Posted on 07/24/2016 3:58:58 AM PDT by reaganaut1
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The solution favored among ranchers is infused with a fatalism that nothing will change — government being government, and the cartels always one step ahead — so why bother. But here it goes:
Intensive, round-the-clock patrols along the border are required for a fence or wall to work; otherwise, those determined to cross will always find a way. But, they argue, if you have boots on the ground, you will have no need for anything so beautiful as the Great Wall of Trump.
It is easy, from a distance, to dismiss the ranchers along the border as right-wing Chicken Littles whose complaints hint of racism. Too easy, in fact.
Ranchers will say they saw people with backpacks trekking across their property last week, last night, early this morning. Some will say they have grudging agreements of access with drug cartels, as long as trespassers stay far from their homes. Dogs bark, motion lights flicker, things go missing.
The unnerving has become everyday life, Mr. Ashurst says, and then he asks my colleague and me where we live. Metropolitan New York, we answer.
Nice, Mr. Ashurst says, still scowling. “But how would you like it?” he asks, referring to the ebb-and-flow parade of strangers, some armed, past his door. “Do you think you’re more important than the poor moron who has the misfortune to live along the border?”
True, the overall number of migrants has plummeted in the last 15 years or so. Here, in what the Border Patrol categorizes as the Tucson sector — about 90,000 square miles, with 262 miles of border — there were 63,397 arrests in the 2015 fiscal year, compared with 10 times that in the 2001 fiscal year.
(Excerpt) Read more at nytimes.com ...
No. They won’t all be stopped, especially the ones who benefit from corruption in the American agencies and elected officials, but the traffic will be much reduced, especially the human traffic.
I know what you were saying. . .but it was an opportunity for a quick jab that couldn’t be passed up.
“forgot to add - just look at history - the Berlin wall was rather effective - just ask the Germans.”
Nope, not true. 17 people still made it across.
Expect opposition rationale like the above, and: “If ONE drug dealer of killer gets across the wall it will have failed.”
A properly designed wall makes patrols more effective. An unpatrolled wall accomplishes nothing.
Letters of Marque for private citizens ... interesting idea.
A wall or big fence, combined with active patrolling, will indeed stop most of the incursions by human and drug smugglers. If your path is blocked by an obstacle, you can’t proceed forward. Simple enough.
I don’t believe a declaration of war is required for a state to post its own National Guard along the border. In fact, Article I Section 8 authorizes Congress to provide for calling forth the Militia (which the National Guard supposedly replaces) to “execute the Laws of the Union, suppress Insurrections and repel Invasions;” and our border problem looks like all three.
Paying for a National Guard presence might be sticky, but we can take those funds from all the welfare that we won’t be paying to border crashers.
No harm taken. I saw the grin. It is just that being an all-in kinda guy for the A-10 and especially “Hog Drivers”, I was able to work really close up to the Mohawks and even got the opportunity for a ride along as one of my friends was a crew chief for them.
It was that involvement that when seeing the Hog for the first time, I knew exactly what it could do. The best thing is that with the turbine-fan, it is much quieter, almost silent when it is coming at you. The prop hammering of the Mohawk did not offer that audible stealth.
What was it that the Iraqi Army Infantry called the Hogs, Silent Death?
A Border Wall won’t stop 100% of illegals and drugs coming across the border but it will reduce them to a very small fraction of the current levels.
Sure, it’s like Whack-A-Mole, once the border is shut down they will try to find other means of entry.
But that doesn’t mean we should just give up and leave the border open.
We can’t stop 100% of muggings, rape and murder either so should we just give up trying?
Exactly. Sadly, this whole piece is a good example of agenda-driven writing. A real journalistic piece would have facts and figures about fences used in other places (e.g. the fences used by the Israelis). They would recognize the fact that the Berlin wall between East and West Germany was effective and a symbol of communist oppression. They wouldn't have passages such as:
“If pixie dust sprinkled into the dry earth could make all the eye-crossing obstacles disappear, beginning with the multibillion-dollar cost, would a concrete divide constructed to Donald J. Trump’s aesthetics (“beautiful,” with “a big beautiful door”) and ever-changing specifications (25 feet high! 35 feet high!! 55 feet high!!!) serve its intended purpose?”
