I am NOT anti-immigrant. My grand-parents were immigrants to this country, but they did it right. They came in as refugees, obtained a green card, got a Social Security account, and began their lives in this country, eventually becoming naturalized citizens.

I AM, however, opposed to illegal immigration, of any stripe or color, for the simple reason that the adjective: "illegal" attaches thereto. If an individual is here illegally, he/she cannot possess a green card. Without a green card, they cannot obtain a Social Security account. Without a Social Security card, they cannot pay taxes, or contribute their fair share to Social Security, since they do not have an established account against which to apply payments.

That leaves the rest of us to pay more than our fair share, since the same illegals are using the system to educate their children, obtain health care, (which we, as U.S. citizens have to pay for) etc., and, at the same time, are stealing work from those of us who are licensed or registered as Contractors, and who carry the required insurances, including health care insurance, and who pay into the system.

To those who complain about the prices that legitimate contractors charge, I have this to say: You want me to be registered, to show up with a $1,000,000.00 liability insurance policy, to have in my $35,000.00 truck, which gets 10.7 miles per gallon, a full complement of tools worth $12,000.00 to $15,000.00, with a list of referrals, to give you a free estimate, so that you then can then justify hiring an illegal who will work for cash, or a shady contractor who employs illegals? If that's the case, then you deserve what you get. What is it about the word "illegal" that no one, especially the government, seems to understand?

It seems rather simple to me. If people are here illegally they should forced to leave. I am stunned that we have a major terrorist threat and yet we refuse to guard our own borders or enforce our immigration laws.

1.The people crossing OUR borders are ILLEGAL IMMIGRANTS.
2. They have broken OUR laws.
3. Rewarding them for breaking OUR laws is a travesty in itself.
4. We need OUR borders secured and OUR laws enforced now.
If the builders in the USA are concerned about skilled labor they should hire people who come into our country LEGALLY. Personally, I think their argument is not valid, because the jobs in this country can and should be filled by OUR citizens not by ILLEGAL IMMIGRANTS.

This just goes to show how many outfits are using illegal labor! If they were using documented workers they wouldn't be concerned about this because they wouldn't bew affected!
Illegal is illegal, is it not?? Why can't we use documented legal labor and get the benefits of a more stable, more reliable, and better quality workforce? One word-- bottom line! Okay, it's two words, but to get to the bottom line a lot of us drop our ethics!
Michael

I'm not against LEGAL immig., it's the vast number of illegals that SHOULD BE DEPORTED.AND AS FAST AS POSSIBLE.It's not fair,in so many ways,to the citizens that were born here and those who came here LEGALLY.We don't put up with other illegal acts, why should this one be okay? Why are we concerned about smoking & seatbelt use, and then allow people in who have broken the laws that have been put in place to protect us from law breakers and terrorists. All one has to do is look at the statistcs for gangs in LA,and other crimes, the cost of welfare and hospital care,etc. Other Pres. have been able to deport large numbers of illegals,Bush can too.IF he wanted to.

Saying that the building industry is a "business that is already hurting for qualified labor" is a bit disingenuous. Hurting for "cheap" qualified labor is more accurate. But, houses are already too expensive for too many Americans even with "cheap" labor. As you say, "it's a tough question". The future of housing for my children and grandchildren does not look good.
Carl Heldmann

I am not sure about the bill but I have had non union labor do work for us only problem was the langauge problem wonce that was over their work
was very good and cost a lot less maybe this is what they are afraid of.

We need to educate our citizenry that it isn't disgraceful to be a carpenter, laborer, electrician or plumber. This is the root of the problem of not getting enough Americans to fill these jobs. Not everybody can have a desk job.
Just remember, the ditch digger, the bricklayer, the carpenter,the farmer that fed us and the hand that rocked the cradle are the hands that made this country great and not the politican or the manager. The manager wasn't needed until it took several people to do the job.
THEREFORE I AM VEHEMENTLY OPPOSED TO THESE ILLEGALS, THE MAJORITY OF WHICH DO NOT CONTRIBUTE ONE THIN DIME IN TAXES YET OUR POLITICANS THINK THEY SHOULD RECIEVE THE SAME BENEFITS AS THOSE OF US THAT ARE HERE LEGALLY AND PAYING FOR THEM TO RECEIVE THOSE BENEFITS.

