Immigration debate

There is a debate, supposedly on illegal immigration in the US. With the recent rash of presidential candidate debates, the issue has come up again and again.

I do think the problem everybody really wants to address is the wave of illegal immigrants from Mexico. The growing number of Hispanics is what is bothering everyone, but nobody will state that openly. That would, of course, be xenophobia and the xenophobes will not admit to that. So they talk in expansive terms and it invariably, and quite clearly sounds like that these people are talking about all non-European immigrants - legal or not, educated or uneducated. The 9/11 terrorists were legal immigrants, and so are many doctors and engineers in this country. Unfortunately, the people who seem to be on the side of illegal Hispanic immigrants get caught up in that debate as well and start talking about their grandfather who came from Scotland a century ago and how immigrants have enriched this country. That is completely irrelevant in this context and only serves to derail the real issue.

Yes, there is a problem and it needs to be addressed, but first you have to clearly state the problem. Any scientist will tell you, defining the problem clearly is the first step towards a solution.