Brian, I'm assuming from your name that you're not Native American (the modern usage). How did your forefathers come to this country? Did they get a visa from the US consulate in their country? Can you prove this? The reality is that unless one's relatives arrived after 1924 they most likely just showed up here.
I get what you're saying, but the term "illegal" is overused here to imply badness or criminality on the part of the immigrants. When someone changes lanes without signaling, they're driving "illegally" but you don't hear people freaking out about that. I'm not saying it's how things should be, but I am saying it's not the big Mexican Scare that the GOP and Lou Dobbs has been selling. They're normal folks, just like us, that just want to be able to work to support their families.
Instead of punishing them we ought to be
addressing the real problem, which is our crappy immigration policies and an environment where employers aren't punished for violating the minimum wage, social security, and medicare laws. If there weren't sweatshops, there'd be less border-jumping. If we allowed more working class folks to immigrate, they're be less border-jumping. If we didn't have hypocritical laws such as "wet foot / dry foot" there'd be less border-jumping. You do know that illegal Cuban immigrants are given green cards?
Anyhow, I do appreciate your reasoned rebuttal. I actually agree with a lot of what you're saying, I'm just arguing that we need to address the source of the problem instead of the symptoms.
Jeffrey