I have a Brazilian friend. She has at least one four-year college degree, comes from a wealthy family, has no criminal record, speaks at least three languages, has been employed constantly AFAIK (translator, public relations, business manager), and is even currently working and living in the USA (on some sort of work visa).
She can't meet the requirements to legally emigrate to the USA.
What chance does a poor, but hard-working Mexican (or other nationality) dirt farmer have?
The US' immigration policy is mostly crap.
If you want to cover EVERYBODY in the world with a chance to come to the US, run a lottery, but control the number of winners per year. Then EVERYBODY has a chance, albeit a small one. But that's the problem, isn't it? How small is big enough? There will always be many people that decide that chance is not good enough, and they will try to break our laws and come here illegally. That is why we need enforcement.
As far as the "open borders" folks go, I strongly encourage them to visit our major metropolitan areas and live in each one for a month or two. It is very easy to believe that this country can absorb an arbitrary amount of immigration when you live in the countryside. Once you go through traffic jams when you try to go ANYWHERE, suddenly things like overpopulation, urbanization, and suburban sprawl get into focus.
As far as qualified applicants go, such as highly trained professionals and the wealthy, I have always supported immigration for them, because they truly make our country stronger, disproportionately so to their numbers, and because being educated and polyglotic makes them easiest to integrate in society. We should continue the braindrain from the rest of the world as one of the policies that would help us remain the greatest nation in the world. Hence, although I am pretty much aligned with NumbersUSA on most issues, I never ever supported or sent faxes in support of the plain stupid attacks on H visas. H visas is not the problem; illegal waves of the poor of the world are.
Btw, cassandrasdaddy, you seem to have a chip on your shoulder about illegals and Hispanics. May we know what your angle is?