In some states, there is no point to legal immigration any more :)
Illinois Governor Patrick Quinn just signed a law (with Chicago Mayor Rahm Emmanuel's backing) giving illegal immigrants drivers licenses and car insurance.
Illinois Governor Patrick Quinn just signed a law (with Chicago Mayor Rahm Emmanuel's backing) giving illegal immigrants drivers licenses and car insurance.
Surely we can come up with a less brain-dead way of encouraging immigrants to participate in the legal process than intentionally making our own roads less safe? Perhaps by making that process simpler, with more tangible benefit for those taking part. The changes you cite are an example of that. This "War on Immigration" crap is motivated by armament and prison suppliers.
The insight is I'm quite certain I could not walk north into Canada and do the same.
Simply read what he wrote dispassionately without hearing imaginary dog whistles and its basically literally correct, there is little point in legal immigration for many people.
Now if that's good or bad, is where the psuedo-political sloganeering begins.
The USA does poorly in comparison with Canada with respect to open immigration, so you'll have to clarify your "insight" as well. Knowing is half the battle: http://www.economist.com/blogs/democracyinamerica/2011/05/im...
There are still some benefits that are open to legal residents but not undocumented immigrants. These include educational opportunities, many jobs (sure a cleaning service is happy to hire undocumented but a licensed daycare center, not so much), many entitlements (immigrants with fake Social Security numbers pay in but they'll never get anything out), etc.
If illegal immigrants can't get car insurance, they drive without car insurance. If they can't go to the police without the risk of getting their family deported, accidents turn into hit and runs. And when people can't go to the police, they turn to less reputable people for protection.
Do you think that this is preferable?