1) Should illegal immigrants be given a chance to apply for legal status? Yes.

2) What should be done with illegal immigrants? Prosecute them.

It is possible to believe that the law should be changed to allow for a potential path to legal status, while simultaneously believing that we should prosecute them in accordance with the law until that legal change occurs.

In other words, if the respondents’ expressed desire for a “chance to apply” comes to pass (which would require a change in the law), then the preconditions for question two no longer exist, because it explicitly asks what we should do with ILLEGAL immigrants.

reaganaut

Well, if you’ve been polled, I suppose I can stop believing that they just make up the numbers and now only believe that they skew the respondents to make their numbers say what they want.

(Which, in practice, is pretty much the same thing.)

……

56. Do you think illegal immigrants do more to strengthen the U.S. economy because they provide low-cost labor and they spend money or do illegal immigrants do more to weaken the U.S. economy because they don’t all pay taxes but can use public services?

It assumes that there are two diametrically opposed camps who are each monolithic in their reasoning for or against illegal immigration.

There are a lot of reasons that people tolerate or encourage illegal immigration. Some take (IMO, out of context) it to be a Christian virtue to welcome the alien among them and that this is an extension of the Great Commission to “Love thy neighbor.” Some believe that we shouldn’t doom folks to a life of poverty.

A lot of folks oppose illegal immigration for more reasons than are listed: respect for the rule of law, increased crime rates, the attrition of the values that made America successful, etc.

What makes the question even dumber is that they’re asking for an opinion on something that’s measurable. We can ascertain their economic impact. It’s like asking your opinion on how hot the sun is.

Meanwhile, Kaus’s righteous fury at the impending amnesty is leading him towards Sullivanesque conspiracy fantasias. Easy, Mickey. Make the rage productive.

If they ram amnesty through Congress and 6 months later Mexico announces it is privatizing its oil industry, what will you say then Allahpundit?

not I keep getting them

now I keep getting them…

I think they must share numbers as well. I went from never being called to 3 times in a year, can’t be coincidence. I got a phone call from Zogby as well, and suffered through an inane poll about phone books. I want them to keep calling though, just because I know they are out fishing for liberals.

I got a call the other day and the caller id read “CBS 4 Poll” or something similar, with NY area code. I wish I could have answered it. I hate telemarketers, but I’ll suffer through some polls knowing I can probably influence the totals.

Has anyone here ever actually been polled by one of these organizations?

Actually yes – and by sheer luck. I actually received a phone call from Gallup. As luck would have it, we were all home on a rainy Sunday, one of my kids was ill. I’m sure they didn’t expect a conservative to be home on Sunday, especially in a MA town that went 62% for Kerry. I’m sure it skewed their numbers. I also laughed out loud at least 4 or 5 times.

I also happened to get an email from Zogby to take a poll, not I keep getting them. Those are fun as well. They are quite time consuming, actually and ask some bizarre questions. On one page they are asking what cereal I like, and the next if I am ashamed of GWB.

I’ve also noticed that the questions pages load up in groups of 10 or so, and seem to be influenced by your previous answers. You answer 10, click submit, then it’s off to the next 10 after a brief wait. The best part is, I am always asked if I am a NASCAR fan halfway through. No other sport, no other hobby…. my answers must profile me as a NASCAR fan. Of course, I’m not and I answer no, it must screw up their system.

Has anyone here ever actually been polled by one of these organizations?

James on May 25, 2007 at 7:46 AM

Never.

Hurricane forecasters tell us how many storms we can expect.
If their forecast is way off they blame it on global warming, el Nino or George Bush. IF they are close to being right they will say ’see, we told you so’.

Pollsters phrase the questions so they can get the answers they want. The final results of the poll, of course, depends on who paid for the poll.

Bottom line – you can’t trust hurricane forecasters or pollsters.

Ann Coulter brought up the conspiracy theory (approvingly?) on Hannity & Colmes to try and discuss immigration instead of Iraq.

Reality check, public polls should have zero impact on driving our government’s law enforcement policies. The laws to be enforced should be the beginning and ending of the debate. Enforce current laws until you change them. Period.

The large number in favor of prosection for number 74 may refer to illegals who continue to ignore the relaxed restrictions.

There is persisent 65+% who favor some major liberalization, which is why this is going forward. (Even higher on http://www.pollingreport.com/immigration.htm)

If public outrage can be made to appear mixed then it’s full speed ahead for a confusing, complex under the radar amnesty (and worse) bill.

Just another (in a long line of) excuse(s) that legislators can use to be adverse to the adamant public demand for enforcement first, talk later.

George should be glad the only thing that gets people off of BDS syndrome is just how furious they are at the government betrayal they’ve suffered from the fraudulent handling of illegal migration.

Q- Should immigrants follow the law when emigrating to America?

Follow-up: If not, why not?

Q- Should lawbreakers (”line-jumpers”) get preferential treatment over those who are going through the legal process of immigration?

If so: WHY?

Q- Do you have locks on your doors at home?

Q- Should our borders have similar “locks” (complete fences, more border guards, high tech surveillance, etc.)?

If not, why not?

If you do not establish a rational-national-defense mindset with your questions, first, people will be unfocused and will not react with suffienct enlightened self-interest to the seriousness of the issue.

I know it’s time consuming, which is half the reason I haven’t really cared to much to get my hosting issues worked out and making my blog operational again… I was spending so much time on things like this that are sort of a lot to digest… But it happens all to frequently and gets no coverage. It’s just like when the AP lies and misleads in their headlines and blogs rarely even pick up on it.

Anyway, for what it’s worth, allow me to repeat my immigration plan. Secure the border with however many National Guard troops are necessary. Build a wall, then you can relax the National Guard, and probably find a reasonable amount of border patrol.

Once that’s done (and while it’s being done actually) enact laws that punish businesses who hire illegals harshly. Scare the crap out of them to the point where they don’t want to risk it. This should help dry up some of the incentive to come here, and may even send some home (though the purpose is really for less chaos going forward).

I’m a realist and recognize that there’s no way to deport the millions of illegals, so perhaps we can just stick to “criminal illegals”. We should enact laws that make it easy to prosecute local and state law enforcement if they knowingly don’t report criminal illegals to ICE. Get rid of the scum.

For those that are here, the majority are here because Mexico sucks and the median income is something like 1/10 of ours. They can make tons of tax free money, send it home, have anchor babies, etc. It’s a free for all, yet Paco ain’t living in a mansion. In reality, I think most of us would do the same thing in their situations. Obviously they should fix their own screwed up country, but I think they’re all so poor and uneducated they feel helpless.

So what do we do with them? Well, while they may not be high society types here, the kind of money they send home is huge back there. I say we (AT A MINIMUM) double the tax rate for them, give them some sort of ID card (maybe after the touch-back thing, but I’m not sure that’s really going to work, unless employers are scared in to only hiring those with the ID, forcing the illegals to go through the process if they intend to find a job). Not only do they pay double taxes, but they also should pay in to social security and medicare, but not be eligible to benefit from it. Perhaps after a set time, maybe 10 years, they can apply for citizenship, but on the same path as everyone else, not jumping ahead. If they haven’t committed crimes, have paid their taxes, etc. they should eventually get cleared for citizenship, at which point we could bring their tax rate to the norm, and the money they pay in to SS/medicare could benefit them in the future. Maybe we could still stick them with a 1% “your welcome” tax for life.