illegal immigrants to vote in DC local election?

Because the simple step of becoming a citizen isn't so simple. For anyone undocumented, it's impossible. For those here on other visas, there are other barriers, and the process can take years.

And yes, other countries have different laws. They also have different realities, which may be the reason why the immigrant is coming here in the first place. An immigrant from a country fleeing religious persecution because a militant religious group now has power may hold out hope that one day, he may be able to return. He may also have left family back home and understands that if he were still a citizen, returning for family reasons may be easier if he were still a citizen of the home country, and not the US. Again, each individual's situation is his own.

 

The census' direction is to count people. Not citizens, but all people, including immigrants. And has been counting people without a citizenship question since 1950. The balance of power hasn't shifted because of this yet. Why would it now?

 

This graph shows number of southern border apprehensions. Please show me where the massive volume increase has happened.

 

Here's total Border Patrol Agents by year. It's likely that a lot more slipped through during the 1980s when there were 1/5 the total agents than today. I'm sure there is a diminishing return, and a single agent won't apprehend the same number immigrants when there are 20,000 BP Agents versus 4,000, but still, I would think we catch a higher percentage today with a lot more agents out there.

 

Last, here's total undocumented living in the US by year. Two things happened to lower the number between 2005 and 2017. One, the recession around 2010. Then, by 2015, Mexico's economy was very strong. Many immigrants returned to Mexico during the recession, and stayed, because jobs were available.

 

ROI on new IRS agents is much higher than more Border Patrol. We have the same number of IRS agents today as we did in the late 1950's. At the same time, BP numbers have expanded by 5X, and we aren't capturing significantly more immigrants than we did in the 1980. A big government answer of throwing more taxpayer money into something that proven that doesn't work doesn't seem to me to be the best answer. Nor the answer conservatives should be seeking.

 

"Simple step" = arduous, costly & extremely long process. The test alone is over $700 lol.

 

Is this a rhetorical question? There obviously is, and its imposed by the US government. You complain about gas going up 10 cents but $700 is nothing to people trying to make a living?

 

My question is: why are you all up in arms about this?