Posted on 09/08/2011 3:24:28 PM PDT by Meet the New Boss
A famous poet once wrote that “good fences make good neighbors.” However, this author did not have to deal with the realities of homeland security where a wall is only as strong as it is fortified by law enforcement personal. Building a wall along the entire Texas-Mexico border would not only be cost prohibitive – in the range of billions of dollars – it would create a false sense of security. And unless the federal government is willing to put enforcement personnel all along such a barrier – something it has refused to do for decades along a border without fencing – it will be no more successful at keeping illegal immigrants out of Texas than the Rio Grande River.
Strategic fencing in high-population areas makes sense. But I would like to see the federal government invest resources in increased border security operations like Operation Rio Grande rather than build a 1,200-mile wall.
With joint law enforcement operations we have managed to reduce crime in areas patrolled by border sheriffs by up to 60 percent during surge operations. With fixed wing and rotary assets in the air, more law enforcement boots on the ground, and a stronger boat patrol presence along the Rio Grande, we have virtually shut down drug and human smuggling activity during intensive operations. The success of these operations is the reason I will be asking the legislature for $100 million to secure our border.
As I have said repeatedly, you can’t have homeland security without border security, and there is no sense in reforming immigration laws if we cannot enforce them. And I have said equally as often that immigration reform without border security is meaningless.
Divisive language on the subject of border security and immigration reform is simply not constructive or useful in solving the problem. We cannot be a nation that is anti-immigrant because we are in fact a nation of immigrants. In fact, foreign-born citizens are some of the strongest supporters of tougher border security measures. Clearly, something has to be done because our hospitals, schools, and other service providers are being flooded with illegal immigrants at a great cost to taxpayers.
But to me neither amnesty nor mass deportation is the answer. The first unfairly rewards those who broke our laws, and the latter is not only unrealistic and unenforceable, but it would devastate our economy. That’s why I support a guest worker program that takes undocumented workers off the black market and legitimizes their economic contributions without providing them citizenship status.
I would rather know who is crossing our border legally to work instead of not knowing who is crossing our border illegally to work. A guest worker program that provides foreign workers with an ID removes the incentive for millions of people to illegally enter our country. It also adds those workers to our tax base, generates revenue for needed social services and it can be done without providing citizenship.
Along with millions of Americans, I think it is wrong to reward those who broke our laws with citizenship ahead of those who have followed the law and are waiting to enter this country legally. And like millions of Americans I do not support amnesty.
With a more secure border and a reasonable guest worker program we can allow guest workers to help build our economy without offering citizenship. Many don’t even want to become citizens – they just want to provide for their families back home.
We just finished an election where the Washington politicians gave us a lot of rhetoric on immigration reform, but no real solutions. We need Washington to be a part of the solution. For us it is not just a subject of intense debate, it directly impacts how we live.
As Governor, I understand that I represent all the people of Texas, and not everyone sees eye to eye on this issue. But, I do promise that I will use reason and fact, not emotion and fear, to help us resolve this issue in a spirit of unity. We need to work toward solutions, not slogans. We need immigration reform that doesn’t compromise our security, and security that doesn’t compromise our economy. And I believe we can accomplish all of this with a guest worker program and real security measures that utilize our law enforcement tools to help secure our border.
Don’t you just love it when “americans” throw the country to the wolves so they can support their guy.
When so called conservatives are willing to do that, its no wonder America is in trouble. Zero moral courage.
For the record I don't care that she said those things, I care more she thinks building a 2600 mile wall is a good idea when you have bodies of water that straddle the border that Americans use for cattle, recreation, and various other uses not to mention Mule deer, coyotes, mountain lions and other wildlife that loses access.
The truth is I don't even think she thinks that is a good idea. I think she is pandering for votes.
Canada has an excellent guest worker program that we could emulate here.
Each year, companies submit their plans for guest workers. Those jobs are publicised, and current residents have the opportunity to request those jobs.
Then, the companies can fill the remaining jobs with guest workers. But they must provide, at employment, the means for the guest workers to go back to their own countries.
Canada tracks these workers to make sure they leave.
I think that would be a fine solution for our country. There ARE jobs most americans won’t do, and that foreign workers will do. We don’t any longer have a large supply of people who would be willing to migrate around the country and work in harsh conditions. But by setting up a program like Canada’s, anybody here who DID want that life would get priority.
But the KEY to a guest worker program has GOT to be tracking them and making sure they leave when their job is done. That’s where we get a lot of illegals, not crossing the border, but coming in legally, and then overstaying their work permits.
There are a lot of mexicans who have the right to cross our borders who don’t have the right to work here, and if we can’t stop them. It’s like how ANY american with a passport can drive down to Tijuana (sp?). But you can’t go down and get a job without a permit. The same is true the other way, and with Canada as well.
So no matter what you do with a fence, there’s a huge population of “legal crossing” people you can’t handle with a fence, you need the means to track people legally in the country to make sure they don’t overstay their legal periods or start working illegally.
I've seen the transcript from the Univision interview many times, and don't ever recall those words, or that implication coming from her lips.
I call bull.
If her explanation is "well Iwas touting the party line" she looks weak. She would have to say "I studied it further and decided X"
When you speak your own words, without qualifying it with "our team" or "this ticket" or even "Sen. McCain" then they should be taken as your words.
I don't really care she said them because it is a tricky subject but I point it out to show where her supposed purity is not really as pure as you might think and she will have to explain, if she decides to run.
