It concerns me that the never-ending debate about illegal immigration is distracting us - liberals and conservatives alike - from the fact that our southern land border is being militarized and closed off with triple layered fencing.

Over 6,000 National Guard troops will be stationed along our southern border for at least two years - at a cost that could top $1.4 billion. Despite the fact that Bush stated initially that this was a temporary solution, CA’s Gov. Schwarzenegger was unable to get the White House to commit to an end-date for pulling the National Guard out. The National Guard will be controlled not just by state authorities, but also by the federal government.

Sources:
http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2006/05/20/ap/national/mainD8HNQM5O0.shtml

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/n/a/2006/06/23/state/n172949D58.DTL

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/05/14/AR2006051400773.html

There has also been an increase in border security measures along the northern border - although people are working on other strategies to secure our northern border, such as using technology to track border crossings.

articles:
http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20060619/ts_nm/security_usa_border_dc_3

http://www.mysanantonio.com/news/metro/stories/MYSA061806.1A.Northern-Border.146b12e.html

http://www.canada.com/reginaleaderpost/news/story.html?id=75298d79-8641-4108-a134-4aaee719a189&k=54202

Once the southern border is closed, it seems it would make it easier to convince Americans to agree to also allow our Northern border to be closed and militarized in the future. 

This closing off of the borders puts all of us at greater risk if a totalitarian government structure is put in place in this country - it goes without saying that fencing and militarizing the borders will not only deter people from getting into our country, but it would also keep U.S. citizens from being able to freely exit.

It is an understatement to say that U.S. citizens, as a whole, have seemingly forgotten the stern warnings from our founders about remaining ever-vigilant of our leaders (see below). This, of course, puts our democracy at risk - all the more reason to strongly question the rational for closing and militarizing one of our borders.  At a gathering of 200 U.S. mayors, there was debate about the wisdom of closing the border (http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/nation/20060605-1637-nv-immigration-mayorsconference.html). I wonder why our national politicians are not questioning this historic shift in our border policies?

Just from a common sense standpoint, wouldn’t it be more effective to put this large sum of money toward expanding and strengthening the existing border patrol? And why not, instead of building this new fence, increase the use of solutions that are being proposed for securing our northern border? It was reported in March of 2005 that three underground tunnels connecting Mexico to the United States had been found over the prior fifteen months (http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/mexico/20050301-9999-1m1tunnel.html). Would building a fence really protect us?

“…there are more instances of the abridgement of the freedom of the people, by gradual and silent encroachments of those in power, than by violent and sudden usurpations.  James Madison”

“If once [the people] become inattentive to the public affairs, you and I, and Congress and Assemblies, Judges and Governors, shall all become wolves. It seems to be the law of our general nature, in spite of individual exceptions.  Thomas Jefferson”

“Those who would give up essential Liberty, to purchase a little temporary Safety, deserve neither Liberty nor Safety.  Benjamin Franklin”

“Liberty cannot be preserved without general knowledge among the people.  John Adams”

“No other depositories of power [but the people themselves] have ever yet been found, which did not end in converting to their own profit the earnings of those committed to their charge.  Thomas Jefferson”

“There is danger from all men. The only maxim of a free government ought to be to trust no man living with power to endanger the public liberty.  John Adams”

“As the delegates of the Constitutional Convention trudged out of Independence Hall on September 17, 1787, an anxious woman in the crowd waiting at the entrance inquired of Benjamin Franklin, “Well, Doctor, what have we got, a republic or a monarchy?”
“A republic,” Franklin replied, “if you can keep it.”

Does this issue concern anyone else?

Mass migrations don’t work they usually end in genocide. We don’t want to risk that to be politically correct or do we remember there is a dollar to be made.

Like most liberals, you fail to distinguish between legal immigrants and ILLEGAL immigrants. I am a legal immigrant myself and don’t think I am being bashed and don’t think I am going to be bashed.

The problem is that a large number of immigrants are entering the country illegaly and objecting to this and demanding something be done to bring it to a halt is not rascist.

