“Too many people,” says a character in the 1984 thriller Gorky Park, “fall into a chasm. The chasm between what is said and what is done.”
When it comes to genuine efforts to control America’s borders, there is definitely a chasm–between what most of those in official positions say and what they are actually willing to do.
On the Right are those calling for securing the Mexican border–and that is the border they’re talking about when they talk about “securing our borders.” They call for stationing thousands of soldiers across the four states bordering Mexico–California, Arizona, New Mexico and Texas, for a length of 1,969 miles.
There are, at most, 1,473,900 persons serving in all the United States Armed Services. There simply aren’t enough soldiers to adequately police the border–and do anything else. As the Prussian military genius Frederick the Great once said: “He who defends everything defends nothing.”
Other conservatives prefer the approach Arizona has recently taken–of ordering its police to question anyone they believe might be an illegal alien. This subjects the police to charges of racism and behaving like a Gestapo. It may also open them to civil suits for wrongful arrest. And having local police enforce immigration laws creates a patchwork situation–with the laws being enforced in some states but not in others.
On the Left are those who believe that enforcing the legal immigration laws of the United States amounts to racism. They ignore the truth that the first principle of every nation is regard for its own sovereignty. And there can be no sovereignty for a nation whose borders are repeatedly violated by those entering illegally.
Liberals also ignore the truth that Mexico enforces strict laws for those who enter its own borders. Mexico has a single, streamlined law that ensures that foreign visitors and immigrants are:
• in the country legally;
• have the means to sustain themselves economically;
• not destined to be burdens on society;
• of economic and social benefit to society;
• of good character and have no criminal records; and
• contributors to the general well-being of the nation.
The law also ensures that:
• immigration authorities have a record of each foreign visitor;
• foreign visitors do not violate their visa status;
• foreign visitors are banned from interfering in the country’s internal politics;
• foreign visitors who enter under false pretenses are imprisoned or deported;
• foreign visitors violating the terms of their entry are imprisoned or deported;
• those who aid in illegal immigration will be sent to prison.
So, is there a realistic way for the United States to gain control over its own borders? Yes.
To do so, it’s necessary to answer a simple question: Why are so many millions of Mexicans (who make up by far the single largest group of those who are here illegally) crossing into the United States?
For two reasons–one Mexican, the other American.
(1) The Mexican Government still remembers the bloody upheaval known as the Mexican Revolution. This lasted ten years (1910-1920) and wiped out an estimated one to two million men, women and children. Massacres were common on all sides, with men shot by the hundreds in bullrings or hung by the dozen on trees. All of the major leaders of the Revolution (Francisco “Pancho” Villa, Emiliano Zapata, Venustiano Carranza, Francisco Madero, Alvaro Obregon) died in a hail of bullets.
As a result, every successive Mexican Government has lived in the shadow of another such wholesale bloodletting. These officials have thus quietly decided to turn the United States border into a safety valve. If potential revolutionaries leave Mexico to find a better life in the United States, the Government doesn’t have to fear the rise of another “Pancho” Villa.
(2) American corporations need a steady pool of workers who allow themselves to be overworked and underpaid. Mexicans fill jobs that most Americans no longer want to do–picking crops, cleaning offices and homes and stocking shelves and greeting customers at mega-retailers like Wal-Mart.
Before there can be meaningful immigration reform, Americans must reach at least a rough consensus on what they want. Do they want continued waves of illegals who will do the dirty jobs Americans don’t want to do? Or do they want to control their borders and tightly restrict who enters the country–the way Mexico itself does?
Assuming that Americans decide they want to gain control of their borders, there are several ways to achieve this. I will outline these in my next column.
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REAL IMMIGRATION REFORM – PART ONE
In History, Politics, Social commentary on May 7, 2010 at 11:46 pm“Too many people,” says a character in the 1984 thriller Gorky Park, “fall into a chasm. The chasm between what is said and what is done.”
When it comes to genuine efforts to control America’s borders, there is definitely a chasm–between what most of those in official positions say and what they are actually willing to do.
On the Right are those calling for securing the Mexican border–and that is the border they’re talking about when they talk about “securing our borders.” They call for stationing thousands of soldiers across the four states bordering Mexico–California, Arizona, New Mexico and Texas, for a length of 1,969 miles.
There are, at most, 1,473,900 persons serving in all the United States Armed Services. There simply aren’t enough soldiers to adequately police the border–and do anything else. As the Prussian military genius Frederick the Great once said: “He who defends everything defends nothing.”
Other conservatives prefer the approach Arizona has recently taken–of ordering its police to question anyone they believe might be an illegal alien. This subjects the police to charges of racism and behaving like a Gestapo. It may also open them to civil suits for wrongful arrest. And having local police enforce immigration laws creates a patchwork situation–with the laws being enforced in some states but not in others.
On the Left are those who believe that enforcing the legal immigration laws of the United States amounts to racism. They ignore the truth that the first principle of every nation is regard for its own sovereignty. And there can be no sovereignty for a nation whose borders are repeatedly violated by those entering illegally.
Liberals also ignore the truth that Mexico enforces strict laws for those who enter its own borders. Mexico has a single, streamlined law that ensures that foreign visitors and immigrants are:
• in the country legally;
• have the means to sustain themselves economically;
• not destined to be burdens on society;
• of economic and social benefit to society;
• of good character and have no criminal records; and
• contributors to the general well-being of the nation.
The law also ensures that:
• immigration authorities have a record of each foreign visitor;
• foreign visitors do not violate their visa status;
• foreign visitors are banned from interfering in the country’s internal politics;
• foreign visitors who enter under false pretenses are imprisoned or deported;
• foreign visitors violating the terms of their entry are imprisoned or deported;
• those who aid in illegal immigration will be sent to prison.
So, is there a realistic way for the United States to gain control over its own borders? Yes.
To do so, it’s necessary to answer a simple question: Why are so many millions of Mexicans (who make up by far the single largest group of those who are here illegally) crossing into the United States?
For two reasons–one Mexican, the other American.
(1) The Mexican Government still remembers the bloody upheaval known as the Mexican Revolution. This lasted ten years (1910-1920) and wiped out an estimated one to two million men, women and children. Massacres were common on all sides, with men shot by the hundreds in bullrings or hung by the dozen on trees. All of the major leaders of the Revolution (Francisco “Pancho” Villa, Emiliano Zapata, Venustiano Carranza, Francisco Madero, Alvaro Obregon) died in a hail of bullets.
As a result, every successive Mexican Government has lived in the shadow of another such wholesale bloodletting. These officials have thus quietly decided to turn the United States border into a safety valve. If potential revolutionaries leave Mexico to find a better life in the United States, the Government doesn’t have to fear the rise of another “Pancho” Villa.
(2) American corporations need a steady pool of workers who allow themselves to be overworked and underpaid. Mexicans fill jobs that most Americans no longer want to do–picking crops, cleaning offices and homes and stocking shelves and greeting customers at mega-retailers like Wal-Mart.
Before there can be meaningful immigration reform, Americans must reach at least a rough consensus on what they want. Do they want continued waves of illegals who will do the dirty jobs Americans don’t want to do? Or do they want to control their borders and tightly restrict who enters the country–the way Mexico itself does?
Assuming that Americans decide they want to gain control of their borders, there are several ways to achieve this. I will outline these in my next column.
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