Lee, are the majority of the refugees living four or five families in a
house so they can send more money back across the border? Many of them
don't want to stay here. The winters are harsh. 20-30 below zero in the
winter. Many come here as legal migrant workers to tend to the fields.
Not a problem with that. I don't have a problem with them being given
food stamps, welfare, free housing, free medical, free school lunches,
what have you. I applaud them for working as hard as they do. They are
DOCUMENTED workers, just like me and everyone else, except the illegals.
Many of the illegals are here for less than honorable reasons. No ID, no
green card (hell, my mom was good enough to have one!)not legal. It IS
an issue of legality. If not, why do we have border security? Kari,
here's your cue......

If it would have been my child trying to cry, the rest would have just
been caught.
Its not like the border patrol would beat them down with sticks.

We are a little more humane than that...A little!!
Kari?

Steve, refugees are given public housing, and all social welfare
benefits, adult education...all that is required to help integrate into
Australian society.

Ileegal, as the term is used here, immigrants, those that arrive by
tourist visas...are also, usually, either deported, or given equal
process, in deciding whether they can stay.

There are many families of migrants, bith legal and illegal, that
'pool', their assets, (income0, and share housing, four , five families
at a time, and yes money is sent home, to assist the families at home.

Many of the 'legal' migrants, support, 'illegal migrants' ( I sooo don't
like the term), in housing, work, and medical support.

We are a small population, we are a huge and vast country, with what
appears to be unlimited resources, (appears, being the operative word),
and there is a high tolerance for those who want to carve out a safer
existance for themselves and their families here.

We are different, our situation is different to the US, and culturally,
we are a young country, who view all of us, as immigrants from somewhere
else, except the Indigenous, the traditional owners of the land.

None of us, really lay claim to what we have, (this is speaking in a
generalised sense), we are all one crazy, multi cultural race, our
government, post war, paid people to emmigrate here...the 10 pound pom?
Don't know if you heard of it, so within just one generation, we had a
huge influx, of immigrants, and most of those immigrants, from the 40's
and 50's are still alive.

So our tolerance levels are high.

We offered all, a safe haven, post second world war, and although the
Government is attemting to adopt stronger stances, there is still huge
tolerance amongst the people of Australia, with Immigrants, and
refugees, (remembering we dont call them illegal immigrants here).

Thanks for that Lee. Your dealings with immigration seem familiar to
me.

There are a lot of differences between the two though.
We have a country with a 3000 mile border to our south. The people can
make as much in 1 hr here as in a week at home. They use that fact to
undermine American Wages. I live in a southern state and they have
replaced Americans in formerly good paying construction jobs. I have
seen developers lay off every single American on their payrolls and
replace them with Illegals for half the wages.
People argue, but fact is the price of housing has not went down or even
leveled off. These developers are just lining their pockets deeper, and
rub it in our faces. They are getting richer, taking more vacations, and
lavish their kids with brand new BMW's when they turn 16. The men they
laid off are skilled craftsman who spent years learning their trades.
There is no comparison in the quality of work between the two groups.
The former employees work is far superior. Now these men either take a 4
or 5 dollar an hour pay cut or go work some where else.
Many of the northern states do not understand the problem to the degree
we do, but they will sooner or later. It is spreading rapidly. Look at
the debate the other night, up north, hardly a mention about illegal
immigration. Then watch when they come south again, you will see a lot
more emotion related to the topic. If they will show it, you will see
people in the streets complaining. They cant become President without
the South, and they will have to deal with the problem soon enough. It
is on everyones mind, and it isnt going away by itself. You see it in
the illegals faces too, their actions, they are worried. At school, my
English teacher said that they were being over run by illegals needing
to learn English, its required under the present bill be circulated. The
teacher said there were so many that they had to start a waiting list.
There is not enough qualified teachers. Right here where I live, within
50 mile radius I bet there are 10 colleges. Thats a whole heapin lot of
qualified English instructors. Just to give you an idea how many
illegals are here!!!

hey Fanta...heres to getting rid of all illegal immigrants..regardless
of where they are from
There are people who wait (and suffer) for years to come here legally.
From Asia, Philippines, Africa, India etc etc...why should Mexicans or
Latinos have a free pass to the front of the line....also legal
Immigrants don't get phone messages that say press 2 for Chinese..or
press 1 for Hungarian.. My grandparents are immigrants from other
countries and their first priority was to teach their children
English..it was taboo to speak anything but English in the home until
you could speak in fluently.Now we have to pay for special spanish
teachers..etc etc...the few dollars an hour less that they work for does
not even come close to the money it costs us in social services...well
this thread could go on for infinity..so I'll shut up and go
elsewhere..