James C. McKinley Jr. of the New York Times offers "Migrants Stream Into South Mexico". It provides some details on prospective Central American illegal aliens to the U.S. getting robbed in Mexico and some of them hopping freight trains and falling under the wheels.

If you're one of those who supports illegal immigration out of "humanitarian" grounds, would you be so kind as to read the article and then come back here for some questioning?

Thanks! Let's get started:

1. If things continue as they are, and prospective illegal aliens know that as long as they can make it to the U.S. they'll almost certainly find work, social services, an illegal immigration-supporting infrastructure (such as the Catholic Church), and so forth, and they also know they probably won't get deported and might even get amnesty, won't people continue to try to make these journeys with some of them ending in disaster?

2. If immigration "reform" passes, won't that send an even stronger message than currently? Won't the conditions in #1 be multiplied by the strong possibility of yet another amnesty? Won't those who can't make it into the limited guest worker schemes come anyway, and won't some of those journeys end in disaster?

3. However, if we could wave a magic wand, and people in Central America suddenly did not see the U.S. as a safety valve, wouldn't that end all those journeys ending in disaster? And, wouldn't that also force their home countries to reform rather than using the U.S. as a safety valve and as a way to enrich themselves? And, while we can't wave a magic wand, isn't stringently enforcing our immigration laws the most effective way to achieve the same result?

Please think this through, and then when you see the light publicly ask your leaders who support illegal immigration on "humanitarian" grounds the same questions.