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"The border can be closed, but both parties have a seeming interest in keeping it open. Democrats want the border open to usher in millions of people, most of them undereducated and likely to depend at least in part on government, who will presumably vote for bigger government once they are given citizenship. Republicans want the border open to provide cheap labor to big business. Nobody wants the border open to benefit the kind of immigrants that made this nation great: immigrants who want to work and don’t want an overbearing state alternatively cradling and crushing them
So here’s how we can fix the border problem.
If it were up to me, the first thing I would do is fund contractors to complete the wall between Mexico and the United States. Because you can't manage what you can't control. And immigration shoudl defintely be well and tightly controlled by the United States.
The second thing I would do is use the National Guard as a huge buffer for the border agents we currently have, because the number of border agents we have now simply cannot keep up with the new influx of illegal immigrants. They need help now.
Once the wall is complete, I would wind down using the National Guard and fund the required number of border agents that would be needed to properly control what is effectively now an open border.
Until the overly broad and overly generous language in the first section 14th amendment,
intended to remedy a very different situation in a very different time, is dealt with fully...
not much else we might do will make any more difference than anything else done in the past.
That MUST be job #1.
Job #2 is CRIMINALIZING illegal status.
Job #3 is CRIMINALIZING employer hiring.
#4? ...offer a bounty to people to move back south.
That should do it and it won't cost all that much either.
Until the overly broad and overly generous language in the first section 14th amendment,
intended to remedy a very different situation in a very different time, is dealt with fully...
not much else we might do will make any more difference than anything else done in the past.
That MUST be job #1.
Job #2 is CRIMINALIZING illegal status.
Job #3 is CRIMINALIZING employer hiring.
#4? ...offer a bounty to people to move back south.
That should do it and it won't cost all that much either.
hth
Your noted on the need to criminalize illegal border crossings is appropriate and absolutely needed. I forgot all about that aspect. Moreover, I agree with you on criminalizing the hiring of illegals.
(A big tip of my hat.)
When you take in our fundamental open border policy and all of the other gaps noted above, the fact that our government has let things end up this way seems insane -- or perhaps I should say corrupt.
Honestly, I don't think anything is going to help prevent illegal immigration until the violence which is driving families from their home countries is addressed. Simply deporting or putting up more barriers is expensive, inefficient, strains resources and is potentially dangerous. While I'm generally opposed to the US interfering with other countries, I think there is room to argue that more could be accomplished by working with other American nations to find a way to improve the situation since it is increasingly becoming an widespread issue across the Western Hemisphere. Trying to fix a problem spanning multiple countries by focusing only on US policies is unlikely to resolve anything even if it potentially reduces the flow of migrants.
Blink101, you have some good suggestions, however, the illegal exportation of people from Mexico is big business in Mexico, the monies these people send back to Mexico makes up almost 1/3rd of their economy, so Mexico has no incentive to stop this. Does this problem warrant the U.S interference in other Latin American countries? That becomes a sticky issue. I can understand why young people would want to leave their respective countries and come to the US, poverty, crime, murder all of these are so out of control in certain Central American countries that parent are willing to send their children away, they can either stay put and die or try to reach the US with no certain outcome. This is a very complex problem to deal with, on one hand it becomes a humanitarian issue and on the other it is a legal issue, something got to give.
Build the wall, deploy the National Guard, and a big "yes!" to criminalizing employers who hire illegals. And isn't it silly that we need to "criminalize" something that's already illegal (crossing the border illegally)?
Forget the wall. People will find ways to get over, under or around it.
You've got to make the penalty for employing those here illegally so unpalatable that no one would dare do it. Maybe work out a deal with these Central American countries to send offending employers to their jails for a while.
Until the overly broad and overly generous language in the first section 14th amendment,
intended to remedy a very different situation in a very different time, is dealt with fully...
not much else we might do will make any more difference than anything else done in the past.
That MUST be job #1.
Job #2 is CRIMINALIZING illegal status.
Job #3 is CRIMINALIZING employer hiring.
