OT: Do us a favor and step aside, Lame Duck!

Donald Trump's slightly implausible claim that he was going to build a wall along the Mexican border does seem to be responsible for the current flood of immigrants.

Even if the electoral college is irresponsible enough to let him take power, he won't be able to build the wall overnight, so he's going to be stuck with the same situation when and if he does get power.

I see that the pleas of Trump as well as the Democrats for both sides to work together is reaching all who need to hear the message.

Julian Barnes isn't strong on logic. Obama didn't create the immigration pr oblem that Donald Trump wants the US to think it has - the roots of that go back to when the Statue of Liberty was put up - and his Secretary of State had even less to do with it. The State Department doesn't set immigration quotas for the legal immigrants and has nothing at all to do with the illeg al immigrants.

The only psychotic around here would be Julian Barnes with his endless stre am of deluded rants.

No government money , direct or indirect, for illegal immigrants will change things pretty quickly.

No jobs would fix things right quick.

Donald Trump's isolationist policies should deliver that - sadly, not just for illegal immigrants.

Many, if not most, of the jobs being "taken" by immigrants, legal or otherwise, cannot (or will not) be done by Americans, because they are often very physically demanding and offer low pay and no benefits. These are to a large extent seasonal agricultural jobs requiring hard work in hot fields, and others are in construction and grounds maintenance.

Of course, the impending economic collapse will diminish the already floundering housing market, and the strains on the middle class will reduce their ability to pay for lawn cutting and roof repair and such. And any deportation or restriction on agricultural workers will leave crops rotting in the fields, or increase costs such that people will have difficulty affording food.

Paul

Completely absurd. Construction jobs won't be done by Americans? Maybe not for minimum wage (or lower), but there really are citizens and legal immigrants who will do this work. IOW, you're an idiot.

Idiot. They offer lower pay because they *can* pay illegals below the going wage. I'll bet you're one of those $15 minimum wage idiots, too.

The housing market is *not* floundering. That's the problem. Money is *way* too cheap and easy. You are a total moron.

That's easily handled by the "Green Card" program.

What, Oh, What will the liberals do when the economy improves, and there's new laws in effect that the lying media is NOT protected from libel and slander laws? ...Jim Thompson

That and a biometric national ID that gets checked at appropriate times, and serious fines/prison for employers who pay people who are not verified to be legally entitled to work. Unpopular perhaps but it would do the trick, and it's not like you're fooling anybody with the current system of ID.

And a robust guest worker program so the lack of cheap and cheerful slave labor doesn't crater the economy, especially agriculture.

--sp

Better, a "work permit" program. That's the legal way to do it. Though, like Obama, the moron isn't interested in legalities.

Whine, pitch a tantrum, and burn a few inner cities.

The H2 visas or something similar, which are for one year (temporary) and cannot be renewed indefinitely (3 years only) and do not have a path to citizenship like 'green cards' (permanent resident visas) are probably the best way for bringing in unskilled folks temporarily who do not otherwise qualify to be immigrants.

--sp

Exactly. I believe the low skilled work permits are called H2 visas.