Here is a topic about which I could find no previous discussion, forgive me if I err. Also there is the problem of where to put it....it could go under domestic policy, or foreign policy, or war on terrorism, or even as a Constitutional issue....or here.

This is an issue that impacts the entire country, but especially along the border states - where I live we are daily impacted by it. It is estimated that over 6,000 people cross illegally A DAY along the Mexican border.

It is also an issue about which neither political party has dealt with adequately - so I don't see it as a partisan issue. And, it's not just the Mexican border, but also the Canadian border and all the other people from many different countries that come through those borders.

For the sake of discussion let's assume that legal immigration is just that - legal and positive. I would like to concentrate, if I may, on illegal immigration and how to deal with it.

Some general statistics....the State of California spends several billion dollars a year in health care (pregnant women actually wait in the parking lots of our hospitals for labor to begin), education (thousands of children cross daily from Mexico to go to school here without paying taxes), other benefits (some cross the border to file for the negative income tax refunds) and housing felons in prison and halfway houses. It has been estimated that almost 40% of the felons in California prisons are illegal immigrants.

Even the immigrants that come here to work (which the overwhelming majority do) they also pose a problem. There is a great deal of danger for our border patrol as well as US residents living close to border areas. However, the immigrants themselves are in great danger from many sources - they are preyed upon by bandits.

The War on Terrorism has made it even more imperative to deal with this issue.

What do you think?

There's actually been several threads touching on this topic:

Immigration, Is it good or bad for the US?
What about the Hispanics?, What should we do about illegal Hispanic
Militia's handling border Patrol, Arizona

Now to your post...

I agree. Illegal immigration should be stopped. However, I don't believe the influx will be curbed until there is more economic equality between Mexico and the US or we build a "Great Wall of Mexico" along the entire Mexican border.

Great wall idea isn't bad. But I like the idea of forming a militia like what NM residents did. If we get AZ, TX and others to follow suit, we may not have such a big problem.

--cheers

Funny, you should mention a wall. I suppose you are already aware that we do have a wall, but not along the entire border as I am also sure you know. A high wall was erected that goes from the extreme SW corner of the USA (extends out into the ocean) and runs east - I am not sure how many miles, but well beyond the city limits. I have also read (I haven't been there in a while) that it is lit at night by flood lights.

This has pushed the illegal immigration further east into really rugged country - deserts, mountains. Every year people die in the desert from heat, and in the winter from cold. They pay the coyotés (smugglers) thousands of dollars to guide them across and then, many times, the coyotés abandon them. It's also very dangerous for the border patrol agents - one was killed just a few weeks ago.

Also, to get around - well, er - under - the wall, every once in a while the border patrol comes across a very long tunnel that is ventilated and lit, and comes up inside a house on this side of the border. This is used a lot by drug smugglers - as well as people smugglers.

I think the answer is a bracero program - a guest worker program. Back in the 1960's this program existed and it was an organized government to government effort to get people safely to work here and then take their earnings back with them. It had the advantage of keeping everyone safe. It also made sure that the employers treated the workers humanely.

It seems to me that the Mexican government would be pushing to have this sort of program occur again for the sake of its citizens. And on our side, it would help us keep track of who is coming here.

At this time, the Mexican government has begun issuing identification cards to its citizens that it knows are coming illegally so that the illegals will have an easier time getting driving licenses here as well as access to medical care under the MediCal program. In other words, the Mexican government is assiting its citizens in their endeavor to illegally cross the border.

President Fox has actually made statements that would confirm what you said.

I'll see if I can find a link.

--cheers

The American political problem with addressing illegal immigration is that the liberal political wing of our country supports the ideas on the bottom of the statue of liberty. The strongest step the left wing usually takes on immigration is silence in the face of nativism.

Our more conservative party has a base that is vocally against illegal immigration but it more important financial wing of the party enjoys the drag on rising labor costs caused by a steady supply of illegal immigration. So in principal the conservative business leaders have historically supported allowing illegals to come in because it drive down labor in some areas.

The only driving force to clamp down on illegal immigration is the new security needs for our safety in the face of future terrorist attacks. And I wonder if any policy along our borders can make us reasonably safe from determined people trying to cross borders thousands of miles long.

Eeyore - I agree with both the points you make, but I wouldn't limit the low employee wages point to the right wing - there are many business/corporate owners/agriculturists all through the political spectrum in the USA that reaps the benefits. The left enjoys the abundance of low paid help as well as the right, both personally (nannies/house cleaners/dishwashers) and as business employees.

In preparation for the Super Bowl and INS has just completed a sweep of personnel hired by "security" agencies- you can read about it here:



Click for more...



Much of what goes on, even with complicity by American employers, has the official complicity of the Mexican government. Mexican President Vicenté Fox is not the first president of Mexico who has stated that it is a policy of his government to sanction and abet illegal immigration from Mexico across the US border.

However, along Mexico's southern border with Guatmala, the Mexican army patrols very heavily and has been quite brutal in apprehending and deporting people that cross it's borders illegally.