Posted on 12/04/2006 6:58:29 AM PST by kellynla
Congress will approve an immigration bill that will grant citizenship rights to most of the 12 million to 20 million illegal aliens in the U.S. after Democrats take control next month, predict both sides on Capitol Hill. While Republicans have been largely splintered on the issue of immigration reform, Democrats have been fairly unified behind the principle that the illegals currently in the country should get citizenship rights without having to first leave the country.
(Excerpt) Read more at washtimes.com ...
No, not "whatever".
If we emulate the success of Operation Wetback today, it will take 137.5 years to deport the (alleged) 11 million illegal aliens in the country.
Misrepresenting facts and inflating numbers has become second nature to many these days.
We are removing more people per year today than Ike did.
So why is that held up as exemplary, and Bush as a failure?
Could it be because people are abysmally ignorant?
If President Bush signs any amnesty, then Jeb will have to run in the Democratic primaries against Hillary.
President Bush is against amnesty. But I repeate myself...
Ike didn't let several million illegals accumulate in this country during his tenure.
Then we obviously need faster and more effective means - and there are many that will start the ball rolling such as cutting out all perks, which is very easy to do.
http://149.101.23.2/graphics/publicaffairs/factsheets/948.htm
That's right...just sending a "message" and it "will only be for 2 years".
Then on June 17, 1954, what was called "Operation Wetback" began. Because political resistance was lower in California and Arizona, the roundup of aliens began there. Some 750 agents swept northward through agricultural areas with a goal of 1,000 apprehensions a day. By the end of July, over 50,000 aliens were caught in the two states. Another 488,000, fearing arrest, had fled the country. By mid-July, the crackdown extended northward into Utah, Nevada, and Idaho, and eastward to Texas. By September, 80,000 had been taken into custody in Texas, and an estimated 500,000 to 700,000 illegals had left the Lone Star State voluntarily.
Now that's an editorial and all those numbers warrant a further look. But it's doubtful the lowest possible number, 70-80,000, ie the actual number taken into custody, is the honest number to use in discussing Ike's work.
Arrests at the border topped 1 million per year during Ike's administration, so according to "conventional wisdom" (for every one stopped ____ got in), and taking into consideration that there was a fraction of the enforcement that we have today...
How Eisenhower solved illegal border crossings from Mexico
-snip-
President Eisenhower cut off this illegal traffic. He did it quickly and decisively with only 1,075 United States Border Patrol agents - less than one-tenth of today's force. The operation is still highly praised among veterans of the Border Patrol.
- snip -
Walt Edwards, who joined the Border Patrol in 1951, tells a similar story. He says: "When we caught illegal aliens on farms and ranches, the farmer or rancher would often call and complain [to officials in El Paso]. And depending on how politically connected they were, there would be political intervention. That is how we got into this mess we are in now."
Bill Chambers, who worked for a combined 33 years for the Border Patrol and the then-called US Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS), says politically powerful people are still fueling the flow of illegals.
During the 1950s, however, this "Good Old Boy" system changed under Eisenhower - if only for about 10 years.
In 1954, Ike appointed retired Gen. Joseph "Jumpin' Joe" Swing, a former West Point classmate and veteran of the 101st Airborne, as the new INS commissioner.
Influential politicians, including Sen. Lyndon B. Johnson (D) of Texas and Sen. Pat McCarran (D) of Nevada, favored open borders, and were dead set against strong border enforcement, Brownell said. But General Swing's close connections to the president shielded him - and the Border Patrol - from meddling by powerful political and corporate interests.
One of Swing's first decisive acts was to transfer certain entrenched immigration officials out of the border area to other regions of the country where their political connections with people such as Senator Johnson would have no effect.
Then on June 17, 1954, what was called "Operation Wetback" began. Because political resistance was lower in California and Arizona, the roundup of aliens began there. Some 750 agents swept northward through agricultural areas with a goal of 1,000 apprehensions a day. By the end of July, over 50,000 aliens were caught in the two states. Another 488,000, fearing arrest, had fled the country.
By mid-July, the crackdown extended northward into Utah, Nevada, and Idaho, and eastward to Texas.
By September, 80,000 had been taken into custody in Texas, and an estimated 500,000 to 700,000 illegals had left the Lone Star State voluntarily.
Unlike today, Mexicans caught in the roundup were not simply released at the border, where they could easily reenter the US. To discourage their return, Swing arranged for buses and trains to take many aliens deep within Mexico before being set free.
Tens of thousands more were put aboard two hired ships, the Emancipation and the Mercurio. The ships ferried the aliens from Port Isabel, Texas, to Vera Cruz, Mexico, more than 500 miles south.
The sea voyage was "a rough trip, and they did not like it," says Don Coppock, who worked his way up from Border Patrolman in 1941 to eventually head the Border Patrol from 1960 to 1973.
Mr. Coppock says he "cannot understand why [President] Bush let [today's] problem get away from him as it has. I guess it was his compassionate conservatism, and trying to please [Mexican President] Vincente Fox."
-----------
This shows that fairly modest crackdowns can lead to widespead self-deportation. You don't have to round them all up. The arrests of just over 100,000 led to the self-deportation of over one million. And it was done with a tenth of the BP personnel we have now.
It's all about political will. Eisenhower had it.
See post #331. Internal enforcement led to a 10-1 ratio of self-deportations to forced deportations. It's all about political will.
You hope .. but there are no guarantees
I responded to apost that specifically addressed the number deported, that number is 80,000or there abouts.
"President Bush is against amnesty. But I repeate myself..."
Please do, I mean, you'll never convince anyone, but its kinda fun to watch ;)
President Bush signs farm bill; food stamp eligibility restored for large numbers of immigrants
Apples to oranges, Luis. This wasn't about catching people at the border and busing them just across the border. This was about making a widespread enforcement action deep into the border states, and deporting the illegals well into Mexico. That led to a 10-1 ratio of self-deportations to forced deportations. And that is what enforcement-first proponents such as myself have been saying all along. But powerful and corrupt interests don't want such - and it took someone with the character of Eisenhower to thwart those interests, as the article clearly states.
And it doesn't bother you one bit that most of the "sweep" was illegal? Does it bother you at all that they stopped anybody who "looked" Mexican and asked them for their ID?
Does it bother you at all that they sent the children born here in America back, too?
Isn't this the web site that thinks the government and police are akin to the Nazis? And all that was okay with you?
Could it possibly be as much fun as watching you lie repeatedly?
My wife "looks" Mexican (because she is, actually, a native-born Hispanic). She has no problem with this approach.
Does it bother you at all that they sent the children born here in America back, too?
I think the anchor baby provision is the dumbest thing ever created in this country. So no, I don't have a problem with it.
Isn't this the web site that thinks the government and police are akin to the Nazis? And all that was okay with you?
Ah, so now the Nazi card is played. Hey, you were the one drawing equivalence between Ike's results and Bush's regarding deportation. Now that it is clearly shown that there is no real comparison, you launch into rants about ethnic profiling and call your opponents Nazis.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.