Blocking Sensible Steps at the Border

Illegal immigration across open borders undermines national security. This isn't a matter of debate. Illegal immigrants are breaking the law - it really is that simple. By crossing the border without declaring themselves as visitors, they're breaking the law.

They're not undocumented aliens.

They're not migrant workers.

They're individually crossing into this country illegally and should be treated as such. The open borders lobby has put these other terms into the vernacular to hide and obscure the fact that the people they're talking about and representing are, in fact, entering this country illegally.

If someone wants to enter this country for work, there are steps he or she can take. It's called obtaining work visas and the necessary paperwork. And I have absolutely no problem with people coming in from Mexico or elsewhere on work visas who respect the US immigration law and our borders. I have no patience for those who don't - especially those open borders immigration lawyers who are trying to throw a huge monkey wrench in immigration policies on misguided notions of what immigration is about.




Instead, we're seeing the Mexican government actively assisting those crossing the borders illegally, including distributing guides to safely crossing the borders and evading US ICE Agents. In fact, the Mexican government opposes a fence. It's hard to feel sorry for those illegal immigrants who are coming into this country to work, though they are doing so for the best of reasons. The solution for these people is to expedite a legal work program for these people so that they can enter this country to work. We've even gotten Mexican officials calling the plan stupid.

According to the Boston Globe:

Each year, more than 1 million undocumented migrants try to slip across the mountains and deserts along the 2,000-mile U.S.-Mexico border in search of work in the United States. At least 464 died making the journey this year, many from dehydration.

During his 2000 election campaign, President Vicente Fox promised to make the easing of U.S. immigration laws a central goal of his administration.

His efforts stumbled in the wake of the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks, as U.S. politicians became more concerned with keeping potential terrorists out than with legalizing the status of millions of Mexicans already working in fruit fields, kitchen and construction sites north of the border.

President Bush has long favored a guest worker scheme that would grant temporary work visas to some Mexicans, but such plans are strongly opposed within his Republican Party.

Fox recently described as "disgraceful and shameful" the plan to build two parallel steel-and-wire fences fitted with lights and cameras along sections of the border.

That's why the call to build and maintain a fence along the Mexican border has been getting play. Border control is just one part of a larger issue of national security. In an age where people are determined to attack the US and cause mass casaulty events, maintaining borders and knowing who and what is crossing into the US is a major security concern.

These Mexican officials are actively and passively undermining US national security, and for what reason? Because the illegal aliens working in this country essentially provide the income that keeps the Mexican government afloat. Without the money flowing back into Mexico from the illegal aliens working in the US, the Mexican economy would quickly turn to mush. The remittances are either the second or third major source of revenue in the country (Mexico's top three revenue sources are petroleum, tourism, and illegal immigrants remitting monies back to Mexican relatives).

There are even US papers who think that this fencing would be detrimental to US interests. Why? Because the Mexican government says that the fencing will not stop the flow of illegal aliens into the US. Well, building a fence is one part of a larger strategy, which has to include going after those businesses that hire and rely upon illegal immigrants for their labor.

This means many farming businesses, restaurants, and other menial labor jobs that most Americans wouldn't consider doing. Will this mean higher costs associated with those businesses? Probably.

But the key issue of whether the US should build a fence or not is our sovereign right, not one that any other nation can or should impose on the US. A Certain Slant of Light has a thorough posting on the subject.