Charlie Daniels take on the new AZ immigration law.....

But they do. All they need to do is get out of the country, pick up a birth certificate and fullfil the immigration requirements. Simple.

Your comment regarding affording boat, plane trip to cross the ocean is an aas..u..me tion. Speaking from my personal life, we came across on a Greef line, called the Neptune. It was a rust bucket in which we got the cheapest berths possible. Mother saved for nearly a decade to make that happen. My father was a naturalized citizen so he returned to the US after my brother was born. He sent care packages. These featured a few dollars, some chocolate bars and coffee. Mother took the food items and walked to the surrounding farms to barter for bread and butter. We lived very frugally. Butter was a luxury. Most often we had lard sandwiches for lunch and sometimes dinner. I owned one pair of shoes, mostly I went barefoot. Clothes were gifts from relatives. Yes, we were poor, but we had pride, determination and discipline sufficient to bide our time until we could afford to make the trip. There is no way you can ever convince me that being poor justifies entering the country illegally.

By granting illegals a chance to remain in the country mocks not only all other immigrants who sacrificed everything to get here legally, but also mocks the laws of our nation. Where there is a will there is a way is an attitude instilled by my parents. I've employed that to get through graduate school on my own..mostly. The exception was my last year in school. Without a job and with a monthly gift of only 100 dollars from my mother, it would have been easy to quit. i didn't because I wanted to finish and willed myself to endure. I collected aluminum cans and softdrihk bottles to get money to buy bagels for lunch and dinner, slept in a closet of the geology department, fearful someone might find me and kick me out. friends fed me at times, but I still lost weight. It didn't matter. Only one goal mattered and I achieved it. Attitude permeates people. I submit to you these poor, hard working people, lack the drive to do things right, look for a quick way to get what they want and have no regard for what America represents. Why else would they protest? Have they not already gotten enough? From my historical perspective, they have it easy. BTW we left Germany for political reasons, were made refugees by the Russian occupation. Recall those TV images where refugess flee to freedom? You can put my family in those, like the ones where the woman carries all of their possessions on her back. My mother did that.

Yes, there may always be forces or important issues driving immigrants, but those will never negate the need for integrity. That is what legal immigrants have and illegal aliens do not.

Rockdoc, that is the most fascinating post I think I've ever read! Seriously, I mean that. I would love to sit and talk with you sometime--what a wonderful heritage, history and past you have lived! I write and there is characterization oozing from our pores my friend! Coffee at Starbuck's I say! Viking? JMC? You in?

My father immigrated here also. Not sure of the details, but I am first generation American also. And like you, I struggled through college and making it through school so that I could contribute to society. I worked 3 or 4 jobs and lived in my car, subsiting on tuna and crackers. I know what it is like to have no money, no home, nothing but a sense of hopelessness that drives a sense of ambition. Maybe it is that past that makes me want to find a way to fix the illegal status of some fine people who broke a law to better themselves a long time ago.

I agree with what you are saying; I am not saying that anyone should have a Free Pass. What I mean is that if there were a way to punish them for the past breaking of the law while allowing them to stay and acquire citizenship--that would be great.