Lesson to us all: think twice before you travel to or through Texas.

ICE is federal, and the acronym aptly expresses our federal attitude towards immigrants.

Perry is a pure demagogue and completely full of shit.

Latin-Americans coming across the southern border do not make up most immigrants or even most undocumented immigrants. Both of those categories are currently dominated by Asians. And whenever you hear one of these racist motherfuckers say "Mexicans", remember that the net migration of Mexicans into the USA has been below zero for several years -- more leaving than arriving.

My thoughts are with Mr. Vargas and those poor child refugees who are being screamed and shot at by the enemies of America like Rick Perry.

He is not an undocumented immigrant.

He is a Citizen of the Philippines and has rights under their Constitution (and ours).

We should respect the native Citizenship of those who cross our borders, as they should respect the laws of the United States.

@7- If when people think "illegal immigrant" they think "Hispanic" it is because they are the ones that scream the loudest. If you look at any pro-illegal immigration protest or organization there are far more Hispanics that take part then Asians.
It is nice of a Zimbabwean immigrant (Charles Mudede) to demand America, Europe, and Israel have an open door policy for "the developing world". How nice it is for him to have explained in several posts that it is for our benefit. Not self serving at all. Open borders and unchecked immigration are so wonderful that no country in Africa, Asian, Middle East, South or Central America is willing to implement it themselves. Natives of those countries are trying to force it on other people's cultures, but not their own. How altruistic.

#9

I mean, seriously, when in life do you simply show up and claim to be a member of something without any of the necessary applications.

How about walking into Harvard, and sitting down, and demanding to be part of the student body without filling out an application form.

Want to be Dreamliner pilot? Sure, cut a hole in the fence at Sea-Tac, climb into a 787 through the luggage rack and sit in the pilot's seat. If they try to remove you, call CNBC!

Or maybe you've thought of yourself as the sort of undiscovered genius who Google would love to have on board -- but oh yeah, those crazy interview questions. Hey, break a window in the cafeteria, sneak behind someone with a legitimate card and take over an office.

These aren't immigrants -- they're The Wedding Crashers!

@10- you misinterpreted my post. I agree with you.
@11- Yes it is racist to think Hispanics have to follow the same immigration laws as everyone else. Yes, there is no reason anyone would expect Hispanics to follow the same rules as everyone else. Totally racist.

@13 Stormfront? White supremacy? I'm Asian.

@ 13, when I was growing up I had a friend who I eventually dropped because he was becoming a neo-Nazism. He was half Chinese, half Peruvian. You don't have to be white to embrace hardcore white supremacist ideals.

Make that @ 14.

@2) you are correct. i made a small change to make that clear.

Good Morning Charles,
First of all, ALL immigrants are welcome to these shores. Legal or illegal? That depends.

I said in another posting yesterday that parents/relatives allowing their children to come here or anywhere else for that matter (Canada?) unaccounted for, I find morally repugnant. Set that aside for now.

As for adults, I find any government legally responsible for securing a nation's borders acceptable. It has a perfect right to accept or decline a visitor. Consider this analogy. In Washingtn state, patrons of taverns/bars etc. must provide ID before entry in order to ensure they are able to drink alcohol of age (21 y/o) . At any time, they can be denied entry. It's the law. It is similar with immigrants. When an adult (18 y/o & older) enters a country undocumented then he or she MUST expect some sanction including entry denial for that violation. It's a chance they take and the term "illegal immigrant" can apply to them. If the immigrant gets away with it and stays for an extended time (3 years?), serves the country in uniform or is granted politcal asylum among other reasons, I have no problem with amnesty being granted and they becoming naturalized citizens.

However, at some point in the immediate illegal immigration must be curbed. This nation can't accept EVERY human that arrives at these shores unaccounted for. Heck, it doesn't even allow ALL people in. The USA can deny a visa depending on the person and nationality. Deportations thus, are an option. I do believe the INS must provide humanitarian assistance. And, yes the immigration policy of this nation needs reform.

Look, I get Vargas' point. And, maybe some consideration is due. He's an advocate after all. But, the USA simply can't allow ALL undocumented humans entry. Consider in addition, all those immigrants that arrived here legally and susequently obtained citizenship (perhaps, you Charles?) during the past 10 years. They were responsible and yes, fortunate. They arrived here and became Americans, legally. Isn't Vargas in some way flouting their efforts?

For the record, Vargas is being held by the United States not Texas. I do wish him well.

The only reason why this is an issue is because, while the U.S. has a policy of sending Mexican minors back home very quickly, we don't have anything in place for Guatemalans, Hondurans, or Salvadorans. Unless they have a legitimate claim for asylum, these kids should be sent home to their families. I said this 15 years ago when the child in question was Elian Gonzalez, and I say the same thing today.

An NPR piece I read about this recently also claimed that some of these kids falsely believe they have family in the U.S. who can take them in. If that's true, they should really be sent home. Our foster system is overburdened enough as it is.

@21 that's not quite right: we have an explicit, written-into-law policy to guarantee asylum seekers who are NOT from Mexico or Canada a hearing before an immigration court to determine the validity of their claim. Since the kids showing up are fleeing the highest murder rates in the world, it seems like they have a decent a priori case, but the problem is, there are very few courts set up to hear these cases, so the backlog is about two years and rising. Mr. Obama would like to spend some money to provide more courts so that these cases can be adjudicated more quickly, but apparently the real problem is that the border is not secure, according to the R's. The fact that these people ARE being detained at the border seems to me to be good evidence that the border is pretty darn secure, and that the real problem is that the violence engendered in Honduras, Guatemala, and El Salvador largely because of our failed drug policies has produced this exodus.

I have kids; if my choice was, keep them home where they would almost certainly die within the next few years, or be victims of gang rape, or both - OR, send them to some other country where they might have a chance to, you know, LIVE, well, the choice seems pretty clear. We can pretend it's about something else, but it really isn't: if we send them back, many will die, and many of those deaths will be gruesome. Ugly facts, but facts nonetheless.

All Texans are terrible. All Seattleites are commies. That was easy.

Without entering into the immigration debate, I just think this isn't the best use of Mr. Vargas in the service of his cause. As an articulate symbol of the problem, I think he's of greater utility out in front of the public speaking, not worming his way through the detention/deportation system. Perhaps he feels the need to put on a hair shirt and self-flagellate a while in the face of the huge influx of children, but I'm not sure that's the best approach.

Well, evidently Mr. Vargas has been released:

http://www.nytimes.com/2014/07/16/us/Jos…

Let's wish him well.

Good Morning Charles,
Here's an interesting viewpoint from Gov. Perry:

http://online.wsj.com/articles/rick-perr…

While I disagree with some of what Perry says for example, comparing the border crisis to Hurricane Katrina. Calling Perry "completely nuts"? I'm not so sure of that.