President Obama’s announcement about his administration’s new immigration policy may or may not have been politically motivated, but it did bring attention to a pesky immigration issue that is difficult to deal with.

In a nutshell, the issue is this: How do you avoid punishing children for the sins of their parents?

Consider the following hypothetical situation:

Maria was born in Mexico. When she was still a baby, she went with her parents as they moved to the USA. Afterwards, Maria grew up in the USA, sounding and acting just like most American kids. Maria learned Spanish from her parents, but she has never been in Mexico other than when she was a baby. The USA is the only nation that she has ever known, and Mexico is a foreign nation to her.

On her 18th birthday, Maria is told a secret that had been kept from her. When she and her parents entered the USA 17 years earlier, her parents did not have permission from the U.S. government to enter the USA. Maria’s parents have never had Green Cards. Instead, her parents are illegal immigrants.

What about Maria? Is she also an illegal immigrant, or is she the victim of her parents’ illegal status? Unlike her parents, Maria would be lost if she were forced to live in Mexico, because the USA is the only home that she has ever known.

While Maria was a minor, she did not have the ability to choose where she lived. That choice was made by her parents. Now that she is 18, Maria would like to attend a local college, even if she has to pay out-of-state tuition. She also would like to obtain a Green Card until she is able to undergo the official naturalization process.

The U.S. Department of Homeland Security knows about Maria. What should the U.S. government do with Maria? Is there a way to enable Maria to obtain what she wants without punishing her for what her parents did while she was a baby?

The parents should still be deported and take their kid with them.

Ignore the issue and make her the 2nd illegal immigrant president.

If you don't set examples, teach lessons, educate by precedent....who learns?

Blame the parents, NOT AMERICA!

If a citizen breaks the law they face the music, including loss of freedom and fines, so illegals have more rights than we do? Then why are there laws in the 1st place?

By that precedent all laws can be broken without regard or punishment....if you're illegal to begin with! And cast your illegal vote for Obozo....

I keep seeing posted in these threads..that illegals are a problem because they use up "our" resources, their gang banger criminal's, welfare moms...etc, etc.

If Maria has been a good girl, has never been arrested,
hasn't gotten knocked up and is a working tax payer,
why in the world would it bother any one if she was here?

I thought it was to better the country, not punish.
Silly me.

how can you work and pay taxes if you don't have a social security number?

illegals aren't the problem.

companies that hire them illegally are the problem.

there wouldn't be 20 million or whatever the number actually is if there were no one offering them jobs.

I didn't notice the resident in chief offering a plan to increase fines on companies because that would be putting their campaign contribution potential in jeopardy..

stopp!!!!

The law is the law, her parents broke the law and like it or not, Maria needs to go back to the country where she came from. She got lucky, her luck is now suppose to be over but knowing how illegals and Obama work, "Maria" will probably get even more lucky by staying here and taking advantage of her situation as much as possible.

she will stay here and have a lot of babies that will in turn have more and more babies?

It isn't just companies that hire them, there are people who hire them to mow their lawns or hire them for the day cause they see them standing there waiting in the parking lot to help you with your project from Home Depot.Let's not forget some are in gangs and sell drugs,etc.

I won't hire them and I refuse to learn Spanish based on principle. I can order Mexican food though,lol.

This Country Was founded By illegals noNe of you have a right to complAin unless your One of us NativeS

Ola', como estas? Let Maria stay.

You get your choice people:

1) Open borders

2) A welfare state.

You cannot have both without economic ruin for the country. We wouldn't be in nearly as bad of shape as we are currently in, if it weren't for illegals using public services. A report last year said that if California stopped offering public services to illegals, it would completely eliminate their budget deficit.

Personally, I'm for open borders (as long as they inform authorities that they are entering the country and have no criminal record).

lets apply the question to another law

lets say maria is the beneficiary of a one million dollar trust fund at birth,,,she invests that money in her teens (or her parents do) and it turns into five million by the time she is twenty five and married with children

she purchases a one million dollar home and is told the secret that the million dollars from twenty five years ago was stolen and not legally hers

should she keep the twenty five million?

should she keep twenty four and only return one?

is ANY of the money or its profits hers?

are ANY of the money or its profits those of whomever the million were stolen from?


lets complicate it more

what if the person the million was stolen from , after suffering bankruptcy, became impoverished, brought their children up in the poorest neighborhoods before dying and leaving them orphans


should those orphans be the rightful beneficiary of that million and the profits it generated,,,?


emotions can jumble the law,,,the answers arent easy

it would be a shame for children to suffer a heartache like loosing what they were accustomed to,, but maybe the shame should be on the parents for taking the risk,, however noble their belief that they could get away with it without 'hurting' anyone,,,,

by definition, a founder of a country cannot be 'illegal' in that country,,,

and they came from somewhere else,like Siberia,possibly even other Regions in Asia!