We need to get our borderS (note the plural) closed in order to reduce the influx of illegal immigrants to an irreducible trickle.

The influx of legal immigrants, on the other hand, is benefical to the U.S. They tend to provide the country with new talent, new ideas, and new energy. Since many of them tend to be young, they also tend to offset the aging of the U.S. population that is being caused by the aging of the baby boom generation.

I am a victim of illegal aliens in the Charlotte area. I agree with whoever wants to put employers in jail for hiring illegals.  That is a sure fire way of stopping illegals from coming to the USA. And I wouldn’t give them an OSHA reduced fine…$50,000/$5000 Its hurting my business and many other contractors here in the Charlotte area. And that is an understatement!!!! I can’t compete with the wages that illegals are paid here. Its a tradgedy here in the U.S and we are gonna regret what were doing big time!!!!Or should I say what the government is NOT doing? I assure you I am gonna look at the voting record of all senators and representives in my area and I will remember them come election day!!! Joe Charlotte

There is only one reason why Immigration is a problem, It is about jobs and pay for all those people getting shafted by the “System”.

Go to a doctor or other professional? Chances are good that he is a recent immigrant. Other countries are paying what it takes to teach the kids and especially helping them through college, while we cut taxes and balance the budget by cutting the cost of seed corn.

Other high paying jobs are going to China or India, so more of the middle class have to take lower jobs just too eat, but hate the work, and have little respect for it.

Meanwhile as if the other downward wage pressures aren’t enough, many industries that are left are feeding on their own seed corn, hiring disposable illegals that they can exploit, and maybe not even pay the pittance they do promise.

Those businesses that are honest have to compete with those who are not, and the current government could care less. So even if they wanted to they cannot pay a living wage.

So yeah, the poor shmuck sees other people working at pay scales he can’t even pay his rent on, and (with help from a propaganda barrage from the very people cutting his throat) blames the slaves for the Master’s crimes.

Yes the corruption in Mexico is horrific, But again the Bushists want to make the U.S. more like Mexico, than help Mexico overthrow Bush’s vampiric
cousins.

But again the mighty Wurlitzer is out to blame the victims, make them fix the problems that a cross border conspiracy of a hundred years helped create.

In this, they may succeed in doing what they did in Iraq, and create another “Failed State”, this time next door. And all the walls and fences won’t work as well as NOLA’s levys, with the “terror” hurricane that their neglect engendered.

It is already reaching a tipping point, even as the Bushists and their media lapdogs ignore the real threat.

A few more years of these jokers and things here will be so awful the rush will be in the other direction.

Hoo boy!

Molly clearly states, “If you want to stop Mexicans from crossing the border to work here, put Americans who hire them in jail.”

And I agree with her. The only thing trying to secure the borders WITHOUT cracking down on the employers will do is let the employers exploit the illegals even more. The illegals won’t dare complain about anything ... even more than now.

This is a fair labor practices issue ... and because the Democrats are too damn afraid to take on corporatism, they have handed the working class’s angst over the lowering of wages and the undermining of health and safety standards to the Republicans because the Republicans at least say they will do SOMETHING to reverse the deterioration of working conditions here by securing the borders—which is the next best thing to an amnesty program for the employers because it won’t keep the illegals out and they will stay even farther underground than before.

Somehow we are supposed to be happy because we are creating an underclass of labor in poverty so employers can increase their profits? Isn’t that the argument that was used to justify slavery? child labor? sweat shops?

What the hell is going on here?! Read Kevin Phillips, AMERICAN THEOCRACY. Our leaders are flushing our country down the toilet in their mad dash to get as rich as THEY can. The ONLY thing the Neocons know how to do is how to use power to gain wealth to gain power to gain wealth ... ad infinitum. They do it by rewarding loyalty to power with wealth.

Hey Molly,
            Here’s and interesting thought, if you’re really concerned with the plight of illegal aliens in the US.

