I would like to here a plan that would not encourage ignoring the law.

Jose Vargas' situation needs special attention, since his parents cannot be prosecuted because they are outside the US. Although it may seem unfair to insist that he follow immigration law, allowing him to stay encourages other parents to illegally send their children to the US.

hear, not "here"

Organizers say they couldn't have put together a better group of participants? That's telling given that it looks like only one of the participants will likely be against illegal immigration.

Cases like Jose Antonio Vargas' are indeed difficult, but don't forget that he took positions in schools and scholarships that would have otherwise gone to an American Citizen (including say a Hispanic American who came here legally). Is that fair to those who don't break the law?

This Vargas miscreant is a shining example of how vile, lawless and corrupt the Obama Regime has become. This creep should have been on a plane headed for Manila the day he revealed his status. Obama should be impeached over this and his other numerous crimes.

The joke is on American taxpayers, law abiding citizens, and those who came here legally. He should be deported. He has plenty from this country to make him successful back home. So why is he still here?

America needs all of the talented, hard-working people it can get in order to succeed as a country. That means providing a path to citizenship for Vargas and others like him who sincerely want to contribute to the US and who were brought here at a young age through no fault of their own. America needs all of America's talent people, no matter where they came from!

Who would you rather have in the U.S.: a talented, hard-working person like Jose Vargas or a U.S. citizen who is mooching off the system, sitting around in jail, etc.? Too bad we can't deport some of these loser citizens and trade them for people like Vargas who actually want to lead productive lives.

The tough immigration law in Alabama has been a disaster.

Web Link

This is a two sided problem. First, Congress needs to get off their butts and fix our out of date immigration laws. They need to create a guest worker program. Jobs are here and workers need and want them in order to put food on their family’s tables.
On the other hand, undocumented workers are breaking the law. It makes me sick to see the way they thumb their noses at our laws. They think that they are better than U.S. citizens and don’t need to have drivers’ licenses, car insurance, or pay taxes.

what is there to discuss? Don't we all know that violation of immigration laws is criminal and people who employ these illegal immigrants are criminals as well? It is time to implement E-verify and send business people who employ illegal aliens to prison with financial penalty. Who needs Google to certify that it is OK to break our laws?

They should have invited someone from NumbersUSA as well. It is a sad day that Google is on the bandwagon to promote welfare for illegal immigrants. Haven't we seen enough traffic jam near Rengstroff and Central expway, women walking with 4,5,6 kids all the time? has anyone thought about how much money is being doled to out these women having so many babies, kids? And they are still making more babies...While the Google execs are using tax loopholes to pay zero taxes, I as a single person still have to pay 30% plus to support all these illegal aliens have tons of babies and send them to school,college, medi-cal,etc.. liberals are bunch of crooks.

@Go Team America!

"That means providing a path to citizenship for Vargas and others like him who sincerely want to contribute to the US and who were brought here at a young age through no fault of their own"

The problem with that logic is that several billion parents believe that their children want to contribute to the US, and that if they enter the country illegally, that the law will be changed to allow them to stay.

@Konrad M. Sosnow

Indeed it is a two-sided problem. As long as aliens illegally enter the US and are allowed to stay and work, there is no need for a guest worker program.

@Sara -

"Who would you rather have in the U.S.: a talented, hard-working person like Jose Vargas or a U.S. citizen who is mooching off the system, sitting around in jail, etc.?"

This is exactly why there are immigration laws. Those who are likely to be talented and hard-working are admitted. Those who are likely to mooch off the system or end up in jail are not.

It is unfortunate that bending the rules for Jose Vargas would lead many parents to believe that the rules would be bent for their children as well, resulting in a flood of illegal child-immigrants. The current law requires him to leave the country for 10 years before applying for a visa, it does not bar him from becoming a US citizen. A legal immigrant that starts with an H1-B visa can expect 4-6 years to get a green-card. The ten year exclusion is not unreasonable.

@James

"The tough immigration law in Alabama has been a disaster."

The study is flawed as it assumes all illegal immigrants are paying income tax and that the jobs they vacate will remain empty. Both assumptions are wrong. It does not attempt to compute education and health-care costs - it simply assumes they are zero.

The law was enacted in September, the article was published in February. I'll let you figure out why there are less people harvesting tomatoes in February than in September.

steve..you're funny....and right....harvesting tomatoes...hope you go to the civility roundtable...and speak up for those of us who agree with you....thanks

Tomatoes: Web Link

The US has an aging population, we're going to face a shortage of workers, look at Japan for an example.

Web Link

Ah yes, staring a civility roundtable with a rash of uncivil rants in the comment section. Most of these comments are exactly why Jose Antonio Vargas is trying to have this conversation, and you can't even give him the space to do it. Shame!

Well, I see that everybody wants all illegal aliens deported,,,the question is...who is going to do the work they do?
Mr baja rat??? or his bodies?

I would like to see a plan to have Jose Antonio Vargas pay back every penny of his scholarships that he earned illegally. What kind of message are we sending to our kids. That its okay to break the law, and get away with it?

James:

The kind of workers you will get from illegal immigration won't be able to fill out an application for a job.

*Education*, Infrastructure, *Immigration*, R&D, Regulations.

Web Link

@hugo

"Well, I see that everybody wants all illegal aliens deported,,,the question is...who is going to do the work they do?"

Ummm... legal aliens?

@Erik -

"Ah yes, staring a civility roundtable with a rash of uncivil rants in the comment section. Most of these comments are exactly why Jose Antonio Vargas is trying to have this conversation, and you can't even give him the space to do it. Shame!"

How is asking someone to follow the law uncivil? Immigration laws are in place to ensure fairness to those who wish to enter the country. How is it fair that some people must follow the law and others are granted amnesty? Indeed it is not Jose Vargas's fault that he entered the country illegally - it was his parents'. Granting amnesty to Mr. Vargas, would reward his parents for breaking the law - and encourage millions of others to do likewise. I have yet to hear a workable solution that would allow illegal immigrants to stay, while suitably deterring future illegal immigrants. What do you propose?

@James -

All the "lost crops" doesn't explain why the 2011 US fresh tomato crop was 9% larger than the 2010 fresh tomato crop. The processed tomato crop was down slightly 3%.

Web Link

I'm not sure but that data might reflect inflation?

@James

"I'm not sure but that data might reflect inflation?"

The 9% is by weight. The fact is that there was negligible loss of crops, just a lot of crying.

The reason that farmers are complaining is because they are losing their labor that they didn't need to pay benefits, payroll taxes, social security or even minimum wage. In short, they were exploiting the illegal immigrants. Yourself and many others are fine with that as it boosts the US economy.

Also keep in mind that for every dollar added to the US economy by an illegal immigrant, one dollar is subtracted from the economy of their home country. Not surprisingly, the economic reports never mention the damage this does to other countries.

I could only find units of dollars.

@James

"I could only find units of dollars."

They show both dollars and price per unit weight. You can compute the weight by value_in_dollars/price_per_unit_weight, and then the increase in weight by (2011_weight - 2010_weight)/ 2010_weight. It's +9% for fresh tomatoes (which the farm in alabama claims to produce).