But we are not talking about a situation 300 years or 12000 years ago,we're talking about today.

Taken from a 2010 Op Ed on this subject:


This English teacher has phrased it the best I've seen yet.
Tomatoes and Cheap Labor This should make everyone think, be you Democrat, Republican or Independent

From a California school teacher - - - "As you listen to the news about the student protests over illegal immigration, there are some things that you should be aware of:

I am in charge of the English-as-a-second-language department at a large southern California high school which is designated a Title 1 school, meaning that its students average lower socioeconomic and income levels

Most of the schools you are hearing about, South Gate High, Bell Gardens , Huntington Park , etc., where these students are protesting, are also Title 1 schools.

Title 1 schools are on the free breakfast and free lunch program. When I say free breakfast, I'm not talking a glass of milk and roll -- but a full breakfast and cereal bar with fruits and juices that would make a Marriott proud. The waste of this food is monumental, with trays and trays of it being dumped in the trash uneaten.

I estimate that well over 50% of these students are obese or at least moderately overweight. About 75% or more DO have cell phones.

The school also provides day care centers for the unwed teenage pregnant girls (some as young as 13) so they can attend class without the inconvenience of having to arrange for babysitters or having family watch their kids.

I was ordered to spend $700,000 on my department or risk losing funding for the upcoming year even though there was little need for anything; my budget was already substantial. I ended up buying new computers for the computer learning center, half of which, one month later, have been carved with graffiti by the appreciative students who obviously feel humbled and grateful to have a free education in America ..

I have had to intervene several times for young and substitute teachers whose classes consist of many illegal immigrant students, here in the country less then 3 months, who raised so much hell with the female teachers, calling them "Putas"(whores) and throwing things, that the teachers were in tears.

Free medical, free education, free food, free day care etc., etc, etc. Is it any wonder they feel entitled to not only be in this country but to demand rights, privileges and entitlements?

To those who want to point out how much these illegal immigrants contribute to our society because they LIKE their gardener and housekeeper and they like to pay less for tomatoes: spend some time in the real world of illegal immigration and see the TRUE costs.
Higher insurance, medical facilities closing, higher medical costs, more crime, lower standards of education in our schools, overcrowding, new diseases. For me, I'll pay more for tomatoes.

Americans, We need to wake up. It does, however, have everything to do with culture: It involves an American third-world culture that does not value education, that accepts children getting pregnant and dropping out of school by 15 and that refuses to assimilate, and an American culture that has become so weak and worried about"political correctness" that we don't have the will to do anything about it.

CHEAP LABOR? Isn't that what the whole immigration issue is about?
Business doesn't want to pay a decent wage.

Consumers don't want expensive produce.

Government will tell you Americans don't want the jobs.

But the bottom line is cheap labor. The phrase "cheap labor" is a myth, a farce, and a lie. There is no such thing as "cheap labor."

Take, for example, an illegal alien with a wife and five children. He takes a job for $5.00 or 6.00/hour. At that wage, with six dependents, he pays no income tax, yet at the end of the year, if he files an Income Tax Return, he gets an "earned income credit" of up to $3,200 free.
He qualifies for Section 8 housing and subsidized rent.
He qualifies for food stamps.
He qualifies for free (no deductible, no co-pay) health care.
His children get free breakfasts and lunches at school.
He requires bilingual teachers and books.
He qualifies for relief from high energy bills.
If they are, or become, aged, blind or disabled, they qualify for SSI. If qualified for SSI they can qualify for Medicaid. All of this is at (our) taxpayer's expense.
He doesn't worry about car insurance, life insurance, or homeowners insurance.
Taxpayers provide Spanish language signs, bulletins and printed material.
He and his family receive the equivalent of $20.00 to $30.00/hour in benefits.

Working Americans are lucky to have $5.00 or $6..00/hour left after paying their bills and his.

Read a history book mUch?

There was a time when this country was brown, red...
whatever ya wanna call it.

Seems we have some serious issues wanting to keep that from happening again....

My grandparents weren't born here, most of ours weren't.

3rd? Did I miss someone?