Any proposed reform that does not include mandatory jail terms for employers of illegal aliens will be a complete failure just as the '86 Amnesty was a failure.

Every illegal alien who comes in contact with law enforcement in any way should have to await their day in immigration court in their own country. Every day an illegal is allowed to work is another day that taxpayers are forced to support a law abiding family.

Bank robbers are not allowed to hold onto the cash until their day in court. Why are illegal workers allowed to keep on working until their day in court?

The proposed amnesty will not "lead to higher wages and growth in jobs" as the author claims.

Supply and demand is the most basic, incontrovertible principle of economics. It does not require a DEGREE IN ECONOMICS to know that increasing the supply of labor reduces the price for that labor. In other words, it drives down wages. Driving down wages reduces consumer demand for goods and services. Reducing consumer demand causes workers to be laid off. Those lay offs reduce demand even more and bring on even more lay offs.

The proposed immigration reform will break America.

The only reason America ever had the MOST PROSPEROUS economy was because America had the BEST PAID employees and consequently, America had the customers with the most money to spend. American business owners are SO GREEDY that they are using free trade agreements, illegal immigration, and deregulation to drive down wages and destroy benefits. In their quest for short term profits, employers are destroying their own customer base.

There is no shortage of workers of any skill level in America. There is one heck of a shortage of employers willing to pay competitive wages and BENEFITS in order to get the workers they need.

The cheap labor employers and their pundits and politicians and so called economists will say and do anything to keep from paying competitive wages and BENEFITS to American workers. In the long run they are killing their own customer base just like they did in the 1920's.

If immigration were as good for the economy as the pundits claim, America would be thriving right now instead of floundering in unemployment and debt.

One thing and only one thing governs prosperity for America. That is supply and demand. Supply is worthless without demand. The greatest entrepreneurs, job creators, or whatever they are being called today, the greatest of them are abject failures without customers with plenty of money to spend. The Democratic Party spent 50 years fighting to protect AMERICAN WORKERS from the insatiable greed of employers and in that time period America built the biggest and most prosperous economy the world has ever seen.

Unfortunately both parties have spent the last 30 years helping American businesses use immigration, free trade agreements, and deregulation to drive down wages and abolish benefits for American workers. American businesses have destroyed their own CUSTOMER base in their quest for higher profits.

Unless America returns to protecting it's workers from the insatiable greed of employers, there will be no return to prosperity for America.

Check out the workers on the highways and bridges this summer. I guess Americans will no longer do construction work.

Every day that an illegal alien is allowed to work is another day that taxpayers are forced to support a law abiding family that was forced into unemployment and poverty when the illegals under bid the legal workers for jobs.

The penalty for employers of illegal workers should be mandatory $15,000 fine per illegal worker and mandatory 2 years in jail without parole per illegal worker. That would put an immediate end to the problem.

That is ALL the reform we need.

An 800 page bill is ridiculous.

The penalty for employers of illegal workers should be mandatory $15,000 fine per illegal worker and mandatory 2 years in jail without parole per illegal worker. That and deportation of the illegal worker would put an immediate end to the problem.

That is ALL the reform we need.

People like the DREAMERS are not needed in America. The people in their home countries need the DREAMERS to help build free prosperous societies. It is America's responsibility to help all countries build a better world. We should not be stealing 'the best and the brightest' from other countries.

"3/requiring welfare recipents to work to receive benefits."

That would probably be a good idea but we cannot compel them to work for private employers like farmers. That would be too much like SOCIALISM or COMMUNISM. Maintaining highway right of ways or cleaning Congressional offices might be suitable jobs that would not interfere with capitalism.

The only real alternative is to enforce the law. DUH!!! American immigration law is not unreasonable. Greedy employers just do not want it enforced so they will not be forced to abide by laws like overtime pay, workers' comp, OSHA, and so forth.

If we did away with all those labor laws meant to protect workers, then employers would have no reason to hire illegal aliens instead of legal workers.

The article says, "Recently, I spoke to an "illegal" friend to get an immigrant's point of view. Most came to the U.S. legally."

I wonder if the author has ever bothered to speak to one of the law abiding families that have been forced into unemployment and poverty when the illegal workers were ALLOWED to underbid the legal workers for jobs? Illegal immigration is NOT A VICTIMLESS crime.

The very same people who used to fight to protect workers from the insatiable greed of employers now work to help those very same employers use illegal workers to drive down wages and destroy benefits for all workers. No matter how hard the cheap labor, supply siders try to spin it, the ONLY thing that creates jobs is DEMAND. When you OVER INFLATE the supply of labor beyond the available jobs, you drive down wages which causes less consumer demand and even more laid off workers. That makes life harder for all workers, both legal and illegal.

This article is just more of the same old double talk we have been hearing ever since the failed '86 Amnesty.

For example, "For one, Congress should work on fixing the arcane legal immigration system and enhancing visa programs so that illegal immigration is less tempting and those who wish to come here legally actually can."

"those who wish to come here legally actually can."

There are BILLIONS of aspiring immigrants in the world. Until the delusional comprehensive reform advocates get real and admit that all of the world's disadvantaged people cannot be legally admitted to America, there will be no solution to the immigration problem.

America does not need more workers of any kind. America needs to enforce it's laws, that is immigration laws and LABOR laws. The reason workers from all around the world want to come to America is because American workers are protected from the insatiable greed of employers by minimum wage, overtime, OSHA, and a host of other laws. The Democratic Party spent 50 years fighting to protect American working people. Unfortunately, the Democratic Party has been bought out by K Street. Democrats have spent the last 30 years helping exploitive employers use outsourcing and illegal immigration to drive down wages and destroy benefits for American workers.

One fact about the United States is that the population tripled in the last 60 years.

The race to the bottom is definitely in high gear. If the proponents of illegal aliens get their way, I'll bet it triples again in the next 40 years.