  As most of them are Mexican, have you ever asked yourself why, when they have NAFTA and the Mexican government is raking in all that oil money, (the Mexican oil industry is mostly government owned) are these poor peons, who should be the primary beneficiaries of these billions of oil dollars, risking their lives and breaking our laws to come to this country?  Why aren’t they enjoying free quality health care, education, and all the other perks that 100’s of billions of dollars in oil profits should be funding? (Especially with oil over $70 a barrel.) 

  It’s not as if they’re in the middle of deepest Africa or new to western ideas.  They’ve been a democracy, more or less, for over a century.  And they have the example of the United States right next door.  An example they must like, considering how many of them come here, legally and illegally, every year with the encouragement of their government. 

  Where is all that money going?  Why are the people there still so poor?  Mexico should be in the middle of an industrial and economic revolution, but they are not.  Why not?

  Could the money be going to a corrupt government and various criminal organizations there?  Could the Mexican government be taking anyone who might do something about the situation, if they had no other option, giving them a map and pointing them north?

  Why, instead of maligning our own citizens for objecting to our government’s appeasement of our neighbor to the south, don’t you try doing something to correct the cause of the mess?  Get our government to stop the invasion (when you consider that in the last 20 years we have absorbed close to 20% of the population of Mexico, it really is an invasion) of our country.  Encourage the Mexicans here to go back and change their country into their version of what they like about the US.

  Do something constructive, for a change, to help these people in self-determination for their own country.  Or would that take away from your blaming the United States and George W. Bush for all the problems and hatred in the world?  Who knows?  You might actually help someone towards freedom for a change.  And wouldn’t that be a good thing?

  Sincerely, MSgt Jim Chapin,
          USAF Retired,
            Aurora, CO

It’s ILLEGAL immigration that’s at issue.

Those who turn a blind eye to the problem want to frame it as “immigrant bashing”, veiled in such a way as to make appear that we’re all racists.

Illegal immigrants would flood out of the country if ICE would start raiding meatpacking plants and construction sites with some vigor.

How about starting with Tyson Chicken plants and arresting the CEO.

Molly obfuscates where our true anger lies: Not so much on the illegal’s,(Who can blame them?) but on the lawless, arrogant over lords (Both Rep & Dem) who have encouraged and sanction the invasion of the uneducated illiterate masses (Too many, too soon) - who now can refuse to assimilate, who could care less about America, which is leading to a massive social transformation, division, and future anarchy.  This is not the immigration of your fore-fathers!

If you bank with Wells Fargo, you should take your business elsewhere because they have done more than any other bank to help illegal immigrants get banking services, including loans for houses!

http://www.EmbargoWellsFargo.com

In her screed, I didn’t see any argument in support of massive illegal immigration. She clearly supports massive illegal immigration, so why doesn’t she argue in favor of it? Instead, all she has to offer are smears, the logical fallacies of “guilt by association” and “appeal to tradition”, and an inability to understand Bush’s real goals.

Maybe next time she can leave the childish name calling and childish arguments at home, and tell us exactly why it’s in our country’s best interests to allow 60+ million more legal immigrants over the next 20 years as well as all the millions more illegal aliens who’ll come here to take advantage of the next version of the current Bush/Fox/Democrats amnesty scheme.

Or, let’s try something simple: perhaps Ivins can tell us why it’s in our best interests to give the Mexican oligarchy even more political power inside the U.S.

Can Ivins present a real argument?

Molly, the population of the US in 1950 was 150 million. By 2050 it is projected to be 400 million in a nation addicted to and increasingly willing to wage war for declining resources, while unable or unwilling to maintain a middle class that is rapidly loosing the will for self-governance. How’s that for a cheap labor scenario?

I’ve owned a small construction company for 15 yrs in the northeast. I can say with out doubt the mexicans are hard workers. They just can’t handle the tech stuff as well. I’ll hire a mexican anytime, and a polack, black dude, whatever. show me what you got. period.
David the democrat.

