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Mexicans, Legal & Illegal, Transform USA
National Anxiety Center ^ | May 29, 2002 | Alan Caruba

Posted on 05/29/2002 2:42:12 PM PDT by Tailgunner Joe

The 2000 Census revealed that, in at least 13 States surveyed to date, more US residents are speaking Spanish at home. Not English. This is the result of nation’s growing Hispanic population throughout the 1990s. It has risen an astonishing 58 percent to 35.3 million.

In some places such as California, native-born English-speaking business owners are taking Spanish lessons or hiring bilingual employees. Speaking Spanish at home is fine with me, but taking it out to the larger community and, in effect, requiring that it too speak Spanish is just dead wrong. A common language binds Americans to one another. Two languages in the same nation creates two separate communities.

The flow of illegal aliens from Mexico and nations further south is a virtual torrent. In the first six months of this year, the US Border Patrol apprehended 176,655 illegal aliens in just the 21-mile Douglas, Arizona, section alone! The same individual may be apprehended more than once and the Border Patrol estimates that, for every one that is caught, three to five are not! Since 1983, at least a half-million illegal aliens have entered the US from our southern border.

A study by the non-profit Center for Immigration Studies confirms that "annual immigration in 2030 will still approach 400,000 a year, 8.3 to 11.4 percent higher than the 370,000 estimated for 2000." The Mexican-born population of the United States will double to 18 million by the year 2030. There is a powerful incentive for this because, in the last decade, Mexican immigrants sent more than $45 billion to their relatives. In 2000, they sent $6 billion or about $17 million a day!

Federal investigators recently revealed that "tens of thousands of foreigners are illegally obtaining Social Security numbers by using fake documents involving identity theft and other crimes. Federal officials have not yet found a way to search US immigration records to prevent the practice. Using the Social Security identification, the next step is to secure credit cards and even security clearances that permit illegal aliens to work in sensitive areas such as airports. In 200l, the Social Security Administration issued 5.8 million numbers, including 1.5 million to non-citizens.

On May 5th, both the Washington Post and Washington Times reported that the families of eleven illegal immigrants who died while attempting to enter the United States had filed a $41 million lawsuit against two federal agencies. Allow me to provide my standard disclaimer. I do not dislike Mexicans. I don’t even know a Mexican. If a Mexican has come here legally and become an American citizen, bravo! I have no problem with that, but the notion that the United States should be sued because it did not tend to the needs of those entering illegally is just nuts!

According to them, the failure of the United States, specifically the Department of Interior and the US Fish and Wildlife Service, to provide water to Mexicans trying to sneak into America, was the reason they died. Their bodies were found last year in the Cabeza Prieta National Wildlife Refuge between Tucson and Yuma. That area was being used because, say the attorneys for the families, the US Border Patrol has effectively shut down more populous portions of the Arizona border, thereby forcing illegal aliens to come in through more remote areas.

Well, it should be obvious that the US is to blame, right? Why should we stop at providing water in a desolate desert where ground temperatures can exceed 130 degrees in the summer? Why not a fulltime bus service? Or chauffeured limousines? This Mexican version of an Alice in Wonderland approach to illegal immigration is why, in 1997, according to the Immigration and Naturalization Service, 54% of all illegal immigrants coming into the US were Mexicans.

Could this be because elements of the Mexican government are carrying out a strategic depopulation program, centered around approximately ninety communities in central and southern Mexico? Some informed sources believe this to be the case. Making matters worse, according to Rep. Tom Tancredo (CO-R), since 1996 there have been 118 incursions across the border into the US; 61 by Mexican military and 57 by Mexican law enforcement. At least 60% of the time, the Mexicans were armed. Sometimes US Border guards come under fire.

The INS estimates that, in the past three years, more than a thousand migrants have died of various causes trying to enter the United States illegally. Their deaths, each one of them, were a tragedy, but it seems to me that it is a greater tragedy that Mexico does nothing to stem this human traffic. Maybe if Mexico took steps to improve its economy and provide jobs for its people, they would be working in Mexico instead of sneaking across the border?

