Immigrants

Not sure what this Day Without Immigrants is supposed to prove. The overwhelming majority of Americans don't have an issue with immigration. The US has more liberal immigration rules than most western countries.

The issue is with illegal immigration. Follow the rules. Very simple really. Millions do it. My father became a US citizen as an adult. I have a friend who works in telecomm, while retaining his Mexican citizenship. Many of my pharma colleagues from Eastern and Western Europe and Asia are here on visas or have become US citizens. A large percentage of Jeff's legal status coworkers in the computer industry are from India, Pakistan, and other places across the globe.  Universities across the country continue to have large numbers of foreign students. Somehow they all manage to complete the paperwork and live within the law.

I would enthusiastically support work programs, to give illegal immigrants work visas and keep them working and get them to pay taxes, if they are currently doing jobs not otherwise fillable by Americans. That would bring a whole lot of illegal immigrants and companies/individuals who employ them on to the right side of the law. Perhaps the number of legal immigrants allowed annually should be increased as well. I don't know a lot about those numbers. Maybe they are already at the maximum we can handle.

In my experience and observation, this country continues to be the amazing melting pot is has been since people began immigrating hundreds of years ago. I have never personally heard a single American-born person say that a foreign-born citizen or legal resident should go back to his or her country of origin.

And while we're sort of on the subject, stop calling it a Muslim Ban. If someone wanted to ban Muslims from entering the US, several other solidly Muslim countries would have to be added to the list, along with millions of Muslims living in every other country on Earth, who would have to indicate their religion upon entry. It's straight up ridiculous to call it that. Gah.

I don't support a complete "ban" of visitors/immigrants from any country, so whatever it is, I'm glad it's not in place. Obama (yep) and Congress already put into place extra vetting for people from the listed countries, which is appropriate to protect against terrorism. Just keep doing that, as it seems to be working just fine.

Oh, and just for another side of this immigration discussion, my brother (born in the US to German parents, grew up in Germany and never visited the US until he was an adult) came to the US in the late 80s,  planning on moving here permanently. He hated it. Ha! We're not everyone's cup of tea!