Well, here I go again.
I'll give you my take from a Police Officer's Perspective. Illegals hurt just about everything, including to those that are here rightfully. My city has seen a huge explosion in immigrants from Mexico. It's really easy to tell which ones are legit. They are the ones I never see and don't ever deal with. When I ride through the projects at 2 am and see 20-30 hispanics fighting on the street corner.....It's a good bet that they aren't here legally. They don't work (legally) they are the ones that bring in our largest shipments of cocaine and meth and have formed several street gang. Unfortunatly there are bastard employers who pay to have them brought in because they work for 4 dollars an hour, under the table. So in effect, now you have legal immigrants with shitty pay. The most frequent question I face from my Community is "Sgt. #$@!*, why don't you guys do anything about these illegal aliens". To sum this up let me explain how the process works. Two years ago, we had a large group of hispanics that were warring over some turf, when we arrived, shots were fired by them at each other and they all took off running. We rounded up about 20 of them and checked their ID's.........every single one of them had a false visa and a false SS# card. We detained them and called INS and here's what they said....Unless you possess persons that are being arrested for violent felonies or have been previously been deported....we're not getting involved. Well we couldn't prove who fired the guns so not only are my community and department shit outta luck.....The fuckers knew the system and how to work it. Unfortunatly for changes to be made....you have to start at the top. I know a lot of people hate Bush, but he's the first one that has made attempts to "crack down" so to speak.
It gets even longer (always another side). A few years ago I got called over the radio to inspect a vehicle for a hispanic gentleman who happens to live in the projects. When I arrived, his family ran inside and he was really really quiet. I checked the vehicle, gave him his paperwork and went to shake his hand as I was leaving. He hesitated shaking my hand but when he did I noticed something very odd....he was litterly shaking. I left it at that but everytime I patrolled and saw him or his family out....I always stopped and said hello. The next year (4th of July) I was driving past his house when he jumped out into the middle of the road. I thought something was wrong but all he wanted was to share his BBQ with his "friend". He took me inside and showed me his wall display of his US Citizenship papers....he was extremely proud as he held his wife and 2 children smiling at me. He explained to me how the police and politics are in Mexico, and told how he was stopped in Mexico and nearly beaten to death because he didn't have enough money to bribe the police. He had also ran into some "not so friendly police" here in the states (I may be a police officer but I also know not all of us are "good")
In short, our families meet once a month for dinner and have learned a lot from each others culture. But.......do you think the rest of my community looks at him the way I do...nope. He's been stereo-typed as "just like the rest."
So you have to understand that this is a bigger problem than it looks....and things always have two sides.
Flame-Catcher