I am in support of stronger immigration restrictions. I don't believe it is right for immigrants to come to the USA and give birth so they can have an excuse to stay. The whole giving birth to a U.S citizen thing is not what the law was established for. That particular law is severely abused.

In reference to recent articles, I thought this was appropriate, since Americans are fighting and dieing while others are jumping fences and opting for a free ride.

There is so much hand wringing in Washington about not being able to round up all the illegals but when they go into a hospital without any ID they should be turned over to the INS juts like when a doctor suspects spousal or child abuse.

Parkland Memorial Hospital in Dallas, Texas is a fairly famous
institution and for a variety of reasons:

1. John F. Kennedy died there in 1963
2. Lee Harvey Oswald died there shortly after
3. Jack Ruby-who killed Lee Harvey Oswald, died there a few years
later by coincidence

on the flip side; Parkland is also home to the second busiest
maternity ward in the country with almost 16,000 new babies
arriving each year.
(That's almost 44 per day---every day)

A recent patient survey indicated that 70 percent of the women who
gave birth at Parkland in the first three months of 2006 were
illegal immigrants! Crikey, that's 11,200 anchor babies born every
year just in Dallas. According to the article, the hospital spent
$70.7 million delivering 15,938 babies in 2004 but managed to end
up with almost $8 million dollars in surplus funding. Medicaid
kicked in $34.5 million, Dallas County taxpayers kicked in $31.3
million and the feds tossed in another $9.5 million.

The average patient in Parkland's maternity wards is 25 years old,
married and giving birth to her second child. She is also an
illegal immigrant. By law, pregnant women cannot be denied
medical care based on their immigration status or ability to pay.
OK, fine. That doesn't mean they should receive better care than
everyday, middle-class American citizens. But at Parkland
Hospital, they do.

Parkland Memorial Hospital has nine prenatal clinics. NINE. The
Dallas Morning News article followed a Hispanic woman who was a
patient at one of the clinics and pregnant with her third
child---her previous two were also born at Parkland. Her first two
deliveries were free and the Mexican native was grateful because
it would have cost $200 to have them in Mexico. This time, the
hospital wants her to pay $10 per visit and $100 for the delivery
but she was unsure if she could come up with the money. Not that
it matters; the hospital won't turn her away. (I wonder why they
even bother asking at this point.)

How long has this been going on? What are the long-term effects?
Well, another subject of the article was born at Parkland in 1986
shortly after her mother entered the U.S. illegally---now she is
having her own child there as well. (That's right, she's
technically a U.S. citizen.) These women receive free prenatal
care including medication; nutrition, birthing classes and child
care classes. They also get freebies such as car seats, bottles,
diapers and formula. Most of these things are available to
American citizens as well but only for low-income applicants and
even then, the red tape involved is almost insurmountable.

Because these women are illegal immigrants they do not have to
provide any sort of legitimate identification---no proof of
income. An American citizen would have to provide a social
security number, which would reveal their annual income---an
illegal immigrant need only claim to be poor and the hospital must
take them at their word.

My husband is a pilot for the United States Navy (yes, he fought
in Iraq) and while the health care is good, we Navy wives don't
get any of these perks! Car seats? Diapers? Not so much. So my
question is this: Does our public medical care system treat
illegal immigrants better than American citizens? Yes it does!
As I mentioned, the care I have received is perfectly adequate
but it's bare bones, meat and potato medical care---not top of the
line.

Their (the illegals) medical care is free---simply because they
are illegal immigrants? Once again, there is no way to verify
their income. Parkland Hospital offers indigent care to Dallas
County residents who earn less than $40,000 per year. (They also
have to prove that they did not refuse health coverage at their
current job. Yeah, the 'free' care is not so easy for Americans.)

There are about 140 patients who received roughly $4 million
dollars for un-reimbursed medical care. As it turns out, they did
not qualify for free treatment because they resided outside of
Dallas County. So the hospital is going to sue them! Illegals get
it all free! But U.S. citizens who live outside of Dallas County
get sued! How stupid is this?

As if that isn't annoying enough, the illegal immigrant patients
are actually complaining about hospital staff not speaking
Spanish. In this AP story, the author speaks with a woman who is
upset that she had to translate comments from the hospital staff
into Spanish for her husband. The doctor was trying to explain the
situation to the family and the mother was forced to translate for
her husband who only spoke Spanish.
This was apparently a great injustice to her.

