Guess what, everybody? Everybody, guess what? Putting armed men on the border to watch for Mexicans and other Central Americans sneaking over actually deters them from sneaking over. Can you believe it?
The New York Times, the Gray Lady herself, says (emphasis added – free reg. req.):
All along the border, there are signs that the measures the Border Patrol and other federal agencies have taken over the last year, from erecting new barriers to posting 6,000 National Guardsmen as armed sentinels, are beginning to slow the flow of illegal immigrants.
…
The new measures range from simply putting more officers out on patrol to erecting stadium lights, secondary fences and barriers of thick steel poles to stop smugglers from racing across the desert in all-wheel-drive trucks. The Border Patrol has deployed hundreds of new guards to watch rivers, monitor surveillance cameras and guard fences.
I’m stunned. Really. I’m getting the vapors. Something as simple as standing watch over the border prevents would-be illegal aliens from crossing the border. Just think…if we’d done this a couple of decades ago how fewer illegals we’d have in the U.S. Simply guarding the border…protects the border!
Revolutionary. Unimaginably stupendous. The weight of it all. Preventing illegal “immigration” prevents illegal “immigration.” Whoa. Feeling light-headed…I think I’ll go and…
Update from a friend: La Shawn is…uh…unconscious at the moment. She muttered something about the “sheer genius of protecting the border by protecting the border.” She’ll return shortly, I expect.
(Photo credit: New York Times)
Update II: Meager, but you’ve got to begin somewhere. Start heavily fining businesses that hire illegal aliens, and prosecute habitual offenders under the RICO statute. And it would be nice if Christians confronted their so-called illegal alien brothers and sisters about their crimes. But churches seem reluctant to preach against it. Some even push for open borders.
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Owww,
I fell off my chair reading this post. Who ever would have thunk it? Honestly, I’d prefer the marines over the National Guard. Think how less likely drug runners would be if they tried to macho past a check point manned by leathernecks who don’t run from a fight, merely finish it…
“…getting the vapors.” LOL!
I like having the National Guard guarding the nation too.
It’s, like, allowing Guardsmen to do their jobs or something. What a concept!
La Shawn?
La Shawn???
Wake up! It’s going to be OK…
Maybe this will catch on. Even be exported. When we’re done clearing Baghdad, having run a lot of bad people to the safety of Iran and Syria, we can park ourselves on the border and keep them there.
I refer to an article in the Washington Post just this morning which states that “Senators and lobbyists are putting the final touches on a comprehensive immigration-reform bill that includes an easier citizenship path for illegal aliens and weaker enforcement provisions than were in the highly criticized legislation that the Senate approved last year.”
Yes, folks, EASIER citizenship path, WEAKER enforcement. This bill is being drafted by Kennedy/McCain/outside lobbyists. The bill is slated to be introduced in April.
I urge you all to start writing, calling or otherwise contacting your representatives NOW.
Dianne,
I agree with you on the weaker enforcement part, but what are we going to do with everyone that is already here? Obviously we can send some of them back, but what about the ones that have been here for years and are not causing trouble? I’d love to get them paying into the system and not taking from it. If they want the American dream let’s get them out of the shadows and into the system.
PS Has La Shawn regained consciousness yet?
(passes the smelling salts to Miss LaShawn)
What interesting and encouraging news – I hope this border protection continues. It may be very late but it is still welcome. Thanks for sharing about it although it cost you a trip to the swooning couch!
Dear LaShawn,
In the future, please put a “SPEW” Warning Label on posts of this nature. I mean, I can’t afford to keep replacing my monitor!
“The vapors”??? Wow! You are old fashioned.
Greg asked what about the ones that are already here and not causing any trouble? I say send them back as well!
Has anyone ever tried to get a visa for a foreign country? I have. France. Actually, two weeks ago I applied for a temporary visa — 6 months. Not only is the process rigorous (bank statements, proof of health insurance, affidavits), but I was also informed by the French consulate that I am not guaranteed to receive a visa, and in the event that I am denied the visa, no reason will be given. And that at a cost of $100.
I would love to live in France. I would love to be granted full French citizenship. But France and the rest of the EU countries are not having that. So I’m following the rules. As everybody should.
OK what about the families that have kids that are US citizens? Do we then revoke their citizenship and throw them out as well? I wish the answers were that easy but it’s not.
