I've always wondered if the situation were reversed, and millions of Americans had poured illegally into its southern neighbors' countries illegally, if they would have been treated properly and welcomed.

I lived in AZ for 20 years and observed first-hand the results of our porous borders. An enormous Border Patrol budget. State-wide school district budgets busted beyond repair, due to the need to hire bi-lingual employees for the front office, classroom aides, bus drivers, parent night translators, and the expense of sending every notice home in two languages. This process of course ignored the Eastern European, Africa, Middle East, and Asian immigrants and their language needs. But, what the heck. Thanks to a mid 1970s Supreme Court ruling, no student regardless of status can be turned away from a U.S. public school. Hang the cost, sign 'em up.

The environmental damage alone has been and continues to be catastrophic. One can follow the immigrant trail to the border simply by following the litter of water bottles, food wrappers, old sandals, backpacks, and you name the trash, just sitting out there in a once pristine desert. No one cares. It's the one area that matches South Carolina-a near-completely trashed landscape.

All we have ever asked from immigrants is to come legally, live in peace, assimilate, and do no harm.
There are entire neighborhoods in Phoenix and Tucson where no American flag can be found on display, very little English is spoken, and the local stores are awash again in bi-lingual signs of just two languages.

AZ is a right to work state. Wages are incredibly low there, held down by the flood of immigrants looking for work and willing to do anything, because whatever job they take, it pays far better, without benefits, than anything they had elsewhere. No one else in AZ who worked to educate themselves, can earn a decent living as a result.

Hospital ER's overflow with non-English speaking, non-citizens. The wait, can be hours. The bills for all that treatment are tacked on to the bills of those patients with insurance, primarily U.S. citizens. Hospitals don't provide services for free. They're going to get their fees from somebody.

I am not impressed at all with local immigrants, especially illegals, who are worried about their status. If you broke our laws to get in here, you should be worried. That's because you are a law breaker.

Come in peace, assimilate, learn English, do no harm. Taking out either citizenship or legal work papers is the best way to assimilate. Hiding and crying and dodging our laws and protesting is not the way to make yourselves welcome. We are a nation of immigrants, millions of whom actually went through a rather severe vetting process. You want to live here, then assimilate. Learn English. Become a citizen. Pay your fair share of the freight. We don't need any more freeloaders.

Schwendler's list of ponderings:

I think $4B for a new naval destroyer is ridiculous. I don't care what its capabilities are.

I think the Berkeley riots say a lot about our failed education system, from K-16. An invited speaker wasn't allowed to. Hooligans used the protest as an excuse to rampage through the area destroying ATM machines, storefront glass, set fires, act the complete fool. It's a bad sign, that our young react in such a way to those with different opinions, who aren't even allowed to express them first.

I think Mr. Bannon needs to be fired/removed from all manner of U.S., state, and local government in any and all capacity. Guy is dangerous.

I think Ed. Dept. nominee Besty Devos is the wrong pick, done purely for patronage purposes. She has never worked in the field, she is an advocate for charter schools and thus against the very public education process she will be in charge of, and the MI charter school system she was such an advocate and supporter of, has been by all accounts a dismal failure. My U.S. senator, Tim Scott, is endorsing her, most likely because of her $49k campaign donation to him. This, is SOP in Washington.

I liked our president's visit, on the quiet, to Dover to honor a returning soldier who gave his life for us. Two hours with the family, no fuss. He gave the order for the mission, and he met with a grieving family who lost their son as a result. Tough, very tough.

I think building a Wall is dumb.

I think shutting down our immigration system for 120 days to take stock and make changes make sense. I don't think the method was correct, but announcing plans to do so would have invited every terrorist with 8k miles to come on in before the gates closed.

I think other nations' leaders are starting to get a handle on our president. Telling the head of Mexico to get his gang/drug cartel problem under control was absolutely correct. The overall message being sent is, it is no longer business as usual.

The start of this administration appears, on the surface, to be eerily similar to Ronal Reagan's. He too wanted to take us back to a simpler allegedly better time. Trump is advocating many of the same steps Reagan did, tax cuts, defense spending, etc. Interesting.

I think it's good for the country that we change party administration every few years. Since the three branches of govt have all but abandoned Checks and Balances, it's all we have left.

Trump's SC nominee is 49. Now there's a branch of govt that cries out for term limits. 17 years seems about right, and gone by age 75, period.

I think the vast wasteland of television has ruined this country's people.

I know I am tired of paying ever-higher prices for products by companies owned by billionaire sport team owners who overpay spoiled pampered athletes outrageous salaries, while our teachers and nurses and others struggle.