Molly Ivins for President!  It’s so refreshing to hear some common sense on the immigration issue.  Maybe she could replace Andy Rooney on 60 Minutes, then we wouldn’t have to hear his lectures about all the crap people send him….  On a serious note, an excellent website to check out—a forum for the immigrant community which includes personal stories and articles—is:

http://www.MyImmigrationStory.com

Forget it, we are doomed..

Molly- thank you for you ever clear comments.
But isn’t it a sad sign of the times when our leaders don’t lead but Lou Dobbs is the one
setting policy and heading public debate???
Isn’t he a news man? Who put Lou in charge?
And why do Americans look to Lou? Do we have no
better leader than Lou??  Like him or not—he
works for CNN. Aren’t they on the Bush payroll, too?  Come on! WAKE UP

To RSOU:

If US foreign policy wasn’t so reprehensible (unquestioning support for Israel’s criminal actions, interference with sovereign nations, assassinations of foreign leaders, etc.)you wouldn’t have a problem with terrorists whether from the northern border or southern border.  You get what you deserve.

Right on, Molly!

I see the villification of illegal immigrants who work for dirt poor wages in anything that comes out of a congressperson’s mounth. But I am still concerned with the fact that they entered this/our country ILLEGALLY.  Does it means that to enter this country, you must have money?  Because those are the people who are applying to legally imigrate to this country.  Just a thought.

Regards,

Susan Gronemeyer
Nevada City, CA

You tell ‘em, Molly. I worked with Mexican immigrants for years in the landscape and irrigation industry in Tarrant County. Some were here illegally, but most had their green cards. I watched the owner of the company short their paychecks on a weekly basis. The foreman of the sprinkler installation crew hadn’t received a raise in seven years. When his father died, he, along with his brother who was the leadman on the crew, went back to Mexico and did not return. The owner put a couple of different gringos in charge of the crew- repair techs who installed junk and left the estimator holding the bag at the final walk-through. I found the white guys incompetent and unwilling to work hard. The owner was never on-site at any installation. The Hispanos made that iriigation department first-rate, and their reward was low pay and shorted paychecks.
  It appears that demonizing immigrants is Rove’s primary plan for diversion. The irony is that Karl’s middle name is Christian.

Lets leave name-calling..like rascist, bigots, etc., out of the argument.
Lets put the blame where it belongs, the EMPLOYERS,(there are laws, enforce them) who hire and exploit illegal immigrants and American citizen workers….and the greedy politicians that accept the corporate bribes, and kickbacks. Stop corporatism/fascism of our government and country. Stop the Robber Barons and money controlling (FED)Bankers..stop them now…and their pet politicians

Immigration is just a lot of smoke intended to hide this Republican president and his rubberstamp Congress from taking responsibility for six years of the most disasterous foreign policy and domestic economics.

That said, Molly. I know at least one right wing conservative congressman, Tancredo, who would love your solution: fine and jail the employers. For Tancredo and the right wing immigration think tank, Center for Immigration Studies or CIS, this tact is the first and only step needed to resolve the problem of illegal immigration. Once the immigrants are unable to find work and become hungry, they will slowly slither back across the border. Problem solved. It is called attrition theory or self-deportation. We don’t need no buses stretching to Alaska, Mr. McCain. Just send them employers to jail.

Enforcement without amnesty is the most practical right wing solution. It is not progressive, Molly. Time to edit.