And maybe President Bush’s enthusiastic support for yet another amnesty program for illegal aliens is one of the dumbest ideas he’s ever had? We are talking about adding another 200,000 illegal Mexican immigrants to the population. That’s equivalent to adding a city the size of Baton Rouge, Bakersfield or Mobile. All this does is say to Mexicans that, if they can get into the US, they have a fair chance of going to the head of the line when the next amnesty comes. No need to apply for citizenship like others do. No need to come here, get a Green Card, and earn the right to be a citizen. Just sneak across the border.

Our immigration policies are so stupid that the House Judiciary Committee recently voted out Rep. Barney Frank’s HR 1452, misnamed the Family Reunion Act, but in fact is legislation that would permit foreign criminals to stay in this country! It has 52 sponsors, most of whom are from the far Left of the Democrat Party, but that is not a long distance to traverse. The bill would erase the reforms achieved in the landmark 1996 immigration law requiring that, after serving their prison sentence here, they get deported.

This is why, at current rates, between legal and illegal immigration into this nation, we will double our population within the lifetimes of today’s college students.

In the last decade, the 11.2 million immigrants who arrived, plus the 6.4 million children born to immigrants living here, equaled almost 70% of the nation’s population growth. That’s just flat-out too much, too fast.


TOPICS: Culture/Society; Editorial; Foreign Affairs; Mexico; News/Current Events; US: Arizona; US: California; US: New Mexico; US: Texas
KEYWORDS: amnesty; assimilation; aztlan; balkanization; bilingualism; border; immigrantlist; immigration; ins; mexico; reconquista
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To: Twodees
A big, I couldn't agree with you more, 'BUMP'!
121 posted on 06/01/2002 11:58:31 AM PDT by 4Freedom
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To: Jethro Tull
Ever notice that it is not the doctors, lawyers, or engineers crossing illegally into our country? We get the trailer-trash, and Fox knows it.
122 posted on 06/01/2002 1:51:30 PM PDT by PatrioticAmerican
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To: Twodees
after learning what a liberal Bush is.

Bush does seem to understand that he must earn their love by promising things like food stamps to them.

123 posted on 06/01/2002 2:25:16 PM PDT by FITZ
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To: 4Freedom
We just need an INS that with all it's billions of taxpayer dollars provided to it wouldn't be outsmarted by broke illiterate third world people who have nothing more than a 3rd grade education.
124 posted on 06/01/2002 2:27:45 PM PDT by FITZ
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To: Marine Inspector
Exactly. If we slam the employers so hard they will never hire the illegals, and then cut off the welfare, the illegals will have no reason to come.

That's the answer right there. I would throw in a guest worker program for those few handfuls of illegals who actually are coming here to work jobs that might be hard to fill. Then they can be background checked and given health screens and returned back to Mexico when their time is up for the job they worked but no one should be coming here illegally anymore.

125 posted on 06/01/2002 2:31:38 PM PDT by FITZ
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To: FITZ
The Bush family should have to dig into their own fortunes to pay for the cost of anything W promises the Mexicans.
126 posted on 06/01/2002 2:53:32 PM PDT by Twodees
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To: FITZ;Twodees
INS APPREHENSION INFORMATION
127 posted on 06/01/2002 3:23:44 PM PDT by Marine Inspector
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To: FITZ; twodees
The only jobs that are hard to fill with American workers are the ones that don't pay a living wage with decent health benefits. If you let some employers import foreign, slave laborers to do their work, for less than what an American would do it for, then all employers will demand the same privilege and claim the same hardships.

You let one group of employers bring in foreign, slave laborers and WE, the American Taxpayers, wind up picking up their tab for health benefits and the cost of policing the program. It will cost more to care for these slave laborers and to see they obey their visas than any benefit derived, by the U.S. Taxpayers, from their presence.