"In an attempt to create a Spanish-speaking staff, Parkland
Hospital is now providing incentives in the form of extra pay for
applicants who speak Spanish. Additionally, medical students at
the University of Texas Southwestern for which Parkland Hospital
is the training facility will now have a Spanish language
requirement added to their already jammed-packed curriculum. No
other school in the country boasts such a ridiculous
multi-semester (multicultural) requirement.

In the meantime, I have to end my column here. I have to go buy a
car seat.

(Ed: Sorry for the length, but this needs wide
circulation----particularly to our "employees" in the Congress.)

Quote of the Day

"Once the coffers of the federal government are opened to the
public*, there will be no shutting them again." -Grover Cleveland

POST Script FROM A U.S. CITIZEN. --- Many of us are now in the so
called, "Donut hole" with our prescriptions. We paid our money to
protect us in our later years, but our people in Washington have
elected to give it to the illegal immigrants, How fair can that
be.

What the builders are really saying is that the only qualified labor they want is cheap controllable labor. The cheaper and more easy to control the better.

Mexican labor was invited into the U.S. during WWII to keep the country running while our G.I.'s were busy with Hitler and Tojo! No One officially revoked the invitation and the "Violate the Law - Deport" crowd fails to aknowledge the tangled web of immigration law and U.S. jurisprudence in general. Therefore, any border reform must include amnesty for anyone working in the building trades because we can't build the homes without their help!

Why not pass this bill? Let's reward them for breaking the law! Here in my area there are accidents,often with fatalities,caused by illegal aliens driving without a license or insurance and 9 out of 10 times they are drunk!
America, at the rate we are going,will soon be a third world country. Don't even get me started on the foreign children born in America BEING AUTOMATIC CITIZENS,when an American child born abroad, is simply an American born abroad.

I am not infavor of the immigration bill. They must obey the law and enter the US by legal means. Ifwe are expected to obey the laws, then they must be willing to live by the same laws. It is a crime to come into this country illegally.

This is actually very simple.
SECURE THE BORDER
This bill would bring in approximately 100 million more people over the next 20 years. And guess who will pay for it???
We will! These folks are poor, uneducated, non-english speaking latin americans for the most part. They do NOT want to assimilate and have no allegiance to this country.
The democrats want it for a new voting bloc....the republicans want cheap labor which will steal your job and devalue the worth of your jobs. bush wants it to pay back his corporate friends who want slave labor... It is a disgrace and an affront to every single AMERICAN CITIZEN. Your citizenship will be as cheap as a chinese import if this bill passes!
SAY NO TO AMNESTY and PRESERVE THIS COUNTRY!

Which qualified Americans are going to be willing to clean worksites, or or do heavy labor for minimum wage and no benefits? Not many.

Immigrant workers generally pay into Social Security, etc. through paycheck deductions. The majority do not--don't-- ever apply for any kind of government programs. What this means is that goverment programs would lose a large income base, while having to pay out more benefits. Where is the benefit in this? Nowhere.

I don't think that the law should pass. It is like promising them work. And even we don't get that. My household is in the construction business and I'll tell ya it is so slow right now that it is sickening. But hey lets bring in more immigration so there is even less for those born and raised here. It's okay we don't need to survive. Either way I don't think they will come in legally anyhow. Why pay when you can do it for free!!!!

Illegal is illegal. Where do you draw the line. I do not think it is a good practice to circumvent the laws of this nation for cheap labor. If wages were competitive, local labor would be more responsive. I personally have seen illegal immigrant labor under bid the contractor and get the job. Futhermore, when contrators issue 1099's to sub-contractors who never file to pay there taxes because the identity is false. I know these issues are tough, but Americans can't fix the world's problems.

It is impossible to find American workers to fill labor positions. Since we have been in business for over 40 years, the general public must be aware that the local citizen is unwilling to perform manual labor. It seems our citizens feel they are overqualified. If they are hired, they show up late, on drugs, and with an attitude that they should be giving directives instead of taking them.