#4? ...offer a bounty to people to move back south.
That should do it and it won't cost all that much either.
hth
I think you are very wrong about the 14th being overly broad and generous. The US is a nation of immigrants, and the 14th preserves that tradition.
To the point of the thread, I don't think there is a border crisis. The best way to deal with immigration is to legalize it. Walling off America is not going to do anything but speed the greying of our workforce. Legalizing immigrants will expand our pool of lawful labor and make the country younger, which will be beneficial in the long run.
I truly don't understand the desire to criminalize a human being for immigrating to the United States and trying to drive such immigrants underground by preventing legitimate employers from hiring them. That strategy is a recipe for an abusive black market for unlawful labor.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Wudge
Your noted on the need to criminalize illegal border crossings is appropriate and absolutely needed. I forgot all about that aspect. Moreover, I agree with you on criminalizing the hiring of illegals.
(A big tip of my hat.)
When you take in our fundamental open border policy and all of the other gaps noted above, the fact that our government has let things end up this way seems insane -- or perhaps I should say corrupt.
Our border policy is not open, though I think it should be (or nearly so). If it were open, people would be able to come here and easily obtain work visas. That would be much better than having people come here who have to work under the table.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Blink101
Honestly, I don't think anything is going to help prevent illegal immigration until the violence which is driving families from their home countries is addressed. Simply deporting or putting up more barriers is expensive, inefficient, strains resources and is potentially dangerous. While I'm generally opposed to the US interfering with other countries, I think there is room to argue that more could be accomplished by working with other American nations to find a way to improve the situation since it is increasingly becoming an widespread issue across the Western Hemisphere. Trying to fix a problem spanning multiple countries by focusing only on US policies is unlikely to resolve anything even if it potentially reduces the flow of migrants.
It's not (just) violence, but lack of economic opportunity in home countries that drives immigration. I agree with you, though, that decreasing the amount of immigration will only happen through regional cooperation.
I think you are very wrong about the 14th being overly broad and generous. The US is a nation of immigrants, and the 14th preserves that tradition.
To the point of the thread, I don't think there is a border crisis. The best way to deal with immigration is to legalize it. Walling off America is not going to do anything but speed the greying of our workforce. Legalizing immigrants will expand our pool of lawful labor and make the country younger, which will be beneficial in the long run.
I truly don't understand the desire to criminalize a human being for immigrating to the United States and trying to drive such immigrants underground by preventing legitimate employers from hiring them. That strategy is a recipe for an abusive black market for unlawful labor.
Our border policy is not open, though I think it should be (or nearly so). If it were open, people would be able to come here and easily obtain work visas. That would be much better than having people come here who have to work under the table.
It's not (just) violence, but lack of economic opportunity in home countries that drives immigration. I agree with you, though, that decreasing the amount of immigration will only happen through regional cooperation.
We already have more young workers than we can find jobs for--American workers. So your argument about needing younger workers is flawed.
We are a nation of immigrants, yes, but the immigrants came here through the legal process--with a sponsor, a job, money, promising to not take handouts. That's how it still works today. A LEGAL immigrant cannot take a handout for five years even if he loses his job--his sponsor has promised to support him for five years.
The employers who hire illegals are paying slave wages when they should be paying a living wage to LEGAL immigrants or US citizens. No country has wide open borders--that's just looking for trouble.
You can't just allow ANYONE to walk into the country without knowing if they are a criminal, carrying an infectious disease, coming here to cause some trouble, etc. That's what the immigration laws are there for. Have you already forgotten 9/11? Yeh, just let people come walking into the country.
We need something like a wall and the national guard or military to show that we mean business because this is totally out of control.
We also need a kinder immigration service so that some of the people who are trying to get in--and deserve to get in--CAN get in. Our immigration laws became way too restrictive after 9/11 and that is forcing people to break into the country. It's almost impossible to get in the right way.
#4? ...offer a bounty to people to move back south.
Uh, wut?
And when they come back across?
How many times are you going to play that game?
You should be offering bounties to Americans to hunt down illegals....
Mircea
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