"Anyone with any status could have a criminal background or could be going to the wrong school (and the issues with inner city schools go far beyond anything related to illegal immigration) or transmitting diseases unwittingly and move in in your hood."
I totally agree with that. I also think that adding illegal immigrants does not make the prospect any better.
"First, they undeniably subsidize our social security.
They pump hundreds of billions of dollars into our economy - believe it or not, this creates jobs. The more people around, the more housing needs to be built & maintained for them, more people need to cook food for them & press their shirts, etc..."
All without detracting anything in any way shape or form from those here legally. I don't see any of that as a positive benefit when it comes hand in hand with negatives that can just as easily outweigh the positives. So what is the cost? They create jobs, but they fill jobs. They add money to the economy, but they remove money to the economy, they contribute to social programs, they use social programs. I don't see it as a benefit, at best just a wash, except that they still have entered illegally, and that should be nothing less than a slap in the face to everyone who worked to come here legally and worked to become a legal citizen.
"Which makes the things cheaper for us to buy here and more competitive to sell abroad.
On the surface makes it seem like they are taking jobs away from Americans, but not so fast - this isn't the 50s anymore. Given the relative skills & education of today's average American worker, it would be impossible to fill these jobs locally. "
In the end I still don't see a positive benefit to Illegal immigration. If it were a good thing then why even bother having immigration laws, why not just let everyone come right in with no restrictions. Legal immigration provides benefits, Illegal immigration does not.
No that having been said. I don't know really that the illegal immigrants take away more than they give to our society and really on the whole I view immigration as a good thing. Anyone who wants to come to the United States because they believe they can make a better life for their family and themselves, and wants to be a part of our nation then I'm all for them coming here.
There simply has to be some control of the flow and standards. As it stands now it needs reformed. Because, its so easy to come illegally and difficult to come legally we see more immigration illegally. Making the system more accessible to those who would come while allowing us to screen still for undesirables, provide health services to those that need it, and equip newcomers with some basic education about life here, that would go a long way to making things better.
As it stands now, the people coming here Illegally are subject to so much exploitation that it's hard to imagine. Most of that could be eliminated as well by us reforming our system.
It is people wanting to contribute to a society that helps make it great and a lot of people trying to come to the United States are just that. Illegal immigration is wrong and is harmful for a lot of reasons, but I believe most of the people coming here Illegally have no other option to get in and are trying to get in for the right reasons. It's the minority that are causing issues, and the exploitation of those trying to immigrate that really make it an issue that needs dealt with.