[detbuch]

Originally Posted by spence

It doesn’t mean they have a specific right to be here, but it’s an acceptance they they are here,

If not a "specific" right, then what "general" right do they have to be here? And why must we accept that they are here? If we must accept their being here, isn't that tantamount to saying that they have a right to be here?

they are an important part of our economy and their presence as undocumented isn’t a crime.

They distort our economy as well as straining the resources we have to serve "legal" residents. Our economy would work without them. It would, in my opinion, raise the value of the work they actually do if done by "legal" Americans who would demand higher wages. The so-called middle class problem we are supposed to be experiencing could be lessened. And our resources, including welfare care of all kinds would not be stretched to include the extra many millions of illegals.

And the issue is not criminal, it is "legal." Because something is illegal, doesn't mean it is necessarily a crime. They are illegal aliens. The apologetic rhetoric you always use to justify the difficulty we must go through to stop the flow of illegal residents reminds me of an immigration lawyer I dealt with who was really, when push came to shove, in favor of mass immigration from south of the border and from impoverished countries. He absolutely felt that they had a right to come and stay here and become citizens. He used the criminal and economic gibberish that you couch your apologetics with to make it sound legal and right. But he basically actually believes we have an obligation to accept the vast majority of them.

That he made his money off of them might be a factor, but I think his motives were "mostly" idealistic.

It’s a complex systems issue not something you can just boil down to extremes. Reagan understood this, HW understood this, Clinton understood this, W understood this and Obama understood this. Trump, not so much.
Posted from my iPhone/Mobile device

You do realize they all had "mostly" political motivations.