I agree with this program, Mark, as long as the provision doesn't apply to libs. For them, it should be "first out, never back in."

Deport all the libs, and there will be a labor shortage. Even with the illegals here, wages will go up. Yes, I know, many of the libs don't even work. Think of the money the country will save on welfare/unemployment benefits.

Close the borders; keep the illegals; deprot the liberals. That's my platform--will you vote for me?

I meant "deport" the liberals, not "deprot."

I've been campaigning for a program which never ever allows citizenship to be an option for any illegal who chooses to remain in the country under a guest worker program, but allowing anyone who voluntarily returns to his or her country of origin the right to apply for re-entry and citizenship as any other would.

But I don't think I like the "first out, first in" idea because it sounds like it can still put a scofflaw ahead of someone who never entered the country illegally at all. Unless the bill is written in such a way to prevent an illegal alien from gaining ANY advantage through his disrespect for our laws, I could not support it. I don't think that illegally entering the United States and then returning home should provide a short cut through the system.

On the surface, it sounds good, a way to get people to return home voluntarily. But there are other ways to do that---merely making citizenship forever unattainable unless one returns home voluntarily is something of a carrot, accompanied by the stick of becoming a felon by failing to register within a certain time frame and thereby becoming ineligible to even remain here or qualify for a guest worker program. Between those two extremes would be the ability to remain for some time on a temporary work visa and then to be able to apply for a permanent residency, after passing tests in English and what we used to call "civics".