English, to succeed? Now all you have to do is push #2 on you phone for Spanish

How so? I don't think anyone is suggesting that we deport every illegal and close the borders - full stop. I believe what we have been talking about is tossing the illegals out (since they are ILLEGAL they obviously have shown a predisposition to not giving a damn about our laws), sealing the borders up tight to stop future illegals from coming in, and fixing the legal immigration programs to allow as many in as are needed/can be gainfully employed.

Now you have Legal immigrants here who have full legal status and access to whatever services are available, and they are part of the normal tax system, AND we have a better opportunity to screen who is here and only allow those in that are able to provide a needed role or service in the economy.

and my view of the assimilation discussion is that it is ok to keep your native languages intact, in fact I think it is desireable, as long as you learn the predominant language of the land you CHOSE to move to and use it to the best of your ability. If you don't want to bother learning how to assimilate and function in the culture you chose to move to, go back to where everyone speaks your preferred language.

We need to have a better handle on those who are here. Those who are hear illegally need to be documented and taxed like the rest of us. The borders need to be shut tight. I have no problem with legal immigrants, and one big rub is that plenty of people have done it right through the application process and waiting periods. But groups of undocumented people pouring across the borders in groups of 10 or 20 is not doing anything to help our system. They need to be captured and deported.

So what? let those systems collapse on a temporary basis. They will rebound. First close the borders and stop the hemorrhage.

I live in phoenix, and i can tell you that it is completely pointless if we don't remove the incentive for them to come back or make the consequences extremely uncomfortable. I fully support opening the borders up to just about anyone that passes a basic screening, but I also fully support making it extremely painful for any illegal who is caught here.

Oh yeah? With what man-power?

The number of jobs in those industries is greater than the number of unemployed (that would be willing and able to do those jobs, for that pay).

Let the illegals stay and keep your low, low, low prices. It's worth it. Trust me, I live in England.

Our prices only seem low to you because the dollar has dived against the BPS and Euro. Our low prices have little to do with the number of illegals employed in our factories. Now those countries who have outsourced to third world nations and employed people at $1.50 an hour, that is another thing.

I don't see that as a bad thing. Where I grew up, this is business as usual. I think some people in places like, say, Pennsylvania, get bent out of shape about it, because it's...different for them.

In NYC, the subway token machines offer a few different languages in which you can make your purchase. It seems to work fine, and I've never seen anyone there get weirded out over it.

I'd like to note here that there are lots of U.S. citizens who speak other languages (including but not limited to Spanish) regularly, whose ancestors were never immigrants.

Right. So it's a little silly to identify as "African" instead of "American" at this point.

Assimilation doesn't mean abandoning your old culture. It means making your culture a meaningful part of American culture. Sharing and celebrating = good. Isolating yourself among others who are exactly like you and rejecting the rest of American culture = counterproductive.