First, dude...thank you so much for coming over here and be willing to discuss stuff. It's really awesome that we can do that, even if we don't all agree on everything (actually, I think that disagreement makes things even more awesome!).
Also, I'm a guy.
Thank you! That will make things way easier (no idea why it was bugging me so much, but I suspect it was how many times I had to write 'their').
How do you feel about the current immigration laws?
I'm not a fan of current immigration laws. I think they don't make much sense at all for the good of the country and should be overhauled. However, that doesn't mean I view that breaking the law as acceptable.
The phrasing you used here brought up an interesting thought. I'm going to expand on what you said/paraphrase just a bit, and if I'm off, that's probably why. You said that immigration laws don't make sense for the good of the country. That to me means that at best, it does nothing to better the country, and at worse, it's actually damaging the country. Let's assume the best for now, though (personally, I believe the latter option is accurate, but that's neither here nor there). I mentioned earlier that I felt your belief in the rule of law (and the justice system) is what drove you as it relates to the original comment. So to me, it tracks that you feel the rule of law is a fundamental part of the country. Correct me if I'm wrong, but this all seems a bit dissonant. So you follow the rule of law because that is one of the fundamental parts of the country that improves it. And yet the current immigration laws don't do that. So you are following the rule of law (and holding others to that) that improves the country, by reporting violations of a law that doesn't. How do you square the two seemingly opposite positions?
When it comes to immigration, what role should the government play, and what values do you feel should be focused on?
I think the main two things that should be focused on are integration in US society and training/education. As for what role the government should play, how do you mean?
I like your first sentence, especially the bolded part. I agree entirely. It brings up a contrast. I don't know if you've heard it (I didn't until I actually went there), but the US is a melting pot, while Canada is a salad. With the US, everyone integrates, and society as a whole ideally takes the best of all integrated cultures, while in Canada, the numerous different cultures sitting under the umbrella of the country make more of an in depth section of that society that is way different, but complementary. I don't know which viewpoint is better, if either, but in the US, I will support the melting pot idea.
As far as education goes, to me, we can't do that with Americans born here. Would the education of immigrants be more important than the education of the next generation? I do know that currently, the tests to become a citizen actually results in immigrants knowing more about the country than natural-born citizens.
As far as the government role, this actually starts getting into larger ideas regarding sovereignty of a nation, the borders required to clarify the sovereignty on a global stage, and how immigration fits into that idea. Just a concept I want to flesh out.
Is there any other laws broken that you witness regularly and report (besides traffic...I think we've already discussed that)?
No, on a regular basis I don't witness much crime. I am either at work, home, or in nature >99% of the time.
I kind of want to dig into your existence in nature, because I do the same thing, and while I don't report people who I see littering, or attempting to leave a campsite in a really crappy state, I do confront them. That's not really a good conversation for the moment, so I'll leave it.
I don't have knowledge of what it is you do, but do you consider what you see to be a witness to a crime?
https://chicago.suntimes.com/business/immigration-crackdown-shifts-to-employers-as-audits-surge/
I didn't know that audits were something that ICE did. Learn something new every day. I almost want to put forth an idea that those who are found by audits at an employer are obviously benefitting society via the work they do (even if they don't contribute in any other way), and should be rewarded. This is just a strange gut reaction, and not fleshed out, nor do I even think it's a potential solution (as of right now).