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mortono on 07 August 2010
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TheRealMafoo said:
mortono said:

"To say the character of an average American who owns a gun illegally is equivalent to the average American, is wrong.

 To say the character of the average Mexican who comes here illegally is equivalent to the average Mexican, is equally wrong."

This is your main argument. Here is why it's wrong:

1. Just because someone does something illegal does not mean we can suddenly judge their character, especially if that illegal act is to cross into our country's border. Nobody should judge another person's character until they actually meet that person and talk to them.

2. Comparing gun ownership to illegal immigration is a backwards comparison. These are basically remote controls that kill people. They make killing so easy, a child could do it (and they do!). There is reason to be concerned when somebody owns a weapon illegally. Immigrants, on the other hand, don't have the purpose of coming here to commit a crime. Some may do so because of the severe oppression they are put under, but that is not the intent. Most of them come here because Mexico sucks and they want a better life.

 

Sorry but the math just does not support your argument.

We know the average size of the illegal community, and based on this, the number of murders per capita that come from this group is 300% more then the number of murders from legal immigrants.

How can you say that group of people are equal in character, yet murder 3 times as many people?

Let me put it another way. Let's say 20 people enter the country, and 14 are of perfect character, and 6 are murderers.

We only let 10 in legally, where we do background checks, and so forth. How do you think the breakdown is going to go? You think it's doing to be 7/3 legal, and 7/3 illegal? 

No, if we do a good job, and I think we do a fairly good job at this, we are going to let 10 of the 14 people of high character in legally, and the other 4 will cross illegally, and we will deny the 6 murders (well, they will never apply actually).

Now that says nothing about the 4 people that were of perfect character who wanted to get into this country but now had to sneak across (the only people you're considering). Yes, they are good people.

But in this scenario they are only 40% of the people entering the border illegally. The other are the ones we need to stop. No one seems to care to stop them who are on your side of the argument.

A percentage of any group can be dangerous. That doesn't mean the whole group has a bad character and that we should make villains of everyone that is illegally here from Mexico.

Near your original post you said that 17% of illegal immigrants have a criminal record (you didn't say they were murderers). This may be high because these are people that live their lives in desperation and may be driven to commit crimes such as stealing food to eat.

This doesn't mean that the entire 17% are just people with bad character that come to this country for the sole purpose of murdering and stealing. It certainly doesn't mean that the remaining 83% of illegal immigrants that are here with no criminal record have the same purpose. 

Using common sense, it's easy to see why these people come here. It's so they can get away from Mexico and have a better life. Perhaps a small percentage of drug traffickers cross the border illegally, but they are certainly not the majority.