Illegal Immigration

IMHO

Until we start imprisoning and seizing property of those found guilty of hiring illegally, via due process, then all this talk of building a fence, or "rounding up", or whether to issue driver's licenses, or seize cars, are all just expensive "band-aid", symptomatic approaches with varying degrees of political capital for politicians, xenophobes, and racists.


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This includes the mega corporations which hire contractors composed entirely of undocumented workers.

make the richest richer, the Mexican "Have It Alls" have the 7th highest standard of living in the world, 2nd to France, massively boosted by the billion$ of dollars sent back to Mexico.

the Mexican government advertises for, and ships, migrants to go here and advertises to send money home. we are subsidizing slavery
http://blog.aflcio.org/2008/02/08/border-crossings-start-in-the-boardroom

the UN has declared Mexico... Morally Bankrupt and Democratically Irretrievable

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What is needed is comprehensive immigration reform, not just repression.

The Border Patrol and all related branches have been funded up the wazoo, quite contrary to the Libertarian/old-Conservative doctrines of small government and no spending---------besides increase after increase of hiring personnel, they are now blessed with palatial headquarters along the (Southern) border, endless parking lots full of SUVs, dune buggies, river boats, drones, horses, electronic gadgets, virtual walls, "biometric" tech documents and gizmos to read them, and who knows what else.

It's the standard CHEENEE-Shrub golden shower of profits for cronies. The sheer waste is almost unimaginable, to the point of revulsion. The old link below shows they DON'T EVEN USE the gadgetry, are low-tech-eyeballing the documents instead of using the machines.

The elephant in the room since 9-11 is that the terrorists DID win, have succeeded in pushing us over the edge with knee-jerk spending into wrecking our economy more than any foreign deviousness could do.

And the "political capital for politicians, xenophobes, and racists" has been NOT "varying" (I submit), but EXTREME, only for THEM. But it has also been short sighted and doomed to failure for these idiots who FDR called "men of small vision."


*********QUOTE*********

http://www.themonitor.com/news/border_2405___article.ht...

Bypassed at Border: Inspectors aren’t using technology, claiming laser visas cause backups at international crossings

By Elliot Spagat
The Associated Press/The Monitor
May 15, 2007 - 11:20PM

SAN DIEGO — The face- and fingerprint-matching technology that has been touted over the past decade as a sophisticated new way to stop terrorists and illegal immigrants from entering the country through Mexico has one major drawback: U.S. border inspectors almost never use it.

In fact, the necessary equipment is not even installed in vehicle lanes along the border. ....

Jeffrey Davidow, U.S. ambassador to Mexico from 1998 to 2001, recalls members of Congress visiting the border to see the machines, which were never used when the lawmakers were gone.

“I’d tell them that it was all show, that it doesn’t work, that the card is not doing what it’s supposed to do,” Davidow said. He said his warnings elicited shrugs.

There were also technological setbacks. Equipment to verify photos and fingerprints often failed to read through sweat, scratches and other wallet “crud,” according to an internal Homeland Security report.

A test at five Texas crossings in the spring of 2004 showed that 731 out of 1,740 cards, or 42 percent, were unreadable, according to the report, which was provided to The Associated Press by someone who insisted on anonymity because the government did not authorize its release. ....



A stack of U.S. visas, above, is sorted recently at the U.S. Consulate in Tijuana, Mexico.
Denis Poroy/The Associated Press


http://www.themonitor.com/news/border_2429___article.ht...

Costly visa technologies little used here

Area officials wonder: Is it needed or is it money wasted?
Kyle Arnold and Matt Whittaker
May 16, 2007 - 10:58PM

.... When Congress approved the laser visa system in 1996, proponents touted laser visas, which store so-called biometric information, as the next step in securing American borders from unwanted visitors like potential terrorists, drug smugglers and illegal immigrants. However, an AP article Tuesday said U.S. Customs and Border Protection only checks about 2 percent of all laser visa holders using the digital fingerprint and face matching technology. ....

A $28.6 million contract for laser visa technology was awarded to Virginia-based General Dynamics Corp., which has recently received another contract for $28.5 million, according to the AP article. ....

Inspecting laser visas without looking at the biometric information is no better than “looking at somebody’s driver’s license or library card,” she said. “The country invested a lot of money to bring the system up to date. It’s just amazing that they have gone to this expense … and made border crossers pay a lot of money for ... a card that we don’t even know how to use or don’t use,” she said. ....

In 2001, Mexicans who shopped in McAllen, Brownsville, Laredo and El Paso bought about $3.2 billion worth of goods — roughly 19 percent of all retail sales along the Texas border and 1.9 percent of the state’s retail sales, according to Dallas Fed data. ....

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:yawn:

and blurring the discussions always works for the benefit of the bad guys.

Piss on those who hire illegals... They know they are hiring illegal workers, and anyone who spent 5 minutes with a new-hire can figure it out. Cracking down on illegal employers, by imprisoning, fining, and seizing their property, is the only immigration reform needed. Illegal workers would have no choice, but to return to their home countries, since they could not afford to stay here. Once the crackdowns begin, word would quickly get back to countries sending undocumented workers here, to stop coming, because they cannot work and cannot survive here.

Anyone who is opposed to this, only identifies themselves as having a stake in flooding this country with more illegal immigrants and giving those already here citizenship. It only pursues the employers of illegals. There are NO politics to it all, because it IS the law. If you do not care about what laws they broke, without penalty and with rewards, then you would not care about me backing a truck up to your neighbors house to steal all of their belongings. Don't call the police, you already made your choice on this issue. Yes, it is that simple.

It's all about treating human beings as a means to an end (profit) and treating human labor as a commodity. It's less about actual "immigration" and more about throw-away people. Indeed, the framing of "illegal immigration" is itself a distraction. The term "illegal aliens" applies more reasonably since the issue does NOT center on "immigration" at all. It centers on the exploitation of human beings for their labor.

It's not entirely about "illegal" either. So-called "guest workers" and people 'legally' employed under a variety of visa categories, including H1B and L1, form a large part of the problem. The 'system' is almost entirely centered on serving the Masters of Wealth: the "ownership society."

Or caring for his elderly mother?

Don

:eyes:

The more laws we have, the more we can't enforce the original laws, and illegal immigration increases. The Employer Sanction law started in 1986 and illegal immigration increased throughout the 90s.

We need to give them visas. It's not going to kill us. Illegal immigration is a problem we create.

If, for example, the Mexicans had visas they could cross the border both ways legally. They could go home for medical treatment or for large parts of the year - many are in seasonal employment. If they were legally here, employers could not exploit them.

This is a "problem" that can easily be solved. It is that, as a nation, we refuse to do it. Walls, deportations, employer sanctions, all that takes money and this migration is so huge it is obvious none of that will make much of a dent. Let them be legal and pay their taxes and we will benefit from it. This approach costs us so much money and instead we could just have more money.

In the 80s, undocumented immigrants worked and paid taxes. By now, thanks to the Real ID act and all the cracking down, they work under the table. Sending them farther and farther underground just has not worked.