Honestly. It is hard to read this thread. On the other hand, tarheel speaks his mind so plainly, he doesn't even notice his extreme bigotry and ignorance. So I guess that's OK. But tarheel, I take exception to your purported honesty when you say "and,did you know that our little Southern Baptist Church here in Rural Hall,N.C., pays an Attorney each month to Protect our Right to worship here each week?...dang,what ever happened to the land of the free and the home of the brave?" Come on. Frankly, I do not believe it. Give us a few more particulars, if you please.

Further, tarheel, you claim that: "i have the business of the LORD JESUS CHRIST,to attend to!!!" How can you call it the LORD JESUS CHRIST's (quote) business when you flout his injunction to love your neighbor as yourself? Unless you think it was just an oversight that Jesus didn't address the problems of immigration? "Let the little ones come to me," he said, "but make them stop at the border." Right.

Sorry. Jacqui, you say "She was one of the few in her community who wanted to learn English." Maybe human beings, per se, are different in the UK from what they are in the US but I doubt it. Obviously, different immigrants have different ways to try to guard their cultures and keep their people from harm but the one constant is their drive to learn the language of the host country. Of course, there will be individual members of a given family who will never learn the language and I think we can live with that.

You also say: "There needs to be a tighter control on immigration and maybe heavier penalties on those employing illegals in both the UK and the USA. Significant penalties against employers is the only thing that will work, in my estimation. As long as people can better their lives and their families' condition by leaving their homes, that is what they will do. If they could find no jobs, they would not go.

I had this demonstrated in a small way in my own life. I had a dog that nursed a kitten to health. When I wanted to breed her again, I wanted the kitten - by now a half-grown cat - to stop nursing. But mild dissuasion didn't sway him. So when I caught him, I'd yell at him and chase him away. All I accomplished is that when I came into the room he'd leave my dog and make a dash away. Then one day I got smarter. I punished her. It took only one time before she shut down the candy store. She wasn't going to take the heat for someone else's actions.

The only reason that I can see for our policy regarding illegal immigrants in the US is that we are conflicted- we want the cheap labor but we don't want the people to stay or to enjoy any of the benefits. So we try to have it both ways and of course, that doesn't work well.

I tutored English as a Second Language for years. I believe that I would change my focus to a different segment of the culture I was serving, in order to discover what they really want.

Number 6, you say: "Are you also aware that children of illegal immigrants are allowed 'in state' tuition at state colleges, regardless of what state their parents reside." No. I was not aware of that. If it is true, I cannot imagine a better way of having a generation, whether legal or illegal, learn and practise a language, thereby fitting themselves for productive lives in the new country than by having them attend college.

I think the strength of the United States of America stems from the very things that we are complaining about here.