My grandfather, my father and myself were immigrants from low rungs of the socio-economic ladder who became naturalized citizens and went on to become solid middle class citizens thanks to the opportunities available here. There are tens of millions of us and we refute your assertion with regard to becoming a burden to America. You were right about one thing though … we vote Democratic.

“…becoming a burden to America.” is an assertion of fact that’s not so easily refuted, and your claim of “tens of millions of us” is at best, questionable.

“Unfortunately, though Hispanics will make up 40 percent of the state’s working-age population by 2020, just 12 percent of them are projected to have bachelor’s degrees by then, up from 10 percent in 2006. Moreover, their fields of academic concentration are not where the most economically fertile growth will probably occur. At California State University in 2008, just 1.7 percent of master’s degree students in computer science were Mexican-American, as were just 3.6 percent of students in engineering master’s programs. The largest percentage of Mexican-American enrollment in M.A. programs was in education—40 percent—despite (or perhaps because of) Mexican-Americans’ low test scores.”

“The future mismatch between labor supply and demand is likely to raise wages for college-educated workers, while a glut of workers with a high school diploma or less will depress wages on the low end and contribute to an increased demand for government services, especially among the less educated Hispanic population. U.S.-born Hispanic households in California already use welfare programs (such as cash welfare, food stamps, and housing assistance) at twice the rate of U.S.-born non-Hispanic households, according to an analysis of the March 2011 Current Population Survey by the Center for Immigration Studies. Welfare use by immigrants is higher still. In 2008–09, the fraction of households using some form of welfare was 82 percent for households headed by an illegal immigrant and 61 percent for households headed by a legal immigrant.”

I applaud your, and your family’s, ability and determination to become solid middle-class citizens of this great nation. However, you are the exception, rather than the rule. Data analysis clearly indicates that the primary motivational factor behind Hispanic support for the Democrat Party is the welfare state.

My father’s family came to America because they were poor and hungry. They fled the Great Irish Potato Famine. My mother’s family came to America because they were persecuted, they fled Hitler’s Nazis. My parents met in college. They were poor themselves until they completed their education, even then they had to work hard for decades before enjoying the benefits of their education. So poor people are no longer allowed in America to seek better opportunities? Immigration reform is needed to curb illegal immigration. Were my parent’s families denied entry based on wealth and education, I would never have been born and never had the privilege of serving my country and community for 28 years.

Love your screen moniker. Did you immigrate from Cuba, and are you Desi Arnaz’ cousin?

God forbid that the United States should make a decision that’s in the best interest of the United States. American engineering companies need access to foreign talent – we should make it as easy as possible to get skilled engineers into the US.

That is a matter for a separate debate, in a separate bill, at a separate time.

They think WE serve the White Hand.

Although I always thought Obama was more like Saruman (or Gollum? He’s too silly to be Sauron or Morgoth). Whereas Mitt, to me, always seemed like Gandalf (Mitt-thrandir ^^). Bill Clinton is the Witch King of Angmar. W is Radagast. Reagan is, um, Manwe?
Earendil? Tuor? Beren? Sarah is Varda (Elbereth)? Galadriel? Melian? Luthien? Goldwater was Turin.

Like you, my grandfather came over from Ireland. He was poor and I believe by our current definitions uneducated, but he could read. But he was skilled and worked for a living. He and his wife raised 5 kids without living on the government dole. He would be ashamed of you and the lies to which you lend your voice on this site. Oh, and one of the things he most liked to read about: wealthy scions of America like J. Paul Getty. When we took walks he would say “Now there was a smart man. You know he once said ‘if they took all the money in the United States and redistributed it evenly, within a decade I’d have all mine back again.’ “

I think that part would actually be fairly easy for the average patriot. It’s leaving that decision in the hands of the current crop of deciders that would worry me.

We already have too many artists, poets, musicians, etc. who have to live on government largess because their crap won’t sell in the marketplace. We don’t need more leaches sucking on the government teat. If, perchance, they actually have talent, they don’t need help, the world will pay for their stuff instead of our taxpayers. Engineers and scientists learn new things and introduce them to the marketplace, and the world progresses. Bad art, and there is way too much of it out there, doesn’t help anyone, including the so-called artist. So, we don’t need more of them. You might as well ask for more short basketball players who can’t dribble. Or, more baseball players with a batting average in the double digits.

