immigration reform

ok. about time to be discussing this.
critics of an immigration reform that targets the legalization of illegal immigrants baffle me. Whether we acknowledge it or not we have a thriving underground economy, one that manages to take American jobs while not reaping the benefits of those jobs (such as taxpayers and an enfranchised constituency). So why not reclaim them as American jobs and call the workers citizens? Also, allowing the underground economy to continue is a form of socio-economic servitude, one where civil rights and labor rights can be blatantly ignored. Illegal immigrants work hours citizens would not tolerate, are underpaid, if paid at all, and are intimidated out of any kind of legal recourse for fear of backlash by INS. It seems to me that by allowing illegal immigrants to remain illegal we are condoning a form of slavery in the United States and it makes me wonder if we have made any advances since the civil war. Hyperbolic? Look at Immokalee. And as long as people in Latin America get paid in a month, what American jobs can pay in a day, they will risk their lives to cross their border. Must we then continue to take their lives, dignity, and wages? And then not count all that in the GDP? How can we not move beyond protectionist xenophobia and explotation based on race/nationality? AHHHHH.

Oh, and also: