Originally posted by: deathstorm78
I think we need to make residency, citizenship, employment authorization etc a bit more obtainable.
We need more workers handling the applications and investigations to help speed the process.
Currently the costs are high and the processing times even higher. It's no wonder no one wants to do it.
Illegal immigrants are bad for our economy and a strain on our resources, but if they want to come and do it the right way I'd welcome them all.
No, this is AMERICA...The United States of America...In case you haven't noticed, most parts of this country are already getting pretty dammed crowded. The reasons that the "other parts" aren't so crowded usually include a cold/harsh climate, lack of jobs for those who choose to live there, perhaps not good crop growing climates, etc.
We don't need an unlimited supply of untrained, unskilled workers.
We DO need highly trained & educated workers.
I do NOT argue that point...in fact, it's one of the biggest points of my immigration rants. We, as a nation, have not only the right, but the responsibility to pick and choose who we allow to immigrate here.
We NEED scientists since so many of our youth have no interest in math and the sciences...
We NEED well educated people since so many of our youth only wants to party and be cool...
We NEED people who are trained and well skilled, NOT "unwashed peons"

who are suitable for farmwork or low-skill construction work.
Need farmworkers? Set up a program that allows a certain number of immigrant farmworkers to enter every year, but with the provision that they have to leave again every year.
Withhold 1/2 of their pay in a trust account, (yes, they'll need verifiable identification); something similar to the old Bracero program, but done properly so they actualy can collect the portion of their pay that gets withheld.
We have enough people who drop out of school or don't want to go to college, that with the proper guidance and incentives, could fill the needs of our construction and manufacturing industries, they could do "the jobs that Americans won't do," (or more properly, won't do for the low wages industry gets away with paying the "wetbacks," because they don't/won't complain.