If employers can't pay enough to attract America workers they should get out of that business. That goes double for landscapers and lettuce growers! If Americans won't pay the price you say your product or service is worth than they, obviously, don't want those goods and services.

I don't care, if I never eat another salad, again. I want my country back!

128 posted on 06/01/2002 3:37:46 PM PDT by 4Freedom
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To: Bernard Marx
OK, you don't believe in the practical effectiveness of a wall. I do. Focusing on penalties for employers hiring illegal aliens is certainly another major part of a comprehensive solution and I strongly support tough penalties.

I avoid the "root causes" argument, made famous by the left, that undermines practical measures to stop the invasion. "Unfair" poverty can be an excuse for all kinds of lawless activity.

129 posted on 06/01/2002 4:27:23 PM PDT by NoControllingLegalAuthority
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To: 4Freedom
Allowing illegal immigrants to fill jobs that pay so little is really a safety valve for politicans. As long as businesses can find a way to remain in business without rebelling against the huge percentage of their profits taken by taxes from several levels of government and by the cost of complying with federal and state regulations, state and county/city licensing and dealing with inflated costs of materials and supplies which results from government pressure on suppliers, then businesses will bear the situation as long as it's bearable.

If illegals and their cheap labor are taken out of the equation, many, many businesses will begin to rebel in desperation merely to try to stay viable. The federal government eats a massive amount of our GNP. The other levels of governemnt, which are peopled by members of the same two parties who want to move up to the federal level, imitate the feds in writing worthless legislation and regulation and taxing everything imaginable.

That's why I think politicians are going to try to keep the flow of illegals going no matter what we say about it. They have also seen the side benefit of having a new constituency who won't talk back and who will vote for whoever offers the most cookies.

130 posted on 06/01/2002 5:15:24 PM PDT by Twodees
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To: Jethro Tull
Jethro, are you going to tell me that every inch of the wall would be covered by firepower? That implies a LOT of bodies--more bodies than Joe Taxpayer is willing to fund.
131 posted on 06/01/2002 5:24:09 PM PDT by Poohbah
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To: NoControllingLegalAuthority
Anyone who thinks a wall would not slow the horde of hundreds of thousands per year is not being realistic.

The question is whether it will slow it enough to justify the enormous expenditure of money required to put it up and maintain its effectiveness.

The wall would not stop everyone but it would create a major obstacle to border crossing.

For a short while, until the illegals learn how to bypass it.

I suggest you not waste your time arguing with someone who looks at the effectiveness of walls and fences over thousands of years and then dismisses that evidence.

The one datum point we have for the effectiveness of a wall on that scale is not encouraging.

132 posted on 06/01/2002 5:26:44 PM PDT by Poohbah
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To: Marine Inspector
Thanks for the link. That's an excellent report from the field, MI.
133 posted on 06/01/2002 5:31:25 PM PDT by Twodees
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To: 4Freedom
These kinds of questions can only be asked by someone that's never been 30 feet in the air or tried to climb a 30 foot long rope.

They use a ladder to climb up on the Mexican side, and a rope to descend on the American side. Only those who are classified as 4F by Selective Service would think this to be any sort of extreme physical challenge.

With a soft or, deliberately, irregular footing at the base of the wall, the ILLEGAL ALIENS would need a 45 to 60-foot-long ladder!

Or about four square feet of plywood to distribute the load. Of course, you have the small problem of that soft or irregular footing also making digging under the wall a feasible prospect, which means you will need even more troops...

This isn't a problem that can be solely solved with more and bigger sticks. You're going to need a carrot (actually, a BUNCH of carrots) at the same time.

134 posted on 06/01/2002 5:35:05 PM PDT by Poohbah
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To: 4Freedom
Ok, make it an additional 5 servicemen for every 2.5 miles of border. That's still only 14,000 servicemen per shift, 42,000 total and a far cry from the 188,000 Poohbah claimed would be needed.

That estimate was based on the only successful efforts at ending illegal crossings--Operations Hold The Line and Operation Gatekeeper. The coverage in those instances was one agent per ten yards, or 176 agents per mile of border, actually on post at one time.