It's really not journalism. It's editorializing, and using selective quotes and contextually inaccurate ‘facts’ to push a personal bias.
That’s the problem - no political will.
Illegal immigrants are a bigger threat to this Nation than the entire Mexican military attempting to invade.
The political class have raised 2 generations of wussies; people that will quietly acquiesce to their own eventual destruction.
The Constitution is NOT a suicide pact. We wouldn’t have to kill many, just enough to demonstrate our seriousness.
Allowing the Border Patrol to do their jobs will certainly help.
Perhaps having the active duty military deployed along the border would be a good idea before, during, and after the wall is built.
You could make sneaking into America punisable by death. You get one court hearing with one appeal and that is it.
How many people would then try it?
As conservatives, we must NEVER fall into the trap of giving SPECIAL-INTERESTS a HIGHER level of credibility than anyone else.
In this case, there is a vague concept for a border wall. No one really knows what it will look like (other than have Trump’s logo on it every 500 feet, LOL). The locals down there understandably fear the worst - seeing their beloved spreads torn-up and maybe cut off from some parts. They may be right - they may be wrong - they may be partially right. None of them know, just as none of us know, at this point.
But THE WALL IS NOT FOR THEM - it is not for the ranchers, farmers, or locals down there, anymore than a 4-lane interstate is for the farmers that have land split up. IT IS FOR THE COUNTRY. Yes, the wall may benefit some, as it benefits the country - it may even benefit them a bit more, if it keeps unwanted people off their land - and it may hurt them somewhat, and it may hurt a few of them significantly.
But again, THE WALL IS NOT FOR THEM. This country has a huge problem with illegals flooding in, and with previously deported felons slipping back in. They don’t stop at the border ranches, they go into the HEARTLAND - into cities like San Francisco and Houston (and many more), where they continue to kill. And they bring drugs, tons of them every day. Again, this affects the entire country.
As many here have stated, the wall is ONE PIECE of border control Anyone who thinks that Trump will simply build a wall, rub his hands together, and forget it’s there, simply doesn’t know Trump. Lots more will be done.
Walls are effective, especially if patrolled effectively.
The Wall is opposed by some because they feel it won't work, but most oppose the border fence because it will work a little too well.
Lots of people are making money and getting rich off of border smuggling.
This includes more than a few people who have property located on the border and who are getting payoffs from the cartels to look the other way and allow smugglers and coyotes to use their property as safe crossing zones.
If you find a property owner on the border who is against the wall, it's likely because they are make more money off mordida (bribes) than cattle or cotton
We already have thousands of military members returning from the Middle East......move them into the Border Patrol & shut down the illegals.
The current firgures showing ‘immigration is down’ are very misleading.
The Border Patrol has been cut by Obama & FEWER arrests are being made.
The illegals & the drugs are still coming-—and are higher than ever before.
This must stop. Ranchers are on the front lines & are losing cattle, dogs, water & water tanks, and family members to the invaders.
IF these same invaders were coming into NYC, it would be stopped in the blink of an eye.
Attacking the people that hire illegals is probably the most effective way. If nobody will hire them, they will leave.
I'm fed up with the gutless snowflakes who have infested our pioneering spirit. We've become a dumbed down, gutless bunch of pajama boys who fear our own shadow.
There are ways to make a wall extremely hazardous to ones health. Add triple concertina, high voltage, cameras mounted in cement on both sides and stations to monitor the cameras. Add day flights for visual recon of the area plus have night flights. Things will be much more difficult plus the border patrol being allowed to do their job will stop the majority. At present we have zilch, so; anything is better. These damn Dems will print anything and claim to be anyone.
I doubt the rancher is a Democrat. He just believes the government will never be sincere or do what it takes. I live 60 miles away, and I agree. I’m not opposed to a wall, but a wall is not going to be an effective solution. At best, it is a small part of the puzzle.
“Funny how the East Germans and the North Koreans figured out how to keep people *in*.”
It worked for them because they KILLED people who tried to cross.
This ain't rocket science. Build the freakin wall and lay down some deterrents.
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