For the record, I don't care if she does or doesn't, although I lean toward doesn't because I want the party to rally around Perry. But if she does, she can only lose ground. It's getting to the point she will appear to be parroting Perry.
How long have you been watching presidential politics? The VP candidate ALWAYS toes the line for the presidential candidate, and is their spokesman on the campaign trail. They can't say anything that contradicts the boss, or they do instantaneous, and significant damage to the confidence of voters and the credibility of the ticket.
Read up on what Palin has said about illegal immigration since being emancipated from McCain.
As governor, how do you deal with them? Do you think they all should be deported? There is no way that in the US we would roundup every illegal immigrant -there are about 12 million of the illegal immigrants- not only economically is that just an impossibility but that's not a humane way anyway to deal with the issue that we face with illegal immigration.
Do you then favor an amnesty for the 12 or 13 million undocumented immigrants?
No, I do not. I do not. Not total amnesty. You know, people have got to follow the rules. They've got to follow the bar, and we have got to make sure that there is equal opportunity and those who are here legally should be first in line for services being provided and those opportunities that this great country provides.
To clarify, so you support a path to citizenship for undocumented immigrants?
I do because I understand why people would want to be in America. To seek the safety and prosperity, the opportunities, the health that is here. It is so important that yes, people follow the rules so that people can be treated equally and fairly in this country.
Understand, I don't care about her answer, just the fact she will have to explain the change and I guess your saying she will say "Look I didn't really believe that, I was touting the line of the ticket"
We'll see if that is acceptable or if it will be something people will say "oh she's really more like the rest on that subject so what other reason should I vote for her"
How about 3 million “unskilled” labor permits good for 2-3 years. If they could only be obtained at Am. Embassies in their home countries, 2-3 times that many would go home hoping to get one.
We need a carrot/stick system in place to get most of them go home voluntarily to reduce the cost of removing them involuntarily.
There is already a farm labor permit process in place. Unfortunately it is totally gummed up with stupid PC policies and requirements. It’s easier to hire illegals with fake documents. Fix that (i.e. get the liberal meddling out of it) and half the problem is solved right there.
Good luck with that, but I would hope that you would set a higher bar for your fellow Americans - especially conservative voters. You're not actually hoping they'll be that ignorant, are you?
PING!!!! Hoo boy!
Wow! The majority of illegals are in border states! Whodathunk?
I'm against both. I can grasp that if you keep importing third-worlders, whether legal or illegal, eventually you'll wake up in a third-world nation.
What? That doesn't even make any sense at all considering that tens of millions are working here right now without a work visa.
Give 'em a candidate with decent hair, a wide smile, a Texas accent and an (R) next to their name, and the immigration apologist Freepers come out of the wood work.
I totally agree. Excellent post. There are good points to Perry, but on this issue he needs to do some serious thinking. He seems to be pretty set in stone on this.
Amnesty, welfare bennies, free healthcare, cheap tuition, are not popular with the American people.
If they were, the dems would have passed the whole cigar in the 1st two years of the Obama admin.
We could not have stopped them.
Unfortunately a good many Texans are too proud to admit that Texas has a serious problem. In fact a good many of the traditionally republican states face the same future if they don’t swallow their pride and admit that illegal immigration combined with migration south from northern states, will make them democrat states.
And they won’t go home to try for a work visa because the chances of getting one are near zero and take years. So they come here illegally.
If more work visas were given out and in a more timely manner, many would go home and attempt to get legal.
Eventually, the legals would outnumber the illegals and deportation of the “undocumented” would be simpler and the liberals would have nothing to holler about.
The fact is the work visa system is a choke point that encourages illegal migration. The program for bringing in migrant farm labor is a rube goldberg design instigated by the liberal servants of the unions.
Oh, so we'd have millions of poor, barely literate mestizos here working, but their paper work would be in order.
The problem isn't the paperwork being in order in case you haven't noticed. The problem is that we have millions of poor, barely literate mestizos here.
The fact is the work visa system is a choke point that encourages illegal migration.
So the solution is to step up enforcement and massively increase the number of deportations.
The program for bringing in migrant farm labor is a rube goldberg design instigated by the liberal servants of the unions.
Unions or no unions, on this side we have Americans dealing with over 9% unemployment and millions of Mexican illegals with high crime rates, taking jobs and using welfare. On that side we have millions more peasants who want to come here and do the same.
Kick them out and keep them out.
Closing the welfare spigot would also send millions of them home, but it can only be done if we end birthright citizenship of their anchorbabies.
Neither are doable at this time. But increasing the documented relative to the undocumented will increase the viability of doing the above because the documented will also exert pressure against the undocumented.
The point is to divide them against each other through documentation. Right now they are presenting as a monolithic culture aimed at destroying and displacing american culture.
Neither are doable at this time.
But deportation is doable at this time and the children will be going home with their parents.
You know, why don't you just say you don't have a problem with tens of millions of high crime rate, low literacy, high welfare usage Mexicans being in the US? Because that's what you're essentially driving for, you just want them to have the proper paperwork.
But increasing the documented relative to the undocumented will increase the viability of doing the above because the documented will also exert pressure against the undocumented.
The point is to divide them against each other through documentation.
I've heard my share of hare-brained schemes to deal with our immigration problems, but this is definitely top five.
Now we already have tens of thousands of Mexican peasants here legally with work visas. I'm sure you could give me some examples of anti-illegal organizations they run or leaders they have speaking out against their illegal Mexican brethren.
Surely they must exist if your theory has any viability.
Like LaRazaforlegals.org? Should I grab that domain name now and make a quick buck when they set up shop wanting to use it? /s
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