BTW, that's not 42,000 servicemen to get 14,000 per shift, unless you intend that those servicemen never get sick, never need to perform other duties such as Barracks Duty NCO or mess duty, never get a weekend off, and are never permitted to take leave time during their enlistment. It's actually 70,000 (it takes five bodies to man one post 24/7, not three). And those 70,000 would be enough to man, at levels known to be effective in stopping illegal immigration, a whopping 56 miles of border.

135 posted on 06/01/2002 5:42:50 PM PDT by Poohbah
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To: Poohbah
Operation 'Hold the Line' didn't have a 30-foot-tall wall.
136 posted on 06/01/2002 7:32:56 PM PDT by 4Freedom
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To: hannosh4LtGovernor
Well, let's be honest. President Bush is in charge now and has been for 1 1/2 years. Tell me any changes that have been made.

People are so quick to blame it on the Democrats and liberals - but they are not in charge and they only have a slim lead in the Senate, and a minority in the House.

How does anyone in good conscience lay it all on them. WE have had substantial representation, including the the majority of House and Senate for a while. Did we see any changes? Absolutely not.

137 posted on 06/01/2002 7:36:36 PM PDT by nanny
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To: 4Freedom
No, it didn't. But the scenario set forth earlier didn't involve a wall, either.

You're still going to need a lot of manpower--2,000 miles is a HUGE distance, and there will still be a LOT of effort to breach or bypass the wall SOMEHOW. There are places where you can't see the border from 100 yards away--a 30-foot wall will not improve matters enough to justify the price tag associated with it when you consider Davis-Bacon Act "prevailing wages" (read: AFL-CIO-dictated wages). Guess what happens if Congress authorizes the wall? The AFL-CIO construction trades in the border region will all go out on strike for MUCH higher wages between the time Congress passes the legislation and the Corps of Engineers puts out the RFPs.

Another problem is that there are many places where the civil engineering equipment needed to emplace a huge wall like that simply can't go, but people can still go on foot quite easily.

Finally, you're going to have to guard the coastline and all waters adjacent to them (including the international waters at 12 miles out) very tightly, and that manpower requirement is going to cripple you. You're going to have to guard every inch of coastline between Matamoros, Texas and the Maine/Canada border. You're also going to have to build ANOTHER 30-foot high wall on the Canadian border (Canada's immigration enforcement makes our INS look like the old East German Border Guards in terms of efficiency--they just don't CARE who comes into Canada, particularly if they're just passing through to the US). And then you're going to have to mount a very tight and intrusive patrol on the Great Lakes--the 30-foot-wall idea doesn't work so well there.

You'll slow down illegal immigration for a while--and then you're going to notice huge numbers of illegals in places they've never been before.

138 posted on 06/01/2002 7:46:11 PM PDT by Poohbah
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To: Poohbah
What percentage of ILLEGAL ALIEN women would/could climb a 45-foot-long ladder, 30 feet into the air, through barbed wire, with soldiers firing tear gas, sticky slime and water cannons at them? What percentage of men?

What do you think they have down there, a country full of trapeze artists?

LOL.

139 posted on 06/01/2002 7:49:08 PM PDT by 4Freedom
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To: 4Freedom
What percentage of ILLEGAL ALIEN women would/could climb a 45-foot-long ladder, 30 feet into the air, through barbed wire, with soldiers firing tear gas, sticky slime and water cannons at them? What percentage of men?

Near zero. However, what percentage of Mexican women and men would actually be facing soldiers opening fire on them with those weapons? Also near zero.

Consider this point also: they wouldn't be allowed to shoot that stuff into MEXICO (hint hint), they'd have to wait until they were already on top of the wall and descending.

What do you think they have down there, a country full of trapeze artists?

No. What do you think we have up here, an infinite number of soldiers?

140 posted on 06/01/2002 7:52:42 PM PDT by Poohbah
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