Posted on 10/15/2011 4:18:53 PM PDT by VinL
Republican presidential candidate Herman Cain said Saturday that part of his immigration policy would be to build an electrified fence on the country’s border with Mexico that could kill people trying to enter the country illegally...
Mr. Cain added that he also would consider using military troops “with real guns and real bullets” on the border to stop illegal immigration.
The remarks were among the most pointed yet by Mr. Cain about illegal immigration, and they come as he is enjoying a surge in national political polls on the back of his victory in a recent Florida straw poll..
It is not the first time that Mr. Cain has floated the idea of an electrified fence. He has told the story many times of a caller to his former radio show who chastised him for talking about building a border fence, saying that such an idea was impractical.
“It’s going to be 20 feet high. It’s going to have barbed wire on the top. It’s going to be electrified. And there’s going to be a sign on the other side saying, ‘It will kill you — Warning.’” At an earlier rally, on the campus of Tennessee Tech University in Cookeville, Tenn., he added that the sign would be written “in English and in Spanish.”
“This nation has always been a nation with wide open doors,” Mr. Cain said at the second rally. “We want to make it easy for people to come through the front door. And we’re going to shut off the back door so you don’t have to sneak into America.”
(Excerpt) Read more at thecaucus.blogs.nytimes.com ...
Why not land mines along the border?
When they built the Interstates the states took the land for the right of way so the federales didn't need to.
For many this isn't about illegal immigration per se. It's about hatred for Mexicans. For any self-described Christian advocating this, it is reprehensible. Yes, we've a problem with illegals and something needs to be done. Erecting a Soviet or Nazi style barrier is not the answer, nor is it American.
Absolutely agree. Cain would have been better off advocating sending in Special Forces to take down the vicious drug cartels instead. Those are the professed enemies of this nation, not the guy coming over to wash dishes. Patrol the hell out of the border. Fine. An electric fence? Let's just drop an atomic bomb on Mexico City and get it over with.
I've been promoting Cain for the last two weeks. But after studying the ramifications of 999 and now this, IMHO, Cain has a loose screw.
Gingrich might be the darkhorse before this is said and done.
“It is a national issue. So do you propose the FED comes down and steals private land and deploys military troops? It is a HUGE Problem but stupid slogans and stupid ideas does not fix the issue.”
You’re damn right I support that. Do you have a problem with national defense?
I prefer PORK, the real meat!
We can defend the border. Fence in some areas, patrol the border with live agents, helicopters and drones. Unfortunately drones and fences don’t apprehend. It’s always going to come down to agents, Jeeps and helicopters.
That’s the way it works for Cain.
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On this one, I think it is a joke Cain should pack up and put away.
On one level it is like false advertising, some people will be ecstatic thinking Mr Cain is going to do this (they will take him at his word). He knows it won’t happen.
On the other hand, it is a good ‘gotcha’ for the press but how does it make Cain supporters who jump all in for it look? I think that’s poor treatment of his supporters—letting them become the butt of his joke.
The left will never like the conservatives but there are some who may be looking to move on over and see people act rabid over deadly killing fences and think we are a bunch of knuckle-draggers.
I don’t know, some things aren’t good jokes—in my opinion anyhow.
“Thanks for the clarification Mr eminent domain. For what it’s worth I almost voted against Perry on that very issue.”
...and thanks for outing yourself on what you think of national defense.
This is a CONSERVATIVE site, and most of us support national defense.
I call on the Super Committee to make it so!
Pretty clever..and gave me a chuckle.
I actually thought you may be vegan, lol
I call on the Super Committee to make it so!
What a chucklehead.
Now NPR is the defacto news source on fences and border control?
“I never said we should let them in.
I am 100% FOR securing the border. But the right way and the logical way. Perry has exactly the right idea and the experience to stop illegal immigration. He can’t do it as Governor of Texas but he can do it as President.”
Maybe Perry couldn’t physically secure the border as governor, but I STILL have a problem with him coddling Illegals, especially when compared to the governors of Arizona and Alabama. He’s an EMBARRASSMENT to Texas and he true feelings about illegals is right there with Bush-43. So I really do have a difficult time seeing how he would secure the border, since that WOULD offend Mexico.
“But the remarks by Cain today - he’s a loose cannon and scary. It is obvious, at least to us Texans, that this man does not know what he is talking about. He’s clueless and a wild crazy person.”
Speak for yourself fellow Texan. Many (probably) most of us Texans actually do want a secure border, AND simply don’t think Perry has it in his ‘heart’.
As far as Cain being a dangerous loose cannon with his finger on they button. That I take as a compliment, since it is EXACTLY what they said about Reagan in 1980. So, thank you - I think you are starting to ‘get’ Cain.
So why doesnt Obama get his azz busy building a damn fence?
“It’s one more area Cain is clueless on. Did you bother to read the various treaties?”
...and which treaty prohibits us from constructing a fence on OUR territory? There are a lot of land owners in South Texas that also need this answer.
Of course, you would have lots of costly batteries. It takes lots of power to overcome the voltage drop in miles of conductor. You are talking about an expensive system. Since I am not a electrical engineer, the type of system required to build a fence capable of delivering lethal protection is up for speculation. And it would be a gamble of a lot of money that could be easily defeated.
After all of that expense, I would come along, clamp an extension cord to the fence conductor, go down about 10 feet and clamp the other end of the extension cord to the fence conductor. Then, I would cut out about 10 feet of fence conductor between the clamps with my insulated wire cutter. No one would know the fence electrical preventative was defeated. And the fence would be an easy access point for border crossers.
Hot-air balloon rides are going to get very popular in Mexico!
“If Cain really believed in the market, he would know removing the incentives for people to come here illegally would force most to leave on their own.”
NAILED IT, good job. But you meant Perry, since he spent a decade both adding incentives and not removing them.
Man, are you stupid. Here is the source.
Back then, Border Patrol agent Jim Henry says he was overwhelmed by the stream of immigrants who crossed into the United States illegally just in that sector."It was an area that was out of control," Henry says. "There were over 100,000 aliens crossing through this area a year."
Today, Henry is assistant chief of the Border Patrol's San Diego sector. He says apprehensions here are down 95 percent, from 100,000 a year to 5,000 a year, largely because the single strand of cable marking the border was replaced by double — and in some places, triple — fencing.
Me too.
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