Art is fine, but crap that claims to be art is a burden on the marketplace, and there is way too much that around already. Let the market decide which of them gets access to our pocketbooks, not the government.

I don’t know why the left is up in arms about this.

While I think it’s great to import some more talent (esp. given how dismal a job our own education system is doing on the STEM front), given the current trends, most of these people’s kids will vote dim. Look at the Asian American populations. Their parents were conservative, in the last election, Obama won these groups overwhelmingly.

Not to mention, these folks are getting their master’s and PhDs from American universities. That increases the likelihood of their liberalization.

Makes me think this uproar from the left might be feigned…

Hm, maybe.

It is not that he holds any power over the ring, but that the ring holds no power over him…?

Gandalf’s both wise and weak, at least Version. 1 the Grey. Which is why I chose him.

Speak for yourself.

Add to your list of qualifications: Service in the U.S. military shall count as part of the applicant’s “continuous residence in the United States” regardless of the applicant’s actual physical location during the time of his/her military service.

“…and your claim of ‘tens of millions of us’ is at best, questionable.”

What makes you think he is one of the, or was writing about, legal immigrants? Some estimates of the number of illegals in the country would place the number in the tens of millions.

Without evidence to the contrary, I’m guardedly willing to give him the benefit of doubt regarding his citizenship.

However, I don’t accept the false narrative he was trying to construct: The welfare state is not the reason that “tens of millions of us,” legal or illegal, vote ‘Democrat’.

The data is clear and overwhelming: The ‘narrative’ is constructed from whole cloth, and it’s patently false.

Yes, and if you are otherwise qualified you can talk to a recruiter and they will move heaven and earth to get you signed up. The military has long been known as a good route to becoming a US citizen.

And good for you, that you decided to become citizens in the greatest nation in the world. But those wonderful opportunities in America are of necessity limited. We NEED those higher-educated people in order to generate more opportunities for the folks on the lower rung. We cannot be a nation of maids and construction workers and landscapers and janitors. We have to also bring in scientists and mathematicians and computer programmers.

Right now, we have a dearth of the latter group and a surplus of the former. Too many Americans, alas, are choosing to take the easy educational route instead of the challenging one. What is wrong with adding to our highly-educated class through preferential immigration programs? Those people will increase our GDP, which will create more positions for the maids and landscapers, which means even more of the lower-educated folks can come in and generate wealth and companies and resources to pass on to their children, who will also become productive Americans.

If you do it the other way, though, we wind up with a surplus of gardeners and maids. That drives wages down for all of them, including Americans who already hold such jobs, and it does not create jobs for scientists and mathematicians. In essence, bringing in those higher-level people who produce more at the top provides additional opportunity for all levels. Allowing anyone in who wants to come shrinks opportunities available for the rest, who may wind up being a net drain on the economy and further shrink opportunities.

The choice is obvious, to anyone who will think about this logically. Alas, it seems we have a shrinking pool of logical thinkers in the country as well.

to sign up an illegal alien would constitute effecting a fraudulent enlistment. The military does speed up the process of becoming a citizen, but you have to have a green card to get in.

Well done! I wish I’d said that.

Obama’s Gollum. It’s the ears and the always grasping after Precious.

Sarah Palin is Galadriel, not Varda; she leads in her own protected area, but if she steps outside of it and tries to seize power elsewhere she could destroy the whole movement.

Clinton is more the Saruman figure, speaks pretty and at first you think he’s okay – and then you find out the truth, and the lies his followers and he have whispered to good folks. Plus I could see him in rainbow garb.

McCain is Theoden King, but we never managed to get rid of Wormtongue.

Reagan is Gandalf, but we are still waiting for him to rise again.

The other kind are all in the Democrat party

If I follow Gutierrez’s logic to the ultimate conclusion, he is implying that either education has zero value or that the government places no value on citizens that can produce things of value. If we make the radical assumption that results are indicative of intent, it is safe to assume both.

Not to threadjack but I think there dislike of this has a second reason. It would put more money into parts of education that are still not overwhelmed with liberals. If republicans were trying to figure out a way for a pathway to citizenship in other degree fields they probably would have got more support.