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Your e-mails: Answers on immigration
 A steel wall forms the U.S.-Mexico border near Nogales, Arizona. YOUR E-MAIL ALERTS
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Or, visit Popular Alerts for suggestions. (CNN) -- Tighter border controls, employer fines and guest-worker programs are among the many ideas set forth in the immigration debate. CNN.com asked readers to send in their solutions for addressing illegal immigration in the United States. Here is a selection of those e-mails, some of which have been edited: I would ask both the illegals here now and the ones caught crossing the border one question: If we allow you to stay in the U.S., will you be willing to send your children to Iraq and fight and, yes, maybe die for your new country? Americans are willing to fight for our freedom. Are you? If the answer is yes, then draft their children now while their parents stay and learn English. A strong majority of U.S. citizens do not want a guest-worker program, because it's actually amnesty. I have no plans on voting ever again, because it's obvious that our politicians do what they want instead of representing the citizens. I'm furious and fed up over our government. I work hard, only to look at my paycheck to see how much is given to a government that does not follow the wishes of the majority. I guess there is going to be another committee formed to figure out how to handle this round. We have laws, and the politicians and illegal aliens want to change them so they can profit. We might as well open our borders because we are chumps. We are overrun ... and the expense of sending every illegal back, only to have them come right back here, would be futile. We need to have fines to make illegals pay for their own trip back, and fines substantial enough to deter re-entry, increasing every time they are deported. Quit offering free medical care, food stamps. Quit giving illegal immigrants' children citizenship. We provide too much. No wonder they keep coming. Start fining heavily those who continue hiring illegals. Seize property gained through illegal means. They seize drug money, cars, etc. It's either illegal or it's not. Stop this mess. Enforce the laws on our books. Stop social services to illegals, no free education for illegals, fine employers who hire illegals, send them back. It is against the law to come to this country without proper authorization. Break the law, we will prosecute you. Illegals do great harm to our economy, drain social service funds from Americans, tax our health care system; the list is endless. We need to stop them now or Americans will be doing the jobs the Mexicans refuse to do. They are taking back this country without a shot being fired. Too bad for gutless America. I do not agree that illegal Mexicans should be granted status. Laws are passed for a reason and should be adhered to. What they have done is illegal. I find it most annoying when I visit Miami to go shopping and visit shopping centers to have the person serving me not speak a word of English. America is an English-speaking country. If you want to live there, at least have the common decency to learn the language spoken in your "new" country. Middle-class America can longer carry the burden of illegal immigrants. Our schools are crowded, not enough money to pay for required teachers and almost everything has to be translated in our court systems. Illegal immigrants arrested on drug charges are let go on bond. Why are they not immediately deported? Our crime rate is soaring and so are the tempers of citizens. This is America, not little Mexico. Take away the free schools, free medical, free social services and no taxes. Poor Mexicans are nuts if they don't try to take advantage of all the freebies they get by sneaking across the border. I think those who have been here illegally for at least 10 years should be given a shot at legalization, provided they do not jump in front of the queue of those who applied for status in a lawful manner. And five years is too short a time in the U.S. for a path to legalization. I still believe that the only way we could put our immigration house in order is to criminalize all employers, whether they be Fortune 500 companies or the smallest takeout diner, who knowingly hire an illegal alien. Once we cut off this incentive, you will see how fast we can stop this rampant illegal entry into our country by land, sea or air. The current laws should be followed, and employers should be heavily fined for employing illegal immigrants. This is not their right to come here illegally. Why do we cater to the illegal immigrants? I don't understand it. As you see by the current marches, they feel it is their right to come here illegally. Ten to 20 years from now we will basically be part of Mexico. Many, many immigrants won't even try to learn English. Employers are not passing this along [in] the savings they receive from cheap labor. It only allows them to buy bigger houses, cars and better vacations. Our hospitals, social services are overtaxed with illegal immigrants. This must stop. I do not want to be forced to learn Spanish. Fixing the problem of illegal immigration is simple. Dig a trench, say maybe 80 feet deep, that runs the entire length of the border. We built Hoover Dam and the Panama Canal, and this would be a no-brainer. If the National Guard is used to build infrastructure such as roads, fences, etc. and remains under the direct supervision of trained Border Patrol agents, then this idea of using them as "force multipliers" until enough Border Patrol agents can be hired can certainly make a critical difference in the fight to curb illegal immigration. Solving the problem of illegal immigration is by making immigration legal. Ellis Island all over again. Don't allow the alarmists, and protectionists, and thinly veiled racists to scare us. The vast majority of these people want nothing more than the American dream of working hard, making money, spending money, educating their kids, and living in peace and protection from the odium of governments that are not free. We have the room; our economy can handle it. Learning English would be nice, but you can have Spanish-speaking Americans who understand liberty just as many Italian, Greek, German, Polish, etc., speaking immigrants came to love America and in many cases never learned English. A "free" country is also an open one. It takes courage to believe that people come over to do the right thing, and so that's what we need to solve our illegal immigration problem. The courage to allow open and legal immigration. What do you think? E-mail us. 
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