It’s not that difficult. The families need to leave (with their children), and the kids can return when they’re 18. It’s not our fault that they’re parents broke the law. And it’s not our job to make sure that their families remain intact. We don’t do that for our own criminals in jail.
BTW, most countries (I believe) do not grant birthright citizenship. And I’m glad that this law is getting another review.
Oh, so now we just treat them like trash and dispose of them? Heck let’s just revoke their citizenship and send them back. Never mind if they don’t speak the language of their ‘home’ country. Not our problem right?
And citizenship by birth is one of the things that makes us unique in the world. I’d have a hard time with it getting changed.
This is how I would like to see this problem dealt with. (very simplified version)
1. We need to secure our ports and borders, we need way more border patrol, coast guard and port security agents. I still say we need to put Marines on the Mexico border as well and let them deal with the slave traders and drug runners that think they’re all that.
2. We need a realistic approach to dealing with everyone here now. Simply shipping them back en-masse makes my skin crawl. Call it amnesty or whatever you like. But we need to find out who is here and why they are here. If they are chasing the dream then let’s get them on that path, ID card pay taxes etc. Get them on the path to become citizens that sort of thing. But it’s a limited time deal after date XXXX, then you’re out of luck. I know it would take time and money but for every person we get into the system and paying taxes etc., it lessens the burden on the rest of us.
3. We need a drop dead date after which when we do catch illegals no matter how long they’ve been living here, too bad you’re getting shipped out.
4. We need to make it easier for companies to report fraudulent ID’s and up (IE $1,000,000+ per violation) the fines for companies and individuals that hire illegals. I see them every day here in Las Vegas. Hit em in the wallet and people won’t be so quick to hire them.
It’s a complex issue that needs a real solution.
There’s a move afoot to do away with birthright citizenship. Some argue that it was never intended for children born to parents in the country illegally. For more info, see the following post:
http://lashawnbarber.com/archives/2006/09/24/what-birthright-citizenship-means/
I saw that on the news, I’m not a fan of it either. It’s nice to see you recovered from your bout with the vapors! I guess you need to keep some smelling salts by your computer just in case… We’d hate to see you hurt yourself with another fainting spell…
La Shawn, I got here late on this one but as usual, you did good…
I say round em up, ship em back, fine the crap out of anyone hiring em…
Clean this nation out of ALL illegals, no matter what nation they’re from or what color they are, and then double up on the border security…
I could tell you horror stories about the theft and burglaries and other crimes we face in the border states, crimes that are directly attributed to illegals…
Someone has to take a real stand on this and illegal has to actually mean ILLEGAL, not, “Oh my Gawd, we have to care for all these people, it’s our duty..”
La Shawn,
Do you really think Christians should confront illegal aliens about being here illegally?
Does Christ smile when a person who is here illegally is uprooted and returned to the place where they came from? I don’t think so.
It is one thing for Christians to abide by laws that prohibit hiring illegals. I would support that. I might also support Christians peacefully dissuading people from crossing the border somehow. I would rate illegal residency as immoral as filing your taxes after April 15. I don’t think God cares either way about that.
There are many, many countries that are worse off than Mexico who have people waiting in our LEGAL immigration line. Some waiting for over a decade. Where is our Christian compassion for them.
Yes, we ask the ILLEGAL immigrants to leave and make room for the LEGAL immigrants. The ILLEGAL immigrants have stolen other peoples identity. This is a crime. They are criminals. Instead of doing time in our jails, we are offering them free passage back to their home country. That sounds compassionate to me.
Greg, it IS that easy.
What is it about “illegal” you don’t understand?
You don’t reward a criminal for breaking the law, you PUNISH them. It’s NOT complex. People like YOU make it complex by denegrating THE LAW.
Either live by the laws of this country or leave.
What about the parable of the Good Samaritan? The best insight I’ve ever seen on that parable actually came from a Jewish dude (not Jesus
), and it has the virtue of making sense.
The significance of the Good Samaritan, is that the Samaritan, as a Samaritan, was not obliged to stop for the Jewish guy in the road; that’s why Jesus highlighted his ethnicity. The Jews who passed by their fellow Jew, on the other hand, were so obliged, but shirked their duty. The message was that you’re to take care of your own (to underscore this point, notice what Jesus said when He initially rebuffed the Canaanite woman who asked Him to exorcise her daughter*).
