Seal the border is no more than frustrated rhetoric. The border cannot be sealed. The border can be made more secure but people will always get through. A snippet shows some of the problems faced:
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Let’s see–the U.S.-Mexico border is 1,969 miles long. That is 10,396, 320 feet. If we put a soldier every 25 feet, it would take 415,853 soldiers. That’s for the first shift. The average soldier in Afghanistan is being paid $38,000 a year. So the annual cost for the first shift would be $15,802,414,000. Again, that is for the first shift. So, if you take that times at least three, you’re beginning to talk about real money. An alternative might be a 5 mile wide “No Trespass Zone”. Plow up the ground, sow it with antipersonnel mines in such a way that the radius of the sharpnel of each mine overlaps–I think it would work. Since we have signed on to the No Mine Treaty, we just have to put the world on notice as to what we have done. Or one last alternative–declare against Mexico again and nuke ‘em.
To seal the border is not a logistical issue of the land.
If you want the influx to slow or stop, then you make the punishment for the offense greater. You make the payment for the transgression greater than its worth entry if caught. Make it mandatory sentence in jail if caught anywhere in America after entering illegally, be it if caught on a traffic stop, a misdemeanor or any “lawful contact” with the police. Make the sentence sting enough where it makes those who enter in such a way think long and hard before doing it. Would a mandatory jail sentence of five years deter people, particulary if local, state and federal authorities shared power to enforce it?
You make it mandatory for all businesses to verify citizenship before hiring everyone and place a crippling fine for first offense of hiring an illegal immigrant and seize the business on a second offense, adapt the RICO statute to permit such an action. Cut off the source of employment completely.
There has to be some physical security on the border, but the key is to take away any benefits of coming here, or make it a deep payment to use people who come here illegally.
Man, Lucky Duck does tough love. That is an approach I sure haven’t heard before. It would require many legal changes for sure.
Lucky,
Boy, you are feelin’ quite aggressive tonight! So now we invest a ton of money in apprehending, incarcirating, housing, feeding, and caring for the children of parents who are jailed? Well, I guess we could fuel the econonmy by just privitizing more jail facilities. Had we not had a massive housing boom, we would not have seen such a dramatic change in demographics.
I have pointed this out before, the last need for an “amnesty” was in the Reagan era, and what happenend? Yes, a real estate boom to get the country out of a deep recession. come to think of it, we had a banking scandal then too, Savings and Loans as I recall.
George is doing even tougher tough love.
How about the Canadian border? The oceans? How about the Alaskan coast line?
Or, you could just give up and get overwhelmed.
It is rather overwhelming to think about securing the borders of a country as large as ours.
I am glad to see the National Guard going to the borders. The drug violence needs to stop. Hopefully they won’t be supplied with slingshots. I saw one of those Thai soldiers shooting someone with a sling shot.
I hate to quote that old bugger Chairman Mao, but here goes: “A journey of a thousand miles begins with but a single step.”
BTW, all those who are truly and rightly distressed by the ecological disaster from that Gulf oil well should take a look at the video put out by the State of Arizona concerning what is being done to the Sonora Desert by the constant traffic of illegal immigrants and drug smugglers. The Sonora in parts is beginning to look like your local landfill.
I think the US census should ask each American family if they support unlawful immigration. If they do, they should be required to house and support/sponsor a family of equal size.
This is essentially what was done in the late 30s when folks were trying to get out of Europe. Immigrants had to have a sponsor that committed to their support. Now, in that case, you had to know who your sponsor was before you got here or you went home. That won’t work here, but they could be assigned as the illegals are apprehended – and the border is sealed.
I did not say whether I advocated the position I laid out or not, I simply said sealing the border CAN be done, and not just with a physical/mechanical presence. Would America have the political will, spend the financial resources to do it? I don’t know. But it can be done if that is what the public is looking for.
There should be stricter enforcement, and more meaningful sentences for those that break the law – how about targeting the individuals that are inviting the immigrant – the cash paying contractors that hire the illegal immigrants. Mostly, a person comes here illegally, and then gets a job – if we tightened up that process, well then, we would have less illegals.
Lucky Duck, I am sure some do have the stomach for that proposal/method. Some…not enough to make it happen.
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Illegal immigrants have been part of the USA work force for decades. It seems that a way to remove the illegal part and to cut down on illegal border crossing would be to create guest worker programs. Those who were finding work using a guest worker program might also resent those coming across illegally and handle it from that end.
If people thought they were getting legitimate work and could enter legally and safely, I expect there would be lots more policing from within.
If there are 20 million illegals, as some claim, I would suggest that we do not have the means to put that many people into jail; concentration camps, perhaps, like Stalin or Pol Pot. That’s not the kind of nation I want to live in or bequeath to my kids.
We have to nuke it from orbit…..its the only way to be sure….
GAME OVER MAN! GAME OVER!!!!!!
I’ve always wanted to use that….
Actually, there are guest worker programs which do seem to work well. I know someone who runs a quarry business in the US. It is a seasonal job because bad weather makes the job too dangerous. Every year they arrange for an Hispanic guest worker force, go down to the border with the requsite paperwork, transport the workers north, put them to work, and pay and house them and provide medical care when needed. At the end of the season, those workers are transported back to the border and go home to their families with some nice cash in their pockets. He swears by this mechanism. The only problem they ever had was when the “foreman” of the guest worker crew, a guest worker himself, was found to be scamming the other guys out of a part of their pay packets. They tell me that guy got shipped back home pretty darn fast.
Actually, this is one case where I would have to concede to the claim that illegal immigrants are doing the work that Americans don’t want to do. Quarry work is tough. We come from a family where many of our forebears were quarry owners. There was a day when the workers were Americans and legal immigrants. I’m told that it is very hard nowadays to find that kind of employee willing to do such work. So, yes, a case can be made for a good, regulated guest worker program.
Guest worker programs work well in agriculture areas.
My posting was to show how ridiculous it is to talk of sealing the border. But Lucky Duck has a pretty good idea. Using RICO is a great idea. The first time someone crosses illegally, they should be sent back immediately. Second time = 5 years, third offense = 10 years and fourth = 25 years with no chance for parole in any instance. For businesses, calf from a herd in Lucky Duck’s idea is just right. Sadly, there is no resolve in Congress for such drastic measures. We once had a very workable bracero program and we let it (pardon the pun) wither on the vine. If you remember when all the mad cow stuff was going on, we were able to track a calf from a herd in Canada to here in the U.S.–how come it is that we can’t at least keep track of people with visas? The answers are not easy–we demand inexpensive labor and we turn a blind eye to illegals until electtion time or hard times roll around. We find every reason in the world to decriminalize illegal immigration–first offense is a misdemeanor. Or we cry crocodile tears about the poor families that would be split up if mother or father was deported. I say Bull Crap–and I question if they are married is the marriage legal. Perhaps we should give consideration to amending the 14th Amendment to say parents must have legal status for their child to be considered a citizen. Of course, this would mean “green card” folks, etc. could still have anchor babies–they would just have to be here legally. Will this ever happen–hmmmmm.