AR--

Thanks for answering--the more perspectives we can get the better, on this topic, which should be of concern to all Americans (maybe even more than the second thread on fire trucks).

I'm glad you're willing to let illegals get $9/ hr.--that's up from 50 cents. And it's also considerably above the minimum wage. In fact lots of people make only about $9 or $10 per hour. You are correct they cannot live on that--but often it's a 2-earner situation.

"Compete for my job"? Are you really afraid that poor uneducated people who barely speak English can displace you? I'm not afraid. Nobody expects you to work for $9 /hr--you're a skilled citizen and a smart guy.

It's to the advantage of all Americans that everybody be educated--(maybe then they'd recognize Bushite-style propaganda)--, that everybody who drives have a license, that everybody have a Social Security number and pay taxes under that number--not a fake SSN obtained by an employer. If you think illegals' just being made legal will push up wages so high that inflation will skyrocket, I think you're being unduly alarmed. It will still be a question of supply and demand--and the supply will still be coming, especially from Mexico--but also elsewhere. Some of the ski resort workers, you can be sure, are legal--but they still only make $9/ hr---to start. Why shouldn't that rise over time?

Costco cashiers, in 2004, started at $10/hr--but they were on a path to be making $40,000 within 3 years--see the threads on Walmart (I can give specifics next time, if you'd like).

This is really a situation where simple decency, as well as self-interest, should mean Americans favor a path to citizenship for illegal immigrants--which is not the same as the loaded term "amnesty for lawbreakers".

I'd be curious to hear your further thoughts--this is not an issue which has to deteriorate into invective, a la Teribus.