[mburbank]

I don't really know where I stand yet in this debate. I do know that a lot of the speciffic provisions of versions of the bills are draconian and completely unworkable.

Rightly or wrongly, a LOT of low cost labor in this country is done by illegals, and it's not the sort of work people are clamoring for. If we roundup the illegals, someone is going to need to do that work, and mostly citizens won't do it for the wage illegals will. I'd like to see that ystem reformed, personally, since I thnk paying people who are scared of being thrown in jail substandard wages is pretty harsh, but if you're only going to pay legals (and all the other fees you have to pay if you're obeying the law) that's going to have some far reaching effects we ought to think about and plan for.

In addition, if we make illegal immigration a felony, where the hell are we going to put all these criminals? Who's going to round them up? Who's going to pay for their incarceration, their housing, their processing, etc. etc. etc. I don't see the current bills making many spending provisions.

AND criminalizing aiding illegal aliens is beyond bizarre. Most religous oragizations and human rights groups don't have a citizenship requirement, and it's unthinkable that they should.

So the water remains muddy and the status quo (uninforced, uninforceable laws) rolls on. And it probably will continue to after alll the sound and fury of this current round of shouting is over.

I think a lot of people protest because they or their loved ones are threatened. They are trying to escape poverty and when you desperately want a better life and a better world in which to raise a family you do what you think you have to do. Sure they are breaking the law. But they also do back breaking work for the nation for very little money and we as a country rely on them.

It's a complicated symbiosis we are part of. It's a difficult, thorny debate. Good luck getting us to try to realiztically come up with a solution.