Normally I'm a pretty anti-immigration type person. I figure, if there are rules and procedures for coming to this country, they should be adheared to. People from everywhere are welcome here, but if you don't follow the rules, you should be sent packing.
However, there was an international journalist on the Daily Show last night that changed my mind. Much of the racial tension/unrest in europe (France especially) right now actually spans to the EU's poor handling of immigration. They criminalize their illegal immigrants, which leads to tremendous feelings of inequity and oppression/resentment amonst both legal and illegal immigrants. Immigration is actually one of the few social problems we handle correctly here in the US. I'm not saying we should just open the flood gates, but we certainly shouldn't start criminalizing people that came here just looking for a better life. The US was founded by people like that, and our immigrants actually are one of our biggest assets as a nation.
Plus, it's not like the illegal immigrant problem in the states is actually that big of a "problem", at least it's not a criminal one. The vast majority of illegals keep their noses clean, because if they get busted for anything, they get sent back. So they abide by the law, and work hard at the jobs that most other people won't do. And with determination they eventually make a decent life for themselves (or at least their children). It may be illegal, but it's the American way... at least the way the American way was before it became all about plasma TVs and 20" rims.