I am in the Lawn care business. I do not hire hispanics because I do not know who is legal and who is not. But I do lose a lot of business to those who do because they can do the jobs cheaper than I. Someone tell me again how that these people are not hurting the american workers.
Dub

I work in the construction industry and the company with whom I am employed follows the letter-of-the-law. We maintain a green card list and verify ALL aliens as theyenter our workforce.
The aliens work & are paid on a par with their Anglo equals. Marginally-skilled individuals move on, while the highly skilled knock down $1500-2000/weekly and are worth EVERY dime!
The law? Well, being a 1st generation American myself, I was somewhat shocked to find that my father had been granted his citizenship AFTER fighting @ Guadalcanal, Saipan, the Phillippines and Okinawa. HIS citizenship was EARNED by putting his life on the line EVERYDAY for 3-1/2 years! So, why allow criminals to circumvent the law? The immigration laws are obsolete? Only for the criminals & the criminalcompanies that hire them! The solution: Send the criminals home & put the criminal companies out of business!

As a child, I was always taught to obey the law, yet now as an adult I am getting very mixed messages. Am I missing something?, it sounds like "illegal" of any sort is still breaking the law. There are no degrees of illegal. I have nothing against anyone trying to come into the U.S. legally, but once you have broken the law, you already have turned your back on what this country stands for & the American people. Is this any way to start off a new way of life & teach your children it is "OK" to break selective laws?

I am against unlimited immigration. Believe me if the people of the United States need to get some work done we can do it without so many immigrants. It's worth the price. We're made up of immigrants but everyone should abide the laws of the land.Crossing the border is not just an everyday right for those that are not Americans. Neither should health care and social security be available to these law breakers. This is a socialistic idea to eliminate the middle class of America.

THIS IS MY OPINION AND RESULTS.
Immigration policies are very touchy. The truth is that everyone wants a policy that will benefit them the most. It's doesn't matter about what is right or wrong. The all mighty dollar is the primary focus of everyone's opinion. It is very easy to say, "kick them out and we'll do the work ourselves", but the truth is that these immigrant are typically doing the jobs that we proud american's will not do.

So let's do it. Let's kick them out. Let's start paying us proud american's more money to build building in which we all want to work in, not work on. Let's start paying higher price to us proud americans to work in meat processing, were we all preferred to eat the cow not kill it. Let starting pay american's to clean to toilets that we all prefer to use. This list go's on and on with job's that are below us.

The result will be this......

Let's say the average wage for immigrant labor is $15 per hour. In order to get an american to do the same job we'll have to pay them about $25 per hour. That's already 40% increase cost. Let's factor in loss of production, another 10%. Yes, there will be a loss of production, face it we are lazy. Add another 5% that we American's will want for vacation and sick day's. Then there is the ultimate cost we have to figure in for attorney's. I'll figure about 45%. This is to cover all the lawsuits that we proud American's will file against our employers because we are all looking for the easy buck so we won't have to do this work that these immigrants were preforming.

This is an increase of 100%.

Yes, it is extreme and seem very unlikely to get this high. But even at 50% there is going to be a rippling effect on everyone financially. Yes, the American's that do decide to take these jobs will be better off. But for the rest of us, we will be paying 25%-50% more for the things we can't already afford.

Obviously this is quite a sore spot in regards to what I have read and I can only agree that illegal immigration is a large part of what is destroying America. When a Country and it's leaders penalize it's own and reward outsiders it is a huge slap in the face to those who go out and try to earn a living and support their families. I am all for the betterment of humanity, but not at the cost of my fellow Americans giving up their rights just so someone from another country can take what is not theirs and spit on our language, religion, and beliefs!

My main concerns are apparently not the run of the mill ones. Though all of them are right and good. My concern is that we have no medical or legal background on these people who 'sneak in' to our country. I just don't think we: our families, or our nation, are safe from disease and criminals without some kind of an ENFORCED measure in place.

I thought the social security system was in trouble? Didn't Bush run up some huge deficits?

If we had a French system of elections, then we would (the people) elect those with our best interest, instead of the special interests groups like we see here.

Vincente Fox seems to be doing well enough, increasing education and creating jobs. A good economy is the only effective way. Why not build retirement centers in Mexico? You don't want to look forward to what we have here. Make that an idea who's time has come.

Concerns about not enough workers? Why not open up jobs for temporary French youths? We could use their attitudes and laws about how the government should respond to the people they should be serving.

We have 2 big problems. Democrats and Republicans and in Washington D.C. they are one of the same! ! ! VOTE THEM OUT !!!!!

