This is the only solution- the rest is smoke and mirrors. Some of the reviews in this thread are hilarious, like the assertion that not "all" illegals are mexican. Okay, so only 86% are mexican...that is according to a report published in 2003 by the INS and the Census Bureau. lastly, please stop calling these people "undocumented immigrants". There is no such thing. Call the criminals what they are...illegal aliens.

Gee, here's an idea. I agree with Imorovan that they do need to be revised, but revision won't do much good if they arn't enforced either.

Immigration laws are antiquated and need to be revised and updated. When they were made, we didn't have the chaotic immigration problem we face today. Make hiring illegal immigrants a Federal Crime. Impose severe penalty to employers for the first violation and the loss of business for recurring violation. Sell the business to interested parties and use the money to finance the other illegal immigration enforcement costs.

Kill all of the mexicans in this country and rape there families in mexico to scare them not to come over to america

Enforcing the current laws that pertain to employment would be most effective. Too many companies make easy money by hiring illegals at half the rate of legal residents. Nip this in the bud, and half the motivation for coming here illegally evaporates overnight.

ENFORCE THE LAW WHAT A BRILLIANT IDEA!

Well this definitely would be a good start. Immigration is one of those issues that aren't clear cut. It's unrealistic to say that we can completely close our borders to all illegal immigration. That said we could sure do a better job in putting more resources into securing our own borders.

What I would do is grant amnesty only to certain immigrants who have resided in this country for a given amount of time, say 10-15 years. If you have kids here, a life, a job; then make those eligible for a green card and charge them a flat fee for any back taxes or fees that they haven't paid over the time that they have been here. Sending them back en masse will create problems, especially for those with children already born here who are attending our schools. We certainly don't want to split up families over this. It would be a logistical nightmare to deport the 8-10 million people who fit into this category.

Now, for those people who want to come here to work in order to send money back to their country of origin, issue temporary work permits for 6 months or whatever and make them pay taxes for the time that they are here. If they stay over the time that their permits were granted, then just send them back to their country of origin. That of course would require the government to enforce the laws in the books! Realistically, we need immigrants to do certain jobs that a lot of us wouldn't want to do, but at the same time, we need to know who's over here. Securing the borders is essential. Canada has a similar plan in the books and it works fairly well for them.

You could always give illegals a choice: leave the country in an armored car or in a body bag. Entirely their choice.

This should be a given.

This the single biggest thing we can do. Enough catch and release enforcement and lets back these border agents while we're at it.

We need to enforce the laws on immigration Just like we do in other areas

It isn't just that it definitely will work, it is the only thing that will work. Clamoring to estop the deportation of 12 million (as if all must be treated equally and contemporaneously) illegals, which number may or may not be accurate, is equivalent to maintaining that enforcing the rule of law must be suspended due to numerical difficulty.

I cannot blame the illegals for taking advantage of the financial bonanza associated with landing somewhere in America, legally or not. It's stunning that the typical goverment politicos' reaction is to ignore the centuries-old concept of "processing immigrants" and just let them stay. Of all the sheep-like viewpoints.

If you think that the immigration problem began when GWB took office, you get a gold star for idiotic partisanship but a "D" in political history. We've been addressing this problem for decades. Under the last 3 presidents , however, we have suffered from a distinct lack of leadership, particularly from the Oval Office, but no president has "led" on this issue, dating back to Truman.

The process needs to be simplified. Streamlined. Government needs to work. A leader needs to emerge. What a golden opportunity for a democrat with vision (and a reasonable plan) on which to run for President. None will, however. He or she could be elected on this platform alone but their typical left-wing funding sources would dry up. It would take a courageous politician to run on this, even more evidence of this oxymoron.

And what? Deport 12 million? Good luck!

That would solve a vast majority of the problem right there, but politicians are too busy pandering votes to oversee any enforcement. By the way, has anyone read or seen the Mexican Constitution. We give more rights to our illegals than they give to legal immigrants there.

Whether the laws should be altered is another matter--- however, in terms of public safety it is not wise to have a border which is not secure. Those individuals who wish to come here to work and make a living for themselves and their families are an entirely different matter from those who come to sell drugs or commit additional illegal acts. The law should be amended to establish a guest worker program which is of a larger scope than the current program--- and additional investments should be provided for border security activities to ensure that those with criminal intentions are apprehended or turned away.

Basically, that is what is being discussed in DC right now. Many voters in this country have forced this issue upon our reluctant elected leaders because, obvioulsy, too many of them, including Pres. Bush, don't want to deal with it.

If we just did this there would be no need for more legislaton.

I couldn't agree with StarkTruth more. I'm all for the enforcement of laws. But I'm also for laws that are enforcable. To exaggerate my point a bit, if enforcing the current immigration laws required spending 10% of GDP and using our entire national guard, I would not be for enforcing the law. I don't know how much it would cost to enforce our current laws, but it seems to me a better solution would be to make laws that didn't fly in the face of economic reality.

As far as I'm concerned, if you have a law you should either enforce, revise it or eliminate it. If you behave as if it's okay to ignore it completely, you are sending the message that we don't take our own legal system seriously. It gives the impression that anything goes. I think that's a pretty dangerous precedent to set.

The gov't sure does a great job of looking after my tax return. . .I'd sure wish they gave half a sh#t about enforcing existing immigration laws. . .

Our laws are already in place. Our government just doesn't do its job (what a shock!). Police in many major cities have standing orders not to inquire into a detainee's/suspect's residence status. INS workers will not come to places where manual laborers gather on a daily basis to be hired for work off the books. And not one immigration official was to be seen picking up persons at any of these extensive marches that have taken place across the country the past couple weeks. Our nation is simply becoming a joke. Why should the border hoppers respect our laws? The government clearly doesn't. They just give you 38 reasons why they don't enforce them. If (and that's a big "if") the government had any real will to stop illegal immigration and clean up the present mess we have, deportations would not be necessary. Simply enforce the laws ALREADY ON THE BOOKS against hiring illegal aliens. Start citing, prosecuting and fining employers. It would take away the profit margin from using undocumenteds and they'd stop employing them. There is only one reason illegals are hired: They're cheaper. If the cost is too great for the employers they will not have jobs anymore and will leave of their own volition. They wouldn't have a choice. They have to eat and pay bills like everyone else. If there weren't any jobs they would go elsewhere just as any of us would.

It's not the immagration laws that are the problem:it's the people who break them and get away with it- ESPECIALLY the companies or private individuals who HIRE illegal immigrants.If you could not get a JOB without going through the proper channels,we would not have a problem of this scale.