Rich, I'll be blunt, but use only the profanity you have already used. Your characterization of the US as a "totally fucked up, repressive, unworthy police state" is ignorant.

Rather than recognize the problem for what it is--which is, in fact, exactly what I characterized it as...no need to assume Evil Fascist Dictators under every rock--you respond with ill-considered, reflexive, trite assertions that have foundation only in your propagandized mind.

You clearly have no idea what it means to live in a police state.

You clearly have no concept of what the term means beyond its use by various overwrought leftists.

You clearly know nothing about totalitarianism's place in history, or what a real police state looks like and how the people who live in such a state suffer on a massive scale.

You don't like what the INS is doing on "our" behalf? Good, you shouldn't. But spouting the tired, knee-jerk trope that any failure or idiocy on the part of any governmental authority is full evidence of totalitarian oppression does nothing except expose you as a fully-involved member of the chattering class of this country, with nothing to offer except your complaints.

The INS was a vast web of crap before 9/11; it's even more so now, and we desperately need it to do its job.

Instead of indulging your simple paranoia, try recognizing the real problem: how can we meet the very real security needs of this country while maintaining the liberty that makes it so attractive to immigrants in the first place?