What problems illegal immigrants create for themselves are simply their own problems to resolve. They are not victims, as they had a choice every step of the way. In contrast, victims have no choice in what befalls them, that’s what makes them victims. We are duty bound to take care of our injured, not those who caused injury to them.
Illegal immigrants burden and at times imperil Americans, many of whom are their victims. By burden I refer to people who rely on a clinic for their medical needs finding that clinic shut down because it had been swamped by illegal immigrants–who did not even pay for the services they received. By burden I refer to students who have to settle for less attention and resources or just plain dumbing down because their teachers are obliged to deal with illegal immigrants in the class room–at the expense, no less, of taxpayers who have no choice in funding the situation. By burden I refer to would-be workers who are denied jobs because they are citizens and not serfs.
By imperil–I think of the PBS (IIRC) documentary last millennium about California’s prop. 187. The doc highlighted a school there and the opinions the teachers had about the proposition. A Hispanic teacher, who (IIRC) initially opposed 187, voted for it after being in a hit and run accident. She realized the driver may have run off because he had been “without papers,†leaving her holding the bag. She escaped without injury, others are not so lucky. Others are the victims of violent crimes, and the outrage is magnified when they know the perp wasn’t supposed to be in the country in the first place, and wouldn’t be if the laws had been enforced.
It is not unjust to any of those victims to fine employers who hire illegal immigrants. It is not unjust to any of those victims for the illegal immigrants to be shipped back when they are caught. What isn’t just is leaving one of our own to suffer for the sake of illegal immigrants.
By the way–to forestall stupid comments–the Samaritan vs. Jew parallel to citizens vs. illegal immigrants has nothing to do with race/religion/ethnicity. You can draw many Venn diagrams for those whom you regard as your own, but for sure those who beggar and harm your neighbors should be standing outside the circles.
*I am aware He expanded His target audience. The point is what He said at first, and the rationale behind it.
Dan…it’s _not_ that easy. I lean more to Greg’s side on this than yours. Reason: we don’t have national id cards or mandatory id checkpoints, and I don’t think we’re ready to mandate them either. I _do_ agree that they are _illegal_, though. So…taking into consideration that our unemployment rate is 4.6 or so, it seems to me that exporting a whole bunch of working people isn’t necessarily a good idea, but that doesn’t mean there aren’t a whole bunch of people who aren’t anything but a drain on the system.
We can probably all agree with step one – secure the border. Keep out anymore illegals. The next few steps are where it gets tricky.
I’d start with the jails. Make a deal with Mexico to send all Mexican national prisoners to Mexico and make arrangements for them to be kept in jail in Mexico. It would cost us, but it would be cheaper than it costs in the US. (Gotta make it so we could check to see that the prisoners are actually there, too). Ship out any illegal arrested in the same way – quick sentence (”you’re illegal, 6 months in jail – send him/her to Mexico”). If that isn’t possible, start setting up Arpaio style prisons right along the border. Highly fortified, no comforts, and providing a deeper protection for the border. “Dot” them along the border. Send all Mexican nationals to these prisons.
Reduce benefits available to unpapered clients – meaning _check citizenship_ before rendering social services. Any cost of social services should be paid by the federal government or the bill should be sent to the state of Mexico. I know it won’t get paid – although maybe we could offset the cost of those jailed in Mexico prisoners!
Then start with the schools. Require citizenship for entry into schools. I hate this one. I’d rather be giving aid to a foreign country by directly educating their children than any other method. If they then don’t send their children to school, they become a bit conspicuous. If the children have been born here, then they can return when they’re 18. If they don’t speak Spanish, then I guess they’ll just have to learn. After all, there are plenty of them whose parents have brought infants here – or older – who don’t speak English, so how much of a burdern can it be? English is _not_ an easy language to learn. Spanish is much easier. And they’ll be bilingual! What a bonus! Then require that a baby be born of _legal_ immigrants to acquire citizenship.
Make English the US official language.
