Bear in mind, Goode refuses to vote for legislation that punishes companies that KNOWINGLY hire illegal immigrants. Instead, he touts building a fence along the border. Meanwhile, nothing gets done.
(Thanks to the Perriello for Congress staffers for the video)
I don't think the fence is a bad idea - if it considers the environment. Fences are really just a speed bump. The only good thing about a fence is that it is a permanent fixture that is somewhat effective. I don't think it should have been the first thing on the list to get done.
The easiest and most effective way to solve the illegal immigration problem is for enforcement efforts to focus on employers and NOT employees.
You can probably send a SUV to these worksites instead of a bus to haul away the real criminals. And the real criminals have nice pedicured hands and crisp white shirts on. The first person on the bus should be the owner, CEO, or manager that hired them illegally in the first place.
Until it becomes a serious personal risk to hire illegal workers, it will continue. The fact that Goode won't get serious with employers tells me that he doesn't want to solve the problem - he just wants to appeal to the base.
I have a beef with the far left on this issue also. They won't acknowledge there is a problem and ignore the economic/social consequences of illegal immigration.
I don't think that it is smart to allow "Anchor Babies" to get citizenship. But the problem is that the Constitution gives citizenship to anyone born in this country. So to change that would require an amendment to the Constitution. The Constitution is not something we should meddle with on a whim - it can have dangerous and unknown consequences.
The Constitution allows freedom of speech. That means the KKK gets to march in our public squares. That's the price we pay in a democracy - but overall well worth it.
"Anchor Babies" are really just a symptom of a problem. The problem is that employers are rarely penalized for hiring illegal immigrants. If you solve that problem, the symptom of Anchor Babies will naturally cure itself (for the most part).
If we focus on the problem, and not the symptoms, we may jost solve this issue. But the far right and the Hispanic caucus are both to blame for their out of this world rhetoric. There needs to be some compromise and we need to get this problem under control. It will never be 100% fixed - but if it is 80% fixed that is better than where we are today.