NEW YORK MILLS, Minn. — An Oregon man is the winner of this year's Great American Think-Off, a national philosophy competition that gives ordinary people the chance to debate some of life's perplexing questions.

This year's question: "Does immigration strengthen or threaten the United States?"

Craig Allen, of West Lynn, Ore., won a gold medal Saturday after a live audience in New York Mills decided he was most convincing when arguing that the system of immigration and immigration policy is broken. He says it encourages an influx of illegal immigrants and poses a threat to the country.

During the debate, the four Think-Off finalists touched on what it means to be an American and stressed that American identity is evolving.

The debate is held by the New York Mills Regional Cultural Center, a nonprofit organization dedicated to expanding the cultural and creative opportunities of rural Americans. New York Mills is a farming town of some 1,200 people in central Minnesota, about 170 miles northwest of Minneapolis.

The silver medal winner was Deana Cavaliere from Richfield, Minn., who argued that immigrants of diverse cultures have created a mix of ideas that makes America an innovative and wealthy country.

The other two finalists received bronze medals. Tom Bailey of Nashville, Tenn., argued that immigration strengthens the U.S., and Nick Thayer of St. Cloud, Minn., argued that it threatens the country.

West Linn dammit!!

Immigration both strengthens and threatens the US, depending on your point of view.

Immigration is a requirement because our economy depends on growth. Without growth, we would be in a depression. Population growth without immigration would not be enough.

Immigration also threatens the US because it's new people with new ideas coming into the mainstream which upsets old timers who are used to things "as they used to be".

I don't necessarily think our immigration policy is broken, what's broken is that fact that US business is willing to hire them! If we made it impossible to hire these illegals, they would self deport, because they come here for ONE reason: WORK. We are already seeing this in AZ where they passed some tough laws for employers and many illegals are going elsewhere.

And, this subject is very close to me, as my wife's family came to the US from England in the late 70's (Dad was an engineer) and my wife just recently attained her US citizenship and voted for the first time in May. Her family followed the rules, paid the money, and went through the process. So should everyone else.

I agree 100%.

Granting the illegals amnesty is a slap in the face to people like your wife who worked hard and did it the right way.

Even so, I'm not in favor of mass deportation. There has to be some middle ground. That's why I favor guarding the border with a combination of physical barriers, patrols, and other high technology methods to stop those that sneak in. I favor tougher rules for employers who hire illegals, along with more enforcement with expired visas.

I don't favor splitting up families or our police force acting as immigration patrol.

Overall, I'm not opposed to some of them being awarded a path to citizenship depending on certain factors. I do believe that if we focused on the three areas I favor focusing on, a lot of the problem would be self correcting with amnesty playing a smaller role overall.

I think a lot of illegal immigrants find themselves in a catch-22 situation.

First off, it's expensive and difficult (and becoming more expensive and difficult all the time) to do it "the right way".

These people are coming here to work, presumably, because they can't find work at home.

So, if you're out of work and presumably destitute, how are you going to come up with the hundreds of dollars required to even apply for a work visa?

If we want people to immigrate legally, we should make it easier for them to do so.