Why don't immigrants just come to the U.S. legally??

It takes time is one reason.

Another is that a lot of those who jump the border would not qualify because they have no means to support themselves when they get here, they have a criminal record, or whatever reason.

In reality, if we sealed our border and kicked out the illegals, we would be forced to streamline the immigration process, and only desirable (not criminals) immigrants would be able to come...and if we cut off jobs (by punishing employers SEVERELY) and cut off 100% of entitlement benefits (such as welfare and medical care and schooling) they would self-deport so that they could come here legally.

Jerry...it costs about 1/10 what they pay a coyote. It is not very expensive at all. It DOES take time, but it costs very minimal....My inlaws LEGALLY immigrated here and have become citizens.

drock...you heard wrong. I have a friend from the Phillipines, and he said it took 15 months. You are being spoon fed that crap by pro-illegals, and it does not cost that much.

Dragon...you are full of crap. There are a HUGE number of legal immigrants annually. And as long as you have means of support in this country, and are not a criminal, you qualify. You are one of those illegal supporters, aren't you? Or, are you illegal yourself?

Ifeel...yours is one of the most uninformed answers yet. We allow LOTS in legally, and could allow more in legally if there were not so many illegals. Most Americans would support streamlining the process ONLY after we take care of the problems of the illegals today and ONLY if that taking care of does not mean amnesty under any disguise.

mama...why don't you email me your address so I can turn your illegal husband in, and you for aiding and abetting. What you do not understand is that you cannot distinguish...Oh, we should let this person BREAK THE LAW because they are a good person. They are by definition a criminal for breaking (and disrespecting) our laws to begin with. As for having a low opinion of immigrants...my inlaws have a VERY LOW OPINION of those who come here illegally and turn them in every chance they get. Why? Because they have family who would LOVE to come here legally, and the number of ILLEGALS and the very idea that they might get amnesty makes their wait longer...IS THAT FAIR?

Tringirl. 1. Illegals here DO own property. 2. If Trinidad and Tobago are "oil rich" how come you are considered well off if you own a car, a refrigerator, and have indoor plumbing in your country? Most of our "poor" would be considered upper-middle class. 3. Your idea that renters pay taxes, etc. is irrelevant because, although they pay some taxes, many get fake IDs so that they can get the earned income tax credit and actually take more out of the system than they contribute, plus many are on welfare of some sort. As for our government "letting them" pay taxes...they are supposed to be taking only low paying jobs. 50% of American do not pay taxes because they do not earn enough money. These low paid workers would fall in the same category.

Yeah, I'm from trinidad and I wonder the same thing. Why do different nationalities come to my country illegally. U see my friend, migration history around the world will tell you that people tend to flock where there is the chance of a better life or more financial opportunity. For example, the native americans did not invite anyone to their country.In the caribbean, trinidad and tobago and many other caribbean islands for example, many germans, americans, and british just come in, start working in our oil rich economy, don't pay taxes and are even allowed to own property, no questions asked(illegal immigrants in the US are not allowed to own property so I guess our illegal immigrants are worse than yours). So I agree with you, post all illegal immigrants out of the US and all other countries should ban foreigners from illegally sponging off their economies as well! By the way, just for your information, not all illegal immigrants jump the mexican border, there are actually other countries in the world besides mexico and some people actually enter the US on planes, yes the great invention the airplane, on ligitimate visas issued by the US embassies and they overstay their time here in the US or just work for a while and return to their countries. As for not paying taxes, how can they pay taxes if they have no SSN or tax ID. Instead of vetoing health insurance for poor kids maybe your pres should allow the immigrants to pay taxes and then all poor and middle income children can have medical insurance. Oh, and when an illegal immigrant rents a house or an apartment in the US, indirectly they are paying taxes since the owner of the house is. Wake up people, stop wearing blinders, get the facts and learn both sides to the story before casting the stones.

There are about 2-3 BILLION people who would love to come here but we can only take 1.3 million a year. And that is WAY too many!!!

We have to place a limit on how many come here or we might all just as well go live in China.

The costs can add up - some people think its too much. I know that it is way too little. Taxpayers fund a large portion of the costs of immigration. Why should we subsidize something that lowers our standard of living and costs us even more in taxes?

To think about it another way - our population is growing faster then ever before in history and we may reach 600 million in our childrens lifetimes. Once they are citizens we can't very well tell them to leave. We can however not let them come here in the first place.

The reasons are simple.

#1 - It costs a ton of money to file.

#2 - It takes months and months to get an approval.

I will grant you that the illegals that pay coyotes to bring them into the country are paying about the same as it costs to file for legal residence.

The difference is that entering illegally they can start working right away. If they wait to enter legally, they spend all that time making about $3 a day.

The lure is that most of them make $10 an hour in the US. In a single day of working 8 hours they make almost the same thing it would take them 3 months to make in Mexico.

Good question. The cost of an H1B visa is less than $4,000 for a 6 year visa and the employer will usually pick up that cost or defray it. The cost of the average coyote is $5,000. My guess is that either they fear they will be rejected (those who have committed criminal acts in their country or others will be) or they just don't want to wait their turn in line while the paper is processed. It's also takes some effort to find an employer.

I read somewhere once that for an applicant for legal immigration from the Phillipines would have to had started the process of immigrating in something like 1983 or 1984 to be able to come over today. I think that sort of delay is enough to make any person in a bad situation find another way over here. Beyond that it costs a good deal of money and some people never get approved.

Because of the reasons already stated and because they have no respect for laws (theirs or ours) so they do not consider it wrong for them to enter our country illegally. It is a shame they embarrass their countrymen and those legally in the United States with their criminal acts. Many of the illegals are good people who are desperate for honest work and honest wages but they become criminals when they break our laws.

i think it really sad that people think so less of immigrants... Yes they broke the law but what about the white people and black people and so on that break the law... my husband is mexican and like most he came illegal... but i have never met such a honest loyal and hard working man who cares so much about his family in my life... would you want your family living in a one room house with just enough money to feed themselves or would you do what you could to make their life better?? im not sayin everyone is honest and blah blah im just saying sometimes you have to do what you have to for your family... and the person who commented about the mexicans... Why only point out them what about the others who come from OTHER countries besides mexico... come on now who is going to go out in the hot sun and pick tomatoes or strawberries... so there are ups and downs to illegals... i say the goverment needs to really work on changing their immigration policy then maybe things would get better.....

There are not current laws that allow them to entry legally (directly proportional as they are really needed) in the USA.

It seems that for unknown reasons is better to get them in...undocumented.

Because they know its easy to do, and that we don't enforce our laws the way we should. They know that we're generous to a flaw, and will take from us as long as we let them. Time to put our foot down and say enough!