Originally Posted by dogzilla

What sense of entitlement? In the 35 years I have been supporting myself, I've never qualified for any government program. The only deductions I claim are for state taxes and charitable deductions. I paid off my mortgage in half the time it written for since I saw no point to paying interest to a bank and getting a fraction of it back as a tax deduction. On the other hand, between income tax, Social Security tax and Medicare tax, the government takes a little more than 20% of my paycheck. Add in the money the government taxes my employer for Social Security and unemployment that could just as well be in my paycheck and it's closer to 30%? Do I get benefits from the feds equivalent to even 20% of my pay? Absolutely not. Then the state and local governments take theirs.

I did some quick calculations. If someone earns $10.00/hr full time, their gross income is $20K. If single, their taxes are $1724. If married, their taxes are $863. If their income is under $13,440(married) or $18440(single) they start to qualify for earned income credit.

2009 poverty thresholds are $10830 or $14570. So if they are paying anything for health care it's not much. I'm picking up the tab for the balance.

So no, I don't want any illegal immigrants to have an easier path to immigration, especially while unemployment is around 10% and I'm paying for people to be unemployed as well.

If an illegal immigrant is paying taxes, not my problem. Nobody made them come here and nobody is forcing them to stay.