FAIR WARNING: Governor Medina Will Secure the Texas Border
HOUSTON, TX, Tuesday, January 12, 2010 – Debra Medina, Republican Candidate for Governor today released her plan for securing the Texas border in a joint press conference with the U.S. Border Watch.
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Gee, I remember two stinking RINOS that have fought tooth and nail to leave the borders wide open. One named Good Hair and the other named Kay Daily MushandSpin
"Open borders" are a myth. Sure, you can cross the U.S. Southern border (or any border) if sufficiently determined. But it's nothing like as easy as it used to be. When Reagan was president, btw. Then, in the 80's, it was literally a five minute walk. And at popular crossing points, there would be cabs waiting. Or it would be close enough to the city (if not IN the city) that you could walk to a bus stop.
In the 80's illegals working in Texas used to cross the border both ways, two, three, four, six times a year. Come to work during harvest season, or when construction work was heavy, go home for the winter. They'd leave wives and children in Mexico, where the cost of living was lower, and they could keep the farm or ranch running, and otherwise look after their interests back home. Why bring the wife and kids when you could easily visit them?
Or brothers and cousins, etc, would take turns coming to the States. Both brothers, or a father and one brother, might come when the job market was good. If jobs weren't so available, only one brother would come. Some years, maybe none.
I used to drive some construction workers back to their apartments back in those days. The whole apartment complex was filled with nothing but working age men. Not a dependent in sight. And in the winter it would be three quarters empty.
That's all changed now, because the borders are not by any means "open" any more. Yeah, you can get across -- probably -- but by no means certainly. Not certain enough to keep a job if your employer expects you back on a date certain. And it'll cost you. Cost you a long day or two days walk through rough country in remote areas. Or as much as several thousand dollars if you want an easier crossing assisted by an experienced people smuggler.
THE FACT is our borders are tighter right now than they have ever been, at any point in our history.
The result? Circularity in border crossing (illegals coming to work seasonally, or for a year or two, and then going back home to Mexico, or wherever) has decreased drastically. Now most illegals, once they get here, remain here. And if they intend to remain, they are far more likely to bring their dependents along. Those apartment complexes that used to be working men only, are now filled with women and children as well.
The need to stay year round (because tight borders make it too difficult and expensive to cross back and forth) also means that illegals are more likely to look for permanent, i.e. non-seasonal work, and therefore more likely to compete for jobs with natives.
In some ways, "open borders" (when they really were open) where better.
The best would be a work program that allowed willing labor to legally work here, and still keep their homes abroad. But the kneejerkers won't even let us consider sensible solutions, since they're obsessed with a myth: that the problem is "open borders".
Can we make the border tighter still? Sure. But I'd bet we're already very near the point of diminishing returns. We've already steadily tightened the borders more and more and more over the last 25 years. Even more resources probably won't make much difference.
The problem isn't the borders. The problem is an unwillingness to even look at where the problem really is.
As to Bush's endorsement, well, he's retired, he left men who fought for him twisting in the wind, and I burned my Bushbot Action Hero costume when he pissed away his political clout appeasing domestic enemies.
Before she became a household name, Texas Republican gubernatorial candidate Debra Medina spoke at a meeting of Log Cabin Republicans of Dallas last August. Medina is the only one of the three GOP candidates to visit the gay Republican group