It was not until the nativists and white supremacists took control of the GOP and most of US politics in the last 20 years that the concept of "illegal immigration" became mainstream.

human migration patterns are as old as time. people coming into this country, falling in love, creating a family is nothing new. what is new are the draconian roadblocks to citizenship and the new militarization of ICE.

the US is becoming one of the worst Human Rights violators, right up there with China.

Human migration patterns may be "as old as time," but they have never been on the scale at which they are today. When you call the GOP "white supremacists," you are playing the race card as a means to rationalize why their shouldn't be any control over immigration. To do so, is really racists on your part. The GOP is anything but racists and I think you know it. The main point here is what and how the citizens of the US want immigration handled. Obviously we are open to immigration since the US was at one time built upon it, but then as now we want immigration to be controlled and monitored, and regulated. There is no Ellis Island today making certain the wrong types of people aren't coming in, their isn't any control on the numbers of people who are coming in. The social system and even basic services such as roads can't absorb the millions of people entering the US as it is yet you seem to want the citizens to fork over billions of dollars on their own money to support this out of control immigration. It isn't our responsibility to pay for the health care or education of citizens of other nations. There is nothing wrong with the US saying as every other nation in the world does, that we have the right to uphold laws regarding immigration and those who break our laws should be treated as every other person who breaks our laws and that is as a criminal. If you want to come into the US, it is easy, do it legal, and then you'll have earned the respect of the citizens of this country. Do it illegally and you will have lost any respect.

One thing that gets ignored, more or less, by the anti-immigrant faction is the dependence our economy has on those immigrants. Now I am not saying this is a simple issue. Laws have to be enforced and borders protected and labor laws also need to be enforced (a part of the equation ignored by Republicans). But our economy is being hit by the current wave of anti-immigration laws and enforcement. Farmers in the Midwest have been having problems finding the labor for harvests because of a reduction in illegal immigrants. Construction, agriculture, day care industries all depend, for better or worse, on illegal immigrants and cracking down on immigration has and will cause labor shortages and/or price increases.

Hell, even on Anthony Bourdain's program "No Reservations" on the Travel Channel he encountered a town in New Mexico renowned for their chilies. That is their specialty crop and they produce among the best chilies in the world. Problem is, the relatively labor intensive chili crop is dying because of a lack of labor to pick the chilies. This correlates with the current anti-immigrant sentiment.

Until the anti-immigrant faction finds a solution to this labor shortage, their policies are counter to American interests. I suppose the true free market approach is to open the borders and let the labor force grow to match demand. But that isn't the solution either the Dems or Repubs want. On the other hand, closing the borders is also insane because it will ruin the construction, agriculture and day care industries. That seems to be the Repub "solution" and it is the worst. On yet another hand we have the status quo which is more or less to have laws that are counter to our economic interests but which we enforce irregularly so the labor force is regulated by how much we enforce our border laws. That seems a pretty haphazard way to do things.

I don't have a solution, but I do know the current Republican anti-immigrant approach is hurting people, hurting our economy and costing us way more money that it is worth. We need some new thinking on the matter and it has to depend on a respect for immigrant labor (which built this country in the first place), a respect for labor laws, and a respect for our national boundaries. Those are three competing needs but they definitely need to be balanced.

The answer is a work visa program which the US government controls, and which is already in place, but most illegal simply don't bother to use it. We don't need 21,000,000 people illegally here doing jobs they claim Americans don't want to do. Certainly there are jobs like that, but 21,000,000 such jobs isn't the case and it isn't up to them to determine what America needs or don't need. Farmers not finding workers in the US is hardly the problem, and you can't justify braking the laws of the US for something like that. Besides US farmers could hire Americans to do that work, but they are not willing to pay minimum wage or supply benefits, so they would rather exploit illegal workers. You tell me how you can rationalize that? American citizens without a high school education make up the largest part of the American unemployed. Last I looked it was somewhere around 17% unemployment for such citizens. That very well may be a direct result of illegal immigration since these American citizens are no longer able to find work which have been taken by these exploited illegals.

And if you are speaking about harm to our economy then how about the drain on public services caused by illegal immigration? Cities like LA can't cope with the vast migration of people to their city. Roads are clogged by people who aren't even able to pay an impact fee which most American citizens have to pay whenever they move to a new city and apply for a driver's license. Then the strain on social services such as hospitals and school is in the billions of dollars thanks to an out of control immigration system. How can you even suggest for one second that it is fair to the American people to have to pay for this? It is just wrong! Then look at the billions needed to fight the ever growing crime in cities with high immigration. Look at the cost of boarder control which is needed to stem the flow of people into this country. It simply isn't right or fair to expect US citizens to flip the bill on all this.

Finally, it all comes down to obeying the law. You can't rationalize breaking the law just so a farmer can have his entire crop harvested. The laws are there for a good reason. You just can't have the US overran by vast amounts of immigrants. The system simply can cope and the money for it must come out the pockets of US citizens. US citizens who I might add do not welcome the kind of over immigration. If the government were truly reflecting the will of the US people then they would get a control on immigration. Sadly the US government is doing a half-ass job and it is the US citizen who has to pay for it.

that allowed white men to own african slaves.

seriously.

get an education.

What the hell does African slavery have to do with anything we were talking about? Oh, I get it, the race card yet again is being played. First off, I'm Asian-American, and as far as I know my people had nothing to do with slavery in Africa although, yes, I'm also American, but if you were more educated then you would know that most people came to this country after the American Civil War which ended slavery here. Slavery in many South American countries continued after that. If you were more educated then you would also know that slavery is as old as prostitution and their is no one race who is guiltless including the Africans who, if you were more educated you would know, that there is still slavery in Africa and the Middle East to this day. In fact the Arabs are perhaps the world's greatest slavers both past and present. Regardless, playing the race card and painting your opponents as racist is not an argument. It only makes you appear desperate by trying to deflect from the fact that illegal immigration is illegal and wrong. It has nothing to do with race, but everything to do with legality, and what is fair for the host country to deal with and what isn't. All of which is up to the citizens of the US to decide.

In the future you may want to reconsider throwing terms such as "American Fascism" around like you have since it really is a false statement which only builds animosity. As I pointed out before, it creates a "US vs. You" mentality. If you truly wish to be a part of the American nation then that isn't the best response from you. The idea of America is that we are all of different backgrounds who have come together to create a truly wonderful country full of opportunity for all. While it isn't perfect it is a great country that many in the world want to immigrate to. Not only S. Americans, but Asians, European East and West, Africans, so it isn't right to just allow S. Americans in, but to control it so others from elsewhere can have the opportunity to come in legally. It is impossibly to allow the flood of humanity to simply pour in uncontrolled. It overwhelms US social services and adds to crime, and even possibly terrorism coming into the country by not having secure boarders and proper laws. It is our country and our laws, so if you don't like then I suppose you could always move back to wherever your family originally came from. You are free to leave it if you dislike as much as you appear to from reading your blog.