Yes...In Our Back Yard...
The House the other day approved a new border control measure 239-182. The proposal included 700 miles of new fence to be constructed among several southern border states. To this, I say about time. As Ronald Reagan said, a nation cannot be called sovereign that cannot control its borders. On this issue I disagree with many of my Libertarian associates. Many of them call for open borders and present compelling, mostly economic, reasons.
Given the U.S.'s place in the world, though, and given who is crossing our borders, this is not feasible in any fashion, economic or otherwise. One person who happens to agree with an open border policy for the U.S. is Mexico's presidente, Vicente "Stop with the Kicking" Fox. He has gone so far as to criticize us for even considering such legislation. Just look at this story from the left-wing Guardian in the UK.
via Right Wing News.
"The Mexican government, angered by a U.S. proposal to extend a wall along the border to keep out migrants, pledged Tuesday to block the plan and organize an international campaign against it.
Facing a growing tide of anti-immigrant sentiment north of the border, the government has taken out ads urging Mexican workers to denounce rights violations in the United States. It also is hiring an American public relations firm to improve its image and counter growing U.S. concerns about immigration.
Mexican President Vicente Fox denounced the U.S. measures, passed by the House of Representatives Friday, as ``shameful.'' His foreign secretary, Luis Ernesto Derbez, echoed his complaints on Tuesday.
"Mexico is not going to bear, it is not going to permit, and it will not allow a stupid thing like this wall,'' Derbez said.
``What has to be done is to raise a storm of criticism, as is already happening, against this,'' he said, promising to turn the international community against the plan.
Mexicans are outraged by the proposed measures, especially the extension of the border wall, which many liken to the Berlin Wall. Some are urging their government to fight it fiercely.
``Our president should oppose that wall and make them stop it, at all costs,'' said Martin Vazquez, 26, at the Mexico City airport as he returned from his job as a hotel worker in Las Vegas. ``More than just insulting, it's terrible.''
First, that the Mexican government feels they even have a say in this is amusing. Granted they have a major economic investment in informally contracting out their citizens like slave labor to corporations in the US as they ILLEGALLY enter to work then send money back to the Motherland. So I understand their attempt to internationally bully the United States. Still, it's sort of like a toddler ordering around a 300 lb. linebacker.
Good luck on that "not going to permit" thing. Mexico can join the rest of the arrogant little Third World nations that think they have a shot at pushing the big boy on the block around. It would all be the height of comedy if it wasn't so pathetic.
To equate this with the Berlin Wall, a tool designed to keep oppressed peoples in, is also ignorant at best and disingenuous rhetoric at worst. The Wall was the symbol of an oppression that festered for almost half a century in the nations of Central and Eastern Europe. Best we not forget that.
As to quoting an ILLEGAL who is already basically a criminal as one of their justifications for the CON side of the argument, as it were, this piece reads more like it's from the Onion than the Guardian. Well, then again...
Setting this ludicrous story of Mexican impotence aside, consider the hypocrisy of ole' Vicente's statement. Anyone who has remotely examined Mexico knows they have their army posted all along their southern border with Guatemala. Guatemalans who try and cross the border illegally are handled very roughly and promptly dumped back across the border and the Mexican Army does routine sweeps of the border towns to clean out any Central Americans stupid enough to stay there and send them packing. You usually won't hear that from the "pro open-border" movement when they talk about Mexico. The only Central Americans the Mexican Army doesn't send back are ones they find trying to get through to the United States. Those they usually transport to their northern border and wish the best of luck to.
It should also be known that the border is not just crossed by Lupe and Consuela bringing their brood of kids over the border to start a new life in a country that isn't an economic socialist nightmare like Mexico. It is the primary conduit for illegal drug trafficking and criminals who wish to travel back and forth into both countries. According to Tom Tancredo, a Republican Representative from Colorado, the Mexican Army and Federales on the northern border are routinely employed by drug cartels to help facilitate their shipments across the border.
Congress is also aware of more than a dozen INCURSIONS by the Mexican Army across the border and into United States territory. These incursions ranged from diversions to draw off US Border Patrol agents while drug smugglers move across another section of the border to providing armed cover for criminals while they cross.
Congressmen Tancredo often relates a story from the Border Patrol about a drug truck that had been discovered after crossing the Rio Grande that tried to make a break back across the border. It got stuck in the mud in the river on the US side. As the Border Patrol agents moved in, a unit of Mexican Army troops closed and drew weapons on the U.S. agents, ordering them to leave the truck alone and that they were outgunned. The U.S. agents attempted to call a truck to tow the drug truck out of the river, but the Mexican Army unit brought in a Caterpillar bulldozer, crossed to the U.S. side and dragged the truck back into Mexico under their guns.
Am I the only one who would've seen something like that as an Act of War? A violation of our sovereign territory by a foreign military unit aiding a drug cartel and this isn't front page in every paper in the country? Couple this with the fact that many Mexican government officials refer to the southwestern United States as a "region" of Mexico, and even a blind man could see we have a hostile power on our southern border.