Eventually, we’ll have to have new immigration laws. Work permits with a microchipped id card would be good. (visited friends at a military base recently. They had the id photos of all base occupants on file in a central computer. They could scan an id card at an entry gate, and it pulled up the photo in the guard gate device- handheld! – that the guard could compare with the person presenting the card. Eliminates forgeries. Impressive.) If a person works for x years (to be determined) s/he gets credit on an immigration list, but we have to make accomodations of the skills needed for immigration. At present, white collar/education are big plus factors – in fact, what we need are blue collar/field workers.
When they decide to immigrate, they _must_ include immediate family members. Decide on entry by the whole family, not just the individual.
Allow people who are here illegally and who have work but have _not_ done so on fraudulent papers (I’m guessing many would be self-employed) to register and stay, but they better have their tax forms in order!
I say all this as an RC who is _really_ upset with my Archdiocesean Cardinal Maloney who has stepped up into the political arena to support illegals. The RC is not a democratic institution, so I’m not sure there’s anything I can do about it personally, but I’d like to. I see this as a political issue, not a religious one. Yes, there are poor and badly treated people as a result of illegality, but that is _their_ fault for being illegal, not ours. Do charity work – definitely – but if the RC church isn’t protesting _Mexico’s_ enforcement of immigration laws (on Central Americans) then it sure as heck shouldn’t be protesting ours.
Wow, didn’t think I’d start this kind of conversation by raising a concern, hopefully when I start teaching I can be just as successful. I break down illegal immigrants into 2 general groups.
Group 1: Criminals and terrorists. What I mean by this are the slave traders, drug runners, smugglers etc. that come in to do us real harm. I don’t need to explain the terrorists part do I?
Group 2: People chasing the dream. Yes I know that they are here illegally and many lump them into group 1. These are the people that want the same dream we do, many of them have been here for years and have kids that were born here. This group is the one that we need to get documented and get them on the path to citizenship. This way they stop draining the system and start paying into it, double bonus… Now we’re all adults and realize that there is always going to be a percentage that will take advantage of the system. But that happens with every system, my wife deals with employees who take advantage of their disability and FMLA benefits all the time. It does not mean that everyone should pay the price and lose their benefits just because of a few people.
Now I do agree with many things people have been saying. We really need to increase the fines for people and companies that knowingly hire illegals. Instead of fines in the 100K range it should be 10 times that easy. If companies start getting fines in the millions per infraction the cost of business will dictate that they can’t afford to run the risk of hiring illegals. And if businesses go under? Well, I’d bet the next company won’t go down that road. That includes big companies and small ones. We also need to give companies a route to report fake ID’s and falsified I-9’s because I don’t think there is anything they can do right now.
We also need to turn this flood into a trickle of illegals so that we can really enforce the laws we have now. Then we can start figuring out who is here and what group they are in. Group 1? Send them back. Group 2? Get them into the system and paying their fair share.
But none of this matters as long as the border looks like a giant colander because they’ll be coming in faster than we can send em back…
Amen,
being in the US illegally is a crime, they are stealing something that does not belong to them. If I went to church and told the Pastor that I was a shoplifter, a bank robber, a rapist, a murderer — would that Pastor offer assistance to help be steal more, rape more, murder more?
“But none of this matters as long as the border looks like a giant colander because they’ll be coming in faster than we can send em back…”
Well, that just about says it all. And that IS the problem. Because we do NOT all agree on step one: secure the border. All the rest is just smoke and mirrors intended to hide this basic fact.
Of course border security works. That’s why liberals (including “compassionate conservatives”) are against it.
>>Because we do NOT all agree on step one: secure the border.>>
OK…there are plenty who do not agree. Admitted. But those who do not agree are generally in favor of open borders…period. When I said that we all agree on step one, I meant to include that group of people who feel that open borders are not an option, that we have an “illegal” problem and want to have something done about it.
Can you agree with _that_ statement?
Now they need to be able to enforce our laws and shoot back as needed. Without going to jail for doing their job.
I wonder if those against enforcing immigration laws and guarding the border lock the doors of their homes? Do they lock them to protect their home from an invasion? What would be wrong with a stranger coming into your home and maybe using a few of the things that you have worked for, built or inherited?
The have private guards and a gated community Dave, so they don’t care…
bottom line illegal is illegal is ILLEGAL!!!
Trust you’re feeling better La Shawn!
Gotta run and catch up on your recent archives 
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