John McCain favors amnesty for illegal immigrants

[bluestateguy]

And we just can't have that in this country.

Every conservative you know needs to know this.

[Spider Jerusalem]

1. Is the xenophobic nativist argument really one you think a lot of people here support?

McCain's position on illegal immigration and amnesty with a clear path to citizenship for those undocumented immigrants already in the US is probably one that many Democrats would agree with.

[babylonsister]

2. That must be why he's such a maverick; but wait a minute or two,

weathervane mccain will probably change his mind.

[Hugabear]

3. You don't think conservatives already know that?

That's one of the reasons why they can't stand him.

[depakid]

4. That's not going to hurt with respect to the Hispanic vote....

or with those who would believe that McCain is some sort of moderate.

[DesertFlower]

5. it's probably the one thing i like about him.

we had some very lax laws regarding illegal immigration. we practially invited people to come. now we have 12 million people who are illegal. are we going to round them up and throw them out? the ones who commit crimes -- yes. from court to immigration. but some people have been here for many years. they are hardworking, taxpaying people.

[anigbrowl]

6. Me too. And Obama holds a similar position.

He was willing to take the heat for supporting driver's licenses and spoke up to say 'they come here to work, not to drive'. this is a very important issue to me at a personal level and it's another reason I support him.

Here in California we've got a ton of good people who would be happy to pay a fine and straighten out their legal situation but have no way to do so. It's backward, xenophobic, and impractical. Obama is also right about our legal immigration system being fundamentally broken and mired in bureaucracy. I'm Euro and most countries over there are way more pragmatic about this. Say you marry an Irish or British person (countries I know best): you can then apply for a passport by sending in your marriage certificate along with a copy of your spouse's paperwork.

You might get asked for an interview, but basically you just pay the passport fee. Doing the same thing in reverse costs thousands and takes several years, during which people have to file for (and pay more fees for) temporary residency visas while they wait for their marriage to be recognized by the immigration people (good luck if you're gay, in which case your civil union is meaningless). Sure, people game the system. But in general if someone can prove several years' residency with no legal hassles or attempts to collect welfare, their application is approved.