I don't think we are helping Iraq. But that is another topic for another thread.

I don't disagree that illegal immigrants are breaking the law. But so are the employers who hire them. Putative action against undocumented workers will not stop the problem as long as there are jobs here for them and a standard of living that far exceeds what is possible in their own countries. The issue is clearly one regarding hispanics from Mexico and Central America, and their proximity to the USA. We share a much longer border with Canada, but because the USA and Canada enjoy comparable standards of living, neither place is flooded by illegal immigrants from across the border.

I am interested in policies that work and that are consistent with this country's purported values around care, compassion and human rights. Until living conditions substantially improve in Mexico and Central America, and unless work opportunites in the USA substantially decrease, the flood can not be stopped or even significantly slowed.

A well designed foreign economic policy that bolsters the economies and infrastructure of the countries to our south is strongly in our national interest.

Janie