Utah plans to grant amnesty to illegal immigrants!

oops! I hadn't thought about that possibility! My bad! Is there a way that they can make it right in order to become legal? I would prefer that people be legal residents before they get certain services. I just wish there were a way for people to gain access to a better life without having to come here illegally.

Not at this time. Right now, the emphasis has to be on stopping new illegals from coming into the country and making it difficult for them to live here illegally; so that, trying to come here is less attractive. Only after the influx has stopped will people be willing to sit down and decide what to do with the illegal immigrants already here. The reason for that is that every time we have given the illegal immigrants that are already here some type of amnesty (a way to become legal) we immediately had a flood of more illegals immediately after hoping that they would be the lucky ones "next time". "I just wish there were a way for people to gain access to a better life without having to come here illegally." There is - all they need to do is make changes in their own country! Life in the US was not always as good as it is now. The early settlers had a very difficult time and barely scratched out an existance - many didn't even survive. But, they and their children kept working to make the country better. These illegal immigrants want to dump their responsibility to their own country and come someplace that will just "give" them a better life. They need to earn it like we and our ancesters did. It won't be easy; but, with the education they have gained here and with all the technological advances that are out there and are available; they have the tools they need to improve their own country. They are just too lazy and too afraid to stand up and put their lives on the line the way our ancesters did (except for the middle east where many of them are doing that right now). India's growth has been fueled by Indians who came to the US legally, got good educations and jobs, and now many of them are taking that knowledge and their earning back to India and they are making changes. But, it is not something that happens overnight! They have to work for it and so do the other countries. They have to educate all of their people and then their people have to invest themselves back into the country to make it a better place to live.

I guess one question then is HOW do we get them to do that? Often, people come here for an education and then they don't want to go back to where they came from. Perhaps we should limit the number of people allowed to come here for education or any other purpose. I don't know what to make of all of this.

"If you have nothing to hide, you shouldn't mind us searching your house".

"If you have nothing to hide, you shouldn't mind us searching your house". That is exactly right! Every time I have applied for a job (whether I was hired or not) the companies ran a criminal back ground check. When I went into the military and needed a security clearance - the government ran far more invasive background checks. When I applied for my insurance and security's licenses - they also ran far more invasive background checks. Background checks are a part of life and if you know there may be a problem; you are better off telling them about it before the background check is even run - if you tell them, then it doesn't look like you were hiding something and you still have a chance to get the position you are applying for simply because you were honest that at some point in your past you made a mistake.

"I don't know how many illegal aliens will be willing to pay $2500 or volunteer for a background check though." - $2,500 is the maximum the state will charge, the actual price may be less. At this point Utah has not said how the exact amount would be obtained. Since this is a criminal background check only, if they have not been caught or have used someone else's identity before, they may have no problems with the background check.

This policy of states applying to the US government to constantly request waivers is stupid. Lately, any state that disagrees with something done at the federal level is rushing out and asking for a waiver. Are all the states part of the US or not? A waiver should be a temporary thing when a state has a problem meeting a deadline for a federal requirement. Maybe, if the states disagree with what is happening in DC all the time, they really need new representaives and senators who will actually represent the people of the state instead of their respective parties (Democrat and Republican).

Actually, I don't think it would be a problem for them to save up to $2,500 to pay the fine - this is March 2011 and this does not take effect until Jan 2013 (unless the feds do give them a waiver); so, they will have 21 months to save up the money - that is less than $120 per month. They may have to send a little less money back home for a while; but, then they are guaranteed a two year free pass here in the US.

Since the majority of the hispanic illegal immigrants are Catholic; the Mormon majority in Utah might quickly find itself in the minority.