the only real solution to immigration is making it EASIER to become a citizen

But I (you) digress...

The solution to the problem of the banana-republicing of the US is to encourage it.

Wonderful insight, there.

I'm all for immigration reform, and you make quite a few good points, but you've missed by a mile with this:

"mexico as a whole is actually the 3rd richest country in the world..."

??? That's really not even close to being accurate... in any roundup, be it the World Bank's, the IMF's, Forbes, etc., Mexico ranks in the 60s. Every single western country is wealthier. Argentina and Chile are wealthier, Russia is wealthier, even sad-sack Greece is wealthier! If Mexico and the countries of Central America weren't so poor, their people wouldn't be coming here to try to improve their earning potential.

I think we should make it harder to become a citizen, but easier to gain long-term legal status. We don't have to make someone a citizen to allow them to live, work, and pay taxes here.

tear down the border wrote:

sure, you always say that your problem with hispanic immigrants is that they put a strain on the social security system because they are undocumented

How do immigrants put a strain on the SS system?

I think the strain on the SS system is that, being undocumented and paid under the table, they are not paying payroll taxes that go to SS.

SS would be funded better if they had legal status and were on payroll.

Whether or not they're being paid under the table, they're not going to collect on it. While many Americans are taking home undeclared income while still being able to receive SS benefits when they reach retirement age, those without legal status in the US won't be able to receive those payments, even if they have paid into the system, as is often the case.

Illegal immigrants aren't limited to working as day laborers for cash. Many obtain some sort of tax ID number which they use in filling out their W2s for an endless variety of jobs, and the employer wouldn't know to look at the number as to whether or not it's their legitimate SSN or not without using something like eVerify.

In case you were wondering:

All of what you wrote makes sense.

I was just trying to comment on a specific thing that the OP may have been alluding to.

Getting them to be legal or citizens or whatever would be more likely to remove them from being paid under the table to getting on payroll and adding more to the SS fund.

Your point is that the net of effect of those currently contributing without being able to receive benefits is a net positive to the SS fund already.

I agree that immigrants are not putting a strain on social security at this point.

But it would be beneficial to have more people officially on payroll than is the case now.

tear down the border wrote:

... the problem that white republicans have with them. their real hatred for hispanics is simply the fact that their skin is not white and their language is different than yours. white people are jealous of hispanics and hate them because they are different that them and are better workers and better overall humans.

...

statistically speaking, latino youth (illegal immigrants included) score much higher on exams that black americans that were born and raised here. statistically speaking, latino adults and youth and much less prone to crime than black americans who were born and raised here. the problem is not the browns or the spanish speakers.

Ok, so the white republicans are racist against Hispanics and you're racist against Blacks. Got it.

And racist against white people.

Open the border and eliminate all social welfare programs, then everyone is welcome to come and work.