The reference in that article to "people living in fear and terror" strikes me as hardly a step forward...

EmmaG, I'm sorry to hear about your program. I know here in the midwest there's a real need for ESL at all levels - grade school, high school, and adult. And I do understand that if you believe the laws are wrong (as I do), talk of penalties - particularly for the current laws - seems pointless.

So I want to back the discussion up one more time, and ask this question - not specifically of EmmaG but of all of us -

Under what circumstances, if any, should employers be permitted to allow undocumented aliens? Illegal immigrants? Whatever you care to call them? I find this a very hard question to answer. They obviously occupy a niche in our economy -- a large one.

Assuming some portion of them remain - because not all 12 million can or will go home - they can't simply be turned out on the streets to starve. Either they have to be allowed to work, or they become wards of the state.

So - under what circumstances should employers be allowed to hire the undocumented?

Julia
A 45’s quicker than 409
Betty’s cleaning’ house for the very last time
Betty’s bein’ bad