Posted on 11/28/2005 5:39:48 PM PST by MRMEAN
Republicans in Congress who are up for reelection in 2006 are feeling the heat from their GOP base to crack down on illegal migration. Many of them want President Bush to assist them by beefing up border security. Try as he might, that's not his first choice. Up to now, border security has been a lesser immigration priority for a president who once said that those who enter the US illegally are simply trying to "provide for their families" and "put food on the table" - as if opening the border to any job seeker were merely a humanitarian matter. In these days of Al Qaeda-style terrorism, the humane act would be to have well-regulated borders and better law enforcement against the thousands of employers who hire undocumented workers.
Without first showing the border can be secured enough to drastically reduce illegal migration, the president's other priorities such as a "guest worker" program should not be implemented.
Yes, Mr. Bush did recently sign a bill into law that improves border protection by such steps as adding 1,000 Border Patrol agents. And this week, the president is giving speeches in Texas and Arizona that will appear to show he's now serious about stemming the increasing flow of unlawful migration into the US. But this belated support was probably done under political duress to keep the GOP majority in Congress.
Indeed, Bush does show a new enthusiasm for several practical measures, such as returning illegal migrants captured along the Mexican border back to the interior of Mexico rather than releasing them simply on the other side. (Such a step would reduce the incentive for those who keep trying to find one of many holes in the US security system.)
The president's political nod toward better security might help GOP candidates who need to show that their party is making some moves toward reducing the massive lawlessness of border crossings and trying to nab infiltrating terrorists. But Americans are in a show-me mood when it comes to immigration, and are oh-so aware that past border toughening and the 1986 amnesty for illegals did little to stem the flow.
They're also wise to the false notion that a guest-worker program will somehow greatly soak up the demand among those who want to enter the US and thus reduce illegal crossings.
A GOP plan to pass a "comprehensive" immigration bill early next year should aim to secure the borders first before dealing with an increase in legal entries or providing any sort of back-door amnesty to the more than 10 million illegal immigrants in the US. Those businesses which now hire illegal workers and contribute heavily to the GOP should not be the GOP's priority when it comes to security issues such as border controls. If employers need more American workers, all they need to do is raise wages and offer benefits. They might also rest easier by obeying hiring laws.
A nation that long tolerates such open lawlessness in both illegal entries and hiring can't claim to be a beacon of virtue to the world. Nor is it safe against terrorism.
Like New Orleans' broken levees, the US needs to shore up its border protection first. Then it can be more generous in taking in the world's huddled masses.
How about enforcement of the laws we have before promising new laws they don't intend to enforce?
WOW! This is an editorial in the Christian Science Monitor, I'm amazed! They are right in every particular, I'll add.
Well, a nice Guest Worker program would fix all that, wouldn't it? /s
I don't believe a damn thing from the hacks in DC until I see serious enforcement. Both parties stink on immigration. They live it up in DC while the nation is inundated by a tidal wave from the 3rd world. Ethnic pressure groups and the cheap labor lobby have George Bush's ear
"Without first showing the border can be secured enough to drastically reduce illegal migration, the president's other priorities such as a "guest worker" program should not be implemented."
I've noticed that the CSM seems to be very much in the right on the border and illegal immigration issues.
No, this week he's giving speeches to provide amnesty to illegals, but using any other word for 'amnesty' that his speech-writers can find.
Let the GOP propose a union with Mexico - will that win votes?
ping
"No, this week he's giving speeches to provide amnesty to illegals, but using any other word for 'amnesty' that his speech-writers can find."
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Bush spoke and said nothing..he will destroy the GOP in 06 with this constant we must have illegal workers and it is impossible to deport illegals living here. Talk about setting the bar low..Bush who are YOU??
I have been wondering who is going to round up and ship out all the "temporary" workers when their three years are up and what is going to prevent the next Democrat President running for re-election giving all the temporary workers citizenship in time for the election.
Most of the issues Bush discussed today can be solved in the long run with the least expense by BLOCKING passage across the border except for legal transits with strong followup.
"Most of the issues Bush discussed today can be solved in the long run with the least expense by BLOCKING passage across the border except for legal transits with strong followup."
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"can't be done , impossible, too complex," thats just what the AG Gonzales,BUSH and The GOP talking heads are saying night after night day after day while Thousands of illegals pour over our borders each day.
first Mexican customs facility in the United States
http://www.insidebayarea.com/businessnews/ci_3254225 ^ | 11/27/2005 | Garance Burke
Posted on 11/27/2005 4:42:00 PM PST by cope85
New Kansas City customs port may expedite trade with Mexico Region hopes to capitalize on growing cross-border trade By Garance Burke, Associated Press
KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Shipping American cars and electronics to Mexico may become much cheaper and faster early next year when the first Mexican customs facility in the United States is expected to open in the heart of the Midwest. It may be nearly 1,000 miles to the border from Kansas City, but this industrial hub will soon start building an inland port that would whisk thousands of trucks through export inspections and shoot them back out onto the North American Free Trade Agreement corridor, where they can roll through the border without further delays.
