Porter: That’s a hard one. First and foremost, the absurdity of the claims and the credibility of those making them. There are those among us, where the illegal immigration debate is a source of great profit. Anything to spread the fear and hysteria people have about our country being “invaded” by Mexico, they’ll do without qualms or second thoughts.
Contrary to what some may believe, our law enforcement resources actually enforce the law here in Texas and across the southwest border.
Secure borders is a catch phrase for those who are oppose to any type of revamping of our nations broken system. You can’t lay mine fields, sniper towers or station troops on the 2000 mile + border with shoot to kill orders as some suggest. Building a physical fence throw mountainous and rugged terrain is cost prohibitive and will only slow down, not stop, the smugglers. And without someone to watch the fence, the fence is useless. And if you have the personnel to watch the fence, then obviously you don’t need the fence. We have more operational control of the borders than at anytime in recent years.
A re-examination of our worker visas and a guest worker program to fill the jobs Americans refuse to do. And yes, those jobs exist and we have it within our laws to fill those jobs, except the visa quota system stands in the way. Americans are soft and have no desire to do back breaking menial labor. Look at Arizona with the exodus of Hispanics. If they held these jobs Americans want and will do, why haven’t we seen a decrease in unemployment. All we are seeing is businesses shutting down because their customer base is leaving. Parts of Phoenix is beginning to look like a ghost town.
Our government needs to get it out of its head that 100 million Mexicans are chomping at the bit to get into this country and look at the manner in which they issue laser visas and I-9’s. The laser visa is nothing more than a border crossing card. It permits the holder to cross and shop, visit family but they are limited to 28 miles of the border without the I-9. Canadians don’t have this requirement. They can cross at will with only a passport and go wherever they desire.
It’s interesting about the Laser Visa. Mexicans apply for it, submit their documents showing ties to Mexico and proving ties enough that they will return, pay the $100 dollar application fee and are given an appointment at the closest Consulate 4 to 6 months in the future. When they arrive for the appointment and stand in line for a couple of hours, most are denied with no reason given nor any avenue for appeal. It’s solely the decision of a low level Consular employee whose word is final. That needs to change. Rules need to be established for eligibility. Not the choice of an employee who might have had a fight with his wife or something that morning or simply didn’t like the looks of the applicant.
We need to identify who is here and who they are. That would involve giving all some form of legitimacy. Not a path to citizenship although they wouldn’t be prohibited years down the road if they desired,. Identify who is here. The criminal element, identify and deport after any pending charges against them were resolved, and I know this will cause the civil libertarians to raise holy hell, but insert and RFID chip in the cheeks of their butts. We have them in our new passports. Mine can be read electronically 2 blocks from the border according to CBP officers. Then sensors along the border to detect when they try to re-enter.
There is a lot of good hardworking families who have crossed illegally They’ve built lives here, paid their taxes and been good citizens except for the 9 digit number they lack. We can’t deport the estimated 6 million Mexicans in this country. It is impossible
It is also interesting to note, until 9/11, when it seems this issue exploded, it was a non issue. We had cyclical migration for more than 75 years. Sure, most of it was illegal. People would cross, work a few months, go home to Mexico for the holidays and maybe return, maybe not. But the majority always returned at some point. Sure to be replaced by others, but it helped drive the economy on both sides of the border.
So I guess after that rambling reply, in a nutshell, we need to put a stop to this hysteria being spread that illegal immigrants are coming here to wallow in the public trough and acknowledge the contributions they make. We can’t have it both ways. Either they come here and take all the social services available, (which they can’t do) or they’re taking jobs Americans won’t. We can’t have it both ways. That is what is so illogical from the extremist point of view on both sides.
You can’t lay mine fields, sniper towers or station troops on the 2000 mile + border with shoot to kill orders as some suggest.You can't? And why, pray tell, can't you do those things? Or does he really mean won't?
If we chose to get serious about protecting our border believe me it could be done and with surprisingly low loss of life numbers too.
The difficulty is that we have too many Americans who are addicted to drugs. Then on top of that we have to support the penal economy, so drug flow cannot be stopped.
The costs of harvesting our foodstuffs is not a major cost in the retail pricing. That’s an old argument.
Explain how a family of illegals who earn leass than $20,000 per annum is going to pay the costs of education, medical, food, clothing, etc, for a family of six kids.
Sorry, but the number don’t work out. One visit to ER is a $1000 The family does not pay any taxes except on items purchased. They are a negative cost to society.
Eisenhower deported 2.5 million. 6 wouldn't be a problem.
Unfortunately, that number is a lie. Think 3 to 5 times more.
There are more than enough people here to handle this country’s current labor demands. Get rid of all illegals from any country and couple that with less generous welfare and unemployment benefits and we’d be cooking on the front burner.
Illegals are a serious financial drain on this country. Entire towns, neighborhoods and important facilities have either been wiped out or seriously debilitated by the sheer numbers of these people.