I personally can't believe that this is such a contraversal issue. Illegal is Illegal. Our politicians act as though they don't seem to know what that term means. They seem to turn a deaf ear to the American Citizen, but are always ready to listen to the illegal immigrant point of view. I sometimes wonder what country I am in when I read a label on a product or make a phone call and have to read or listen to things in two languages, Spanish and English. What is the primary languar in America?? I sometimes have a hard time remembering lately.

WOW!! I'd say that everyone on the blog here but two, do not want any illegal residents. It doesn't really matter what cost our houses should be built at w/ or w/o illegal immagrants. True contractors can pay illegals less money. Because the cost of living in Mexico is so unbelievably BAD, the Mexicans are going to work ALOT harder than your averge American Joe. I can understand why some contractors (money hungry) would employ an illegal immagrant. Dont get me wrong I'm right in the boat with the rest of you. I do not agree with the illegal immagration act at all. I too am SHOCKED at what I find out from week to week. The fact that many Mexicans do not pay into Social Security, infuriates me. I don't even know if my own son will have the opportunity to have it. I am 1/4 Spanish and 1/4 Mexican but I was born in the States, my Father served in the Korean (sp) War, and many more. My husband is a pilot and has served in several areas in the Middle East. I have a ton of pride for the United States, but it really is sad to see the way the government works. It so obvious that the majority is TOTALLY AGAINST ILLEGAL IMMAGRATION.....DUH. Why shouldn't we be???

Kudos Larry!!!!!

The illeagal immgriants sneeking over the borders just didn't haven't overnight and it didn't just happened under a Republican President,Republican Senate or Republican Congress. So for the Demorcrates to point their fingers infuriates me. I am a proud born and raised American and we can correct this problem if we ALL WORK TOGETHER. We should consitrate on how to stop the illegal immgrants sending money back across the borders so that more illegals can sneek over. Change the laws allowing illegals to marry and be able to stay or allowing children born to illegals to be an American citizen by birth. If we can stop or at least slow it down I believe that the lines will start slowing down at the borders because it won't look so appetizing. We also need to work on stopping realtors and landlords from selling or renting to the illeagal immgrants that allow multiple families living under the same roof and being able to get government assistance that they have not worked for or earned. We need to get back to helping our elderly, homeless, our orphan children here in the United States and our soldiers that have fought in WWII, KOREA, VIETNAM, DESERT STORM, AFGHANISTAN, AND NOW IRAQ who have given the ultimate sacrfice for our freedom.

While local Americans are struggling, here in Connecticut, hundreds of illegal immigrants are buying houses, charging a high rate for their services, driving expensive cars, sending money to their families outside United Stated and not paying taxes. They are for sure taken jobs away from the ones that really have all the rights in this Country.

As I listen to the protesters DEMANDS?to change the laws it just blows my mind. What I see is 12 million or so people have broken in to our home (land) by running over our neighborhoods climbing over our fences running into our yards, then into our homes through the back door and when confronted in our living rooms they, the illegal immigrants, cry out for ?justice and fair laws!!!? Saying that this is their home and they have a right to be here and the proof of that is because they have been here for X amount of time and therefore DEMAND that our laws be changed to accommodate them. I guess that Drug Dealers, pimps and prostitutes will claim legal exemption from the laws because they have squatters rights and therefore the laws should be made fair and should reflect justice by their measure of what is fair and just? and thus their actions should be sanctioned and legalized!!! What in the hell is going on in Washington? Why wont they ENFORCE OUR LAWS??? After all they are our laws and not theirs!!! What would happen if I came home to my house and found a family-however nice they might be- of whom I don?t know in my home, are they going to demand that the deed to my house be changed because it suits them??? I don?t see the difference!!! They are not welcome in my home unless I invite them in (and that starts by them knocking on the door and asking for my permission) hence; they do it in a LEGAL manner!!! Why is this elected government standing around inviting debate instead of dealing with it in the legal manner that our laws dictate? ENFORCE THE DAMM RULE OF LAW!!! You will not have to deport the vast majority of them if you enforce and strengthen the existing laws about hiring them. Seize the assets of the company?s that are breaking the laws by hiring them; dry up the illegal employment market and make it so that they self deport themselves.

DEFINATION of INSANITY: Doing the same thing over and over again expecting different results?

