We've got the room, the resources, and the history of assimilation into which the current wave of immigrants are fitting just as those who came before them did...
No, we really DON"T have the room and resources any longer.
Just because we were not picky about whom we admitted in times past, does not mean that we should be that way now.
Just because it was a good idea THEN doesn't mean that it's a good idea NOW.
...Legal immigration remains one of our greatest strengths...
It certainly has been in the past.
As we grow more crowded and closer to 'Full-Up', however, this becomes less accurate, and closer to being more trouble than it's worth.
Nothing lasts forever, and that includes old assumptions about the value of immigration.
At the very least, such assumptions should be challenged - vigorously - every so often.
...Illegal immigration is a problem that should be taken seriously...
Agreed.
What separates the two sides on the issue is what one does, in order to be considered as taking it seriously.
On the one hand, we have the pro-Illegals crowd, willing to grant a so-called Path to Citizenship, to 12,000,000 invaders and trespassers, now present upon United States soil wiithout our express prior consent, in conscious violation of our laws, and with a desire to tie Immigration Reform to allowing the 12,000,000 to stay; in other words, 'Immigration Reform' = codespeak for Shamnesty.
On the other hand, we have the anti-Illegals crowd, who are ALSO perfectly willing to engage in discussions about Immigration Reform, so long as no Shamnesty is involved; characterized oftentimes by a desire to see the Federal government re-commit itself and prove itself in the execution of our existing laws, and in the guarding of our borders, before we talk about new laws. The laws aren't broken. Our government is broken, in an enforcement context.
...not used by cowards and fools as a platform for their unAmerican agenda.
There is someone here manifesting an un-American agenda?
What aspects of the agenda are un-American?
Who gets to make that call?