I need only look at my neatly pedicured Irish immigrant feet to remember that mine is a family of immigrants of uncertain legality. Our own ancestors served the wealthy, built railroads, and did the smelly jobs that decent folk couldn’t stomach- cops and firefighters- like my grandfather, John L. Cuffe, did.
John L. was a firefighter long before there were “Self Contained Breathing Apparatus’” (SCBA’s). In those days, firefighters literally ate smoke; lots of them died from pulmonary disease. My ancestors fled Ireland in order to get jobs here so they could send money back to the “ould sod” and so other family members left behind in Ireland would not starve.
At best, recently, our nation has become unkind and ungrateful for the many servile multitudes that choose to clean up after us. They labor long and hard here rather than live in the misery afforded in their own counties of origin. It has puzzled me for some time; why aren’t we asking Vincente Fox (or, inter alia, his counterparts in their nations) to send us the fruit of their bountiful natural gas and oil reserves in exchange for the care and feeding of Mexican (or other nations, etc.) citizens? Only one reason; greed. 99% of the wealth in Mexico is concentrated in 1% of the population. The poor people of Mexico and other nations come here to survive, however miserably, they survive and keep our economy moving. It’s time to ask the greedy “haves” of Latin America to act responsibly.
In this country, former Mexican peasants and their extended families subsist on less than some of us spend to fuel the tank of the Lexus SUV[13 mpg] we drive all week. Truly, things are better for immigrants here, but taxes are levied against their pitiful wages, and they pay those taxes again on every penny they spend to survive. So, I guess the Republican solution is to throw all of their asses in jail and kick the bums out. Sounds pretty freaking expensive to me, what’s more, inconvenient. After all, how can we afford to put all of those several millions on a Greyhound back to wherever they came from? And, if they all left, who would dig our holes, wash our dishes and pick our grapes?
Frankly, without the “immigrant” workforce, I doubt we could wipe our own asses, let alone drive the economy that has benefited from the labor.
Despite emails from the desk thumping anti-immigrationists encouraging me to go shopping on May 1st to counter-protest the pro-immigration boycott, I stayed home. Personally, on May first, my cheap assed Honda Civic (32mpg) didn’t need any gas, and there was not a goddamned thing I needed at the store that day. The greedy can just go spend all they want on bling; Rush Limbaugh has some pills for sale. The greedy can go buy them.

One clear example of the bigotry in the current immigrant bashing campaign concerns the issue of terrorism.  Despite the hundreds of thousands of mexicans caught & released (and sometimes kept) over the past several years our border agents tell us that NOT ONE has ever been held as a terrorist.  But this does not keep the house republicans from adding ‘anti-terrorism’ to the title of their recent anti-immigration bill, nor does it keep Tancredo from claiming that these mexican immigrants include terrorists that are coming here to kill us and our children.

But you want a clear and unequivocal sign that this bashing is all about racism?  Consider the recent roundup of a terrorist cell in Canada, folks who had been stockpiling diesel & fertilizer to blow up a few buildings.  And yet, depite this widely publicized arrest I have yet to hear a peep from the right about increasing security or building a fence along our northern border (even though all out serious anti-terrorism agents say that the threat of terrorists coming from Canada is far more likely than their coming from Mexico).

Can anyone seriously deny that if this terrorist cell had been discovered in Mexico City on Monterrey that the right would not have lept on it to justify a need for increased border security?

In the immortal words of Moe: “The immigants, I knew it, even when it was the bears, I knew it was the immigants!”

Let’s start with New Orleans.  The big rebuilding contractors there hire subs who hire subs, etc., so the principal contractor can maintain plausible deniability when the lowest subs hire illegals.  And they don’t just hire illegals who come, they go to Latin America and bring them back, and then leave them abandoned when the work is done.  It’s a great big neon sign on illegal immigration, and the fact that NOBODY demands a stop to it just proves that NOTHING real will be done about illegal immigration.  It’s just hot air.

How ‘bout dem liberals, Molly? Amnesty is the name of their game. Speaking of Lou Dobbs; you should listen more carefully..he wants penalties enforced on employers who hire illegal immigrants.
Believe Bush? Remember before the first election and his promise to uphold the constitutional law? What a turn-around. Now another crossed finger promise. Just maybe he can fool all the people all the time.

Molly,
Preach on, sister!

You are ABSOLUTELY right, Molly. This is a labor issue that requires a crackdown on the Americans who hire illegals. My gawd, it’s a no brainer!

What is so damn distressing is that the Democratic Party has virtually handed a fair labor practices issue to the Republicans. And Karl Rove is absolutely right on this, in that its gonna make the coming Congressional election a whole lot closer than it should have been ... and if they can get it close enough to steal, they’ll do it. But what the hell, they took that tactic from the Democrats, too!