As troops are drawn down from Iraq and Afghanistan, especially the National Guard units, those units need to be rotated through our southern border for protection. One of the primary Constitutional functions of the federal government is to defend our territory and if this doesn't fit the bill I'm not sure what does. I wouldn't think it too extreme to eliminate such incursions as they attempted to cross as an example that we are not a "region" of Mexico, but their northern sovereign neighbor and supposed ally.
I've always considered one of Bush's biggest failures to be his border policy. He talks a good talk, but treats border control as an afterthought more than a priority. Now, for those steaming over how heartless and cruel I am and preparing their cut-n-paste "we were all immigrants once" paragraphs for their hate mail, consider this. I have a lot of sympathy for people trying to come here and make a better life for themselves and their families. Most of my family came over in the 1800's from Germany and Ireland and the rest came across the Bering Land Bridge several thousand years before that. This is the land of opportunity. This is the land where anybody can make a new start of it, even now with everything else happening. We are not the nation we were 100 years ago or even 50 years ago, but we still are the Shining City on the Hill and I encourage people to emigrate here if they wish to be a part of it, LEGALLY. Almost a million people enter our country legally every single year and if they're willing to learn the language, assimilate into our culture and work hard, God bless 'em. Good luck.
If you come here illegally though, you've already broken the law, and I'm sorry you can't start off as a criminal. It's not a minor crime. It's a serious crime and just as serious is the fact that you think you're better than the million or so who bust their hump to go through the hoops to get in legally. Get out and try again. If we catch you here illegally, then my opinion is you can then never become legal in this country. All that awaits illegals is to be a slave to those who would exploit them and their labor for their own selfish gain. Do I think it should be an easier process? Yes. But I also think we let almost a MILLION people in a year. Most countries, in fact the rest of the world, doesn't come close to a fraction of that. Because of it, we are one of the only mature First World nations that is actually showing a strong gain in population. That's good and bad. We have the room, but must have some sort of mechanism in place to accept all the new entrants, especially in a time of war.
So, to Mexico I say stick it. You have as much say in our affairs as Cuba or Venezuela, which is to say less than none. Fidel and Hugo called about having a pity party. You might want to look into it. To proponents of illegal immigration and making it easier for them to enter, I ask why you encourage potential new citizens to start off by violating one of the most basic laws in any country? Why start them out as criminals? Why, by your policy, encourage criminals (and worse) to exploit your "enlightened" view? This is why I advocate a controlled border and why you should as well.
The House the other day approved a new border control measure 239-182. The proposal included 700 miles of new fence to be constructed among several southern border states. To this, I say about time. As Ronald Reagan said, a nation cannot be called sovereign that cannot control its borders. On this issue I disagree with many of my Libertarian associates. Many of them call for open borders and present compelling, mostly economic, reasons.
Given the U.S.'s place in the world, though, and given who is crossing our borders, this is not feasible in any fashion, economic or otherwise. One person who happens to agree with an open border policy for the U.S. is Mexico's presidente, Vicente "Stop with the Kicking" Fox. He has gone so far as to criticize us for even considering such legislation. Just look at this story from the left-wing Guardian in the UK.
via Right Wing News.
"The Mexican government, angered by a U.S. proposal to extend a wall along the border to keep out migrants, pledged Tuesday to block the plan and organize an international campaign against it.
Facing a growing tide of anti-immigrant sentiment north of the border, the government has taken out ads urging Mexican workers to denounce rights violations in the United States. It also is hiring an American public relations firm to improve its image and counter growing U.S. concerns about immigration.
Mexican President Vicente Fox denounced the U.S. measures, passed by the House of Representatives Friday, as ``shameful.'' His foreign secretary, Luis Ernesto Derbez, echoed his complaints on Tuesday.
"Mexico is not going to bear, it is not going to permit, and it will not allow a stupid thing like this wall,'' Derbez said.
``What has to be done is to raise a storm of criticism, as is already happening, against this,'' he said, promising to turn the international community against the plan.
Mexicans are outraged by the proposed measures, especially the extension of the border wall, which many liken to the Berlin Wall. Some are urging their government to fight it fiercely.
``Our president should oppose that wall and make them stop it, at all costs,'' said Martin Vazquez, 26, at the Mexico City airport as he returned from his job as a hotel worker in Las Vegas. ``More than just insulting, it's terrible.''
First, that the Mexican government feels they even have a say in this is amusing. Granted they have a major economic investment in informally contracting out their citizens like slave labor to corporations in the US as they ILLEGALLY enter to work then send money back to the Motherland. So I understand their attempt to internationally bully the United States. Still, it's sort of like a toddler ordering around a 300 lb. linebacker.
Good luck on that "not going to permit" thing. Mexico can join the rest of the arrogant little Third World nations that think they have a shot at pushing the big boy on the block around. It would all be the height of comedy if it wasn't so pathetic.
To equate this with the Berlin Wall, a tool designed to keep oppressed peoples in, is also ignorant at best and disingenuous rhetoric at worst. The Wall was the symbol of an oppression that festered for almost half a century in the nations of Central and Eastern Europe. Best we not forget that.