The $3 million facility, which would be the first foreign customs office inside the United States, will likely be approved by the U.S. and Mexican governments by year's end and is scheduled to open next May, said Chris Gutierrez, president of Kansas City SmartPort Inc., a nonprofit organization promoting the project.
Planners say manufacturing industries in the upper Midwest and Canada would be the first to benefit from the new customs operation, which they believe could expand to handle cargo from across the country.
Mexican government officials confirmed the two countries had agreed on the overall proposal, though both nations said finer points of the agreement were still being negotiated by customs officials — including security concerns and the legal standing of Mexican customs officials working in the United States.
After a visit to Kansas City in May, U.S. Customs and Border Protection Commissioner Robert C. Bonner said the pilot proposal was "bold and imaginative" and could transform Kansas City into a "major new trade link" that would fit well with new border security initiatives to pre-approve cargo.
"We've always had the railroad and the river and the airlines and the roads, but this will open up tremendous new business opportunities for Kansas City," said Kansas City councilwoman Bonnie Sue Cooper, who said she proposed the idea to the Mexican Finance Minister Francisco Gil Diaz last year.
In the 1940s, Kansas City — at the intersection of two major interstate highways along the Missouri River — was one of the country's largest rail distribution centers.
Now plans are to fill a gravel lot that once held cattle with a big-box building that will process long lines of big rigs packed with goods for export to Mexico.
Providing the containers stay electronically sealed once they're inspected, the trucks will be free to cross the border and avoid further inspections, resulting in efficiencies and cost savings.
"Kansas City is the geographical
heart of the United States and of the entire NAFTA region," said Everardo Suarez, Mexican consul general in Kansas City. Once the agreement is completed, Kansas City would essentially function like a Mexican port.
The transition to the global economy comes just in time: since the city's stockyards and airline industry declined, it has been struggling to rebuild itself as a leader in global logistics.
"I think this project would go a long way to transform trucking," said Chaz Jones, a research analyst with Morgan Keegan, a Memphis investment bank. "Truckers typically get paid per mile. The more time cargo spends moving on the road, the more revenue it generates for a carrier."
In recent months, delays at the hurricane-damaged port of New Orleans and bottlenecks at Long Beach and Los Angeles have caused companies to look for alternative trade routes. Industry analysts said Wal-Mart Stores Inc. is one of several companies moving freight through Mexico as an alternative to using West Coast ports; Wal-Mart spokespeople would not confirm the move.
Because so much trade between NAFTA partners is carried by truck, Midwestern cities with good transportation infrastructure stand to capture some of that trade flow.
In August 2005, trucks carried 64 percent of imports from Canada and Mexico and 80 percent of U.S. exports to those countries, according to the Bureau of Transportation Statistics.
San Antonio has also invested significant efforts to develop a competing inland port. But Kansas City officials hope the customs facility will give the city a leg up, especially once the project's second phase, which will allow rail cars to clear Mexican customs as well, is completed.
Kansas City Southern owns two Mexican train lines which means they can send freight from the Midwest directly to the Mexican port of Lazaro Cardenas, where car manufacturer Mazda Motor Corp. has begun shipping vehicles from Japan to Kansas City.
"There might not be enough volume to open a rail facility today, but we certainly expect that will increase in the next few years," said Warren Erdman, a vice president at Kansas City Southern. "We have great interest in the proposal."
"The transition to the global economy comes just in time: since the city's stockyards and airline industry declined, it has been struggling to rebuild itself as a leader in global logistics."
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Ship out the jobs south of the border then bring mexico to KC The FIrst of many MEXICAN ports in USA..sad
In fact, most illegals are here for jobs and most illegals are willing to work hard. When I had an office in Georgia, I had terrific Mexican clients looking for ways to become legal. They wanted to pay taxes and were not looking for a free ride. But there were also others looking for just exactly that...the free ride.
My problem with this whole issue is Mexico, Vincente Fox, and why Mexicans feel they need to come here in the first place. THAT is the issue I want addressed. And no one ever does.
Let them secure the border and enforce the existing laws first. If they don't do that, there's nothing to negotiate.
Concrete and razor wire?
Actually, they're wrong on the one particular that matters most: the problem is not the border crossers. The problem is the Americans who pay the border crossers to come here illegally.
Deal with the Americans who pay them, and the illegal immigration problem will evaporate.
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