the key term is illegal. there's a fine line between national security and "bring me your tired, your poor, your huddled masses yearning to breath free." we're all decsendants of immigrants when it comes down to it, and this nation was built on immigration. but now immigration and our open society is also what's aiding those who are trying to bring us down. it's a hard thing to decide... like do we not make violent movies and video games because a handful of kids AND adults who have a few screws loose might try and emulate what they see? even though 99.9% of america can take it as just entertainment and not want to go out and pop a cap in somebody afterwords? do we close off our borders to immigrants in order to stop a miniscule number of people who are trying to destroy us? even though 99.9% of the people who come in will be honest, hard working people? to me, the answer to both is obviously no. but just like you've got ratings on movies and video games to restrict certain people from seeing the content, you have to have some sort of regulations or restrictions on immigration... and that has to begin with making sure that people enter this country legaly. sure, that's not an end all. some of the 9/11 hijackers were here on legal student visas. but that's more an intellegence failure than an immigration failure. but to start, and i know it's easier said than done, we have to start ensuring that the people who come into this nation do it in a legal manner, going through some sort of screening process. giving benefits to illegals only encourages more illegals to come over the border. frankly, i open any person who wants to come to america in order to taste our freedoms and privliges with open arms. but they should do it legally, and go through a screening process. long rambling answer i know... sorry.