this would have made a long comment

i realize people that are here illegally are committing a civil infraction, but just saying we need to kick them out and build a wall because the law is the law isn't a practical solution. i can't even imagine the resources it would take to enforce it. we would be spending billions of dollars to excise what has become a important part of our economy ( whether it should be or not). we can't really afford to do either.

i think we need reform on both immigration and the path to legal status for those already here. if the legal process wasn't so arduous, the desperate might not resort to fence jumping. if building a wall to separate people worked in berlin, we might consider it for a 1,969 mile border which consists mostly of open desert. the vast majority of people who are here and who want to be here are seeking the same thing my forefathers (or is it 4fathers?) sought: opportunity for themselves and their families. this does not excuse crossing the border illegally, but the gato's out of the bag on this one. it's like the war on pot, except it's a lot harder to seize contraband that has legs and a brain. the current solutions for both problems are not effective and at times are costly and counterproductive.

as for being exposed to people speaking mexican, some people like it and some people don't, but we don't have an official language, so they're legally just as correct as the ingles speakers. my great grandparents only spoke dutch, yet here i am, capable of putting together a sentence in english (sometimes), as are my parents and grandparents.

this issue doesn't have any easy answers, but cracking down on people has been historically ineffective in this country (revolutionary war, civil rights era). again, this is not to deify the illegals, but just a pragmatic opinion. in a perfect world, the immigrants would line up and ask nicely if they could please escape hardship and earn a good living because they would have a reasonable chance of success before they're too old to work. these people could then work legally and pay taxes. the people crossing the border for nefarious reasons would be the lion's share of those crossing, and we could more easily keep the hard drugs out (needle in a needlestack), which would keep american dollars out of mexican drug dealer hands, weakening their influence and make both countries safer. too bad world is an asymptote to perfect.

ok, ranting done.