As to quoting an ILLEGAL who is already basically a criminal as one of their justifications for the CON side of the argument, as it were, this piece reads more like it's from the Onion than the Guardian. Well, then again...
Setting this ludicrous story of Mexican impotence aside, consider the hypocrisy of ole' Vicente's statement. Anyone who has remotely examined Mexico knows they have their army posted all along their southern border with Guatemala. Guatemalans who try and cross the border illegally are handled very roughly and promptly dumped back across the border and the Mexican Army does routine sweeps of the border towns to clean out any Central Americans stupid enough to stay there and send them packing. You usually won't hear that from the "pro open-border" movement when they talk about Mexico. The only Central Americans the Mexican Army doesn't send back are ones they find trying to get through to the United States. Those they usually transport to their northern border and wish the best of luck to.
It should also be known that the border is not just crossed by Lupe and Consuela bringing their brood of kids over the border to start a new life in a country that isn't an economic socialist nightmare like Mexico. It is the primary conduit for illegal drug trafficking and criminals who wish to travel back and forth into both countries. According to Tom Tancredo, a Republican Representative from Colorado, the Mexican Army and Federales on the northern border are routinely employed by drug cartels to help facilitate their shipments across the border.
Congress is also aware of more than a dozen INCURSIONS by the Mexican Army across the border and into United States territory. These incursions ranged from diversions to draw off US Border Patrol agents while drug smugglers move across another section of the border to providing armed cover for criminals while they cross.
Congressmen Tancredo often relates a story from the Border Patrol about a drug truck that had been discovered after crossing the Rio Grande that tried to make a break back across the border. It got stuck in the mud in the river on the US side. As the Border Patrol agents moved in, a unit of Mexican Army troops closed and drew weapons on the U.S. agents, ordering them to leave the truck alone and that they were outgunned. The U.S. agents attempted to call a truck to tow the drug truck out of the river, but the Mexican Army unit brought in a Caterpillar bulldozer, crossed to the U.S. side and dragged the truck back into Mexico under their guns.
Am I the only one who would've seen something like that as an Act of War? A violation of our sovereign territory by a foreign military unit aiding a drug cartel and this isn't front page in every paper in the country? Couple this with the fact that many Mexican government officials refer to the southwestern United States as a "region" of Mexico, and even a blind man could see we have a hostile power on our southern border.
As troops are drawn down from Iraq and Afghanistan, especially the National Guard units, those units need to be rotated through our southern border for protection. One of the primary Constitutional functions of the federal government is to defend our territory and if this doesn't fit the bill I'm not sure what does. I wouldn't think it too extreme to eliminate such incursions as they attempted to cross as an example that we are not a "region" of Mexico, but their northern sovereign neighbor and supposed ally.
I've always considered one of Bush's biggest failures to be his border policy. He talks a good talk, but treats border control as an afterthought more than a priority. Now, for those steaming over how heartless and cruel I am and preparing their cut-n-paste "we were all immigrants once" paragraphs for their hate mail, consider this. I have a lot of sympathy for people trying to come here and make a better life for themselves and their families. Most of my family came over in the 1800's from Germany and Ireland and the rest came across the Bering Land Bridge several thousand years before that. This is the land of opportunity. This is the land where anybody can make a new start of it, even now with everything else happening. We are not the nation we were 100 years ago or even 50 years ago, but we still are the Shining City on the Hill and I encourage people to emigrate here if they wish to be a part of it, LEGALLY. Almost a million people enter our country legally every single year and if they're willing to learn the language, assimilate into our culture and work hard, God bless 'em. Good luck.
If you come here illegally though, you've already broken the law, and I'm sorry you can't start off as a criminal. It's not a minor crime. It's a serious crime and just as serious is the fact that you think you're better than the million or so who bust their hump to go through the hoops to get in legally. Get out and try again. If we catch you here illegally, then my opinion is you can then never become legal in this country. All that awaits illegals is to be a slave to those who would exploit them and their labor for their own selfish gain. Do I think it should be an easier process? Yes. But I also think we let almost a MILLION people in a year. Most countries, in fact the rest of the world, doesn't come close to a fraction of that. Because of it, we are one of the only mature First World nations that is actually showing a strong gain in population. That's good and bad. We have the room, but must have some sort of mechanism in place to accept all the new entrants, especially in a time of war.
So, to Mexico I say stick it. You have as much say in our affairs as Cuba or Venezuela, which is to say less than none. Fidel and Hugo called about having a pity party. You might want to look into it. To proponents of illegal immigration and making it easier for them to enter, I ask why you encourage potential new citizens to start off by violating one of the most basic laws in any country? Why start them out as criminals? Why, by your policy, encourage criminals (and worse) to exploit your "enlightened" view? This is why I advocate a controlled border and why you should as well.
posted by Rob Beck | 5:19 PM
1 Comments:
That's certainly a good point and one that, although not directly relevant to my post, I agree with and endorse. Otherwise, there's not much incentive to stop trying to sneak in.
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