If they allow any part of the vast majority of them stay then we are sending the message to Mexico and other Latino countries that their illegal immigration is what drives our policy and laws, that they dictate to us... I just can?t swallow that!!!

What exactly do the employess at INS do? I have a cousin in Law Enforcement and he said in his County they will not arrest illegals because the INS will not pick them up! All legal citizens need to continue to protest and make our government do what we are paying them to do. Enforce the Law!!!

I read these oppinions from those who what the cheap labor(as in don't want to pay an AMERICAN)A decent wage, but want to make plenty of money them selfs.
There are no TAXES coming out of there check-no ss card no taxes-give that a break if you HIRE them you are a LAW BRreaker and need to be in PRISON yourself.
Get a hint and think of the AMERICAN (as in USA) people for a change --GREEDY LOWLIFES!
Close our borders to mexico!
Bring our JOBS BACK TO USA befor it's to late!
And if I hire somone to do a job for me and I find they hire legalls I"ll put you in jail myself and hope you resist arrest.scumbags

Let's all just stop a minute, take a deep breath, and really think about what we're saying here. No need to blow an artery with such hatred and greed. Yes, greed. Americans are the greediest people on the earth compared to every other culture/nation on the planet. It's the pot calling the kettle black here. Honestly, now you cannot compare the immigration system of our grandparents/great-grand's to the current system today. You can't just show up in a boat and say " I want a better life for my family" and be granted permission to stay.

I would wager a guess here that every single "venting" person has zero personal experience with the non-sensical and impossible laws of current immigration. The system is a joke. Try to marry someone abroad and find out first hand. Try to adopt a foreign child and see first hand. There's more legal forms and paperwork than you can choke a horse with. Try to bring a lost sibling into the USA. What if you are dying and just want to meet your long lost sibling separated at birth and the INS system takes 3-5 years to approve the visa and get them permission to live in the good ol' US of A!!! All of you guys are horribly twisted and greedy. I am ashamed to call you all Americans because I do not view the situation as any different than when the migration of anglos stole this land from the Native American Indians. Wasn't that "illegal"? Or have we forgotten? We are rotten to the core here.

It's funny to me that we Americans are high and mighty now after the fact that our lucky butts have been here awhile, most of the wealthiest families "stole" huge amounts of land by ways similar to squatters rights in the beginning, remember? Really, think about it. The term American? what does this mean? Aren't we the melting pot? Aren't we all very fortunate to be here because our families had it so easy to come here and start a new life in the first place? What motivates all of you screaming so-called-fellow Americans is PURE GREED. How can you condemn the Mexicans from wanting to work hard, and to have a better life for their families too?

All we have to do here is to financially penalize the law breakers in the form of a fine (for not following the impossible legal route to get here) and then to give them SS #'s so they immediately pay into the systems you are whining about.... this would change a lot. Americans are driven to think of the fast food job, the gas pumping job, toilet cleaning, fruit picking etc etc are for losers, drop-outs etc. We don't want our kids to be associated with humiliating jobs like these right? Come on folks, get off your high horses and quit being the judge and jury. American employees in physical labor jobs are truly lazy, demanding, and too high and mighty to work as hard as these folks do. That's a fact. It is no wonder foreigners wanting more out of life would seek to avoid the 3-5 years or more of hoopla it takes to "maybe" get permission for a green card. Ignorant American's see things from naive, greedy and hateful eyes.

None of us human beings get to decide who our mother and father are, of which country we are born into, of which economical status, etc. that's for sure. However, don't we all want the best for our families? Isn't this the human way? To try to have the best possible environment, adequate healthcare, adequate income, a roof over our heads etc.? The American INS system is the problem. If it were as easy as it was for our families years ago at Ellis Island, we would not be here blogging today. Immigration Law sucks. I do agree the financial burden would be eliminated if they had official status, official social security numbers, official employment. Then all we have to do is fine them, and give them green cards and ta-da, problem solved. So no more discrimination here guys, because that's what drives all of your hateful comments. Oh yeah, and the greediness too.

Contractors who want to use illegal immigrants should pay a fee - 10,000 a year for each illegal immigrant license. If caught on site without the license(s), contractor should spend a minimum of 2 months in jail and be fined $25,000 for each infraction. A couple of busts like this and the job market will dry up very quickly for the illegals.