Del Norte

What is the ultimate purpose of securing our southern borders?

I do not believe terrorism really plays an important part. No terrorist has ever been found who entered through Mexico. However, at least two were caught coming in from Canada, most flew in with visas, and a couple were born and raised here. By these facts, we should build the wall between us and Canada first.

I think the point is economics. Allegedly, there are 12 million illegal people siphoning medical care, education, and other services our incredibly generous, socialist government hands out to all who are in need. The problem is not that they get the services, but that we do not have enough money to pay for this. I agree.

So far, we've spent $400+ billion on Iraq. That is about $333+ dollars per illegal alien. We should have kept that money here. Add however much we've spent in Afghanistan, the "other" places and in Guantanamo, and tell me if it seems like a lot.

Also, although I do not have the time to research and annotate properly, here are a few thoughts. I heard an interview by NPR with a gentleman from Southern California who owns and operates a cabbage farm. This happened while the minuteman controversy was in full swing. The man said he traditionally paid the "usual" workers about $5/hr for their labors. However, with the minuteman interference, the "usual" workers were not coming around. He carefully stated that legal as well as illegal ones were not coming, mostly because they were being harassed, which is illegal, but was not stopped by the authorities. By the time of the interview, he said he might offer $12/hr to anyone who came to pick his cabbage but no one would. Half the crop would be lost. Consider the impact on pricing if we pay inexperienced workers $12/hr for what experienced workers get $5/hr to do. He speculated that the consumer price would triple easily. The only reason this did not happen is that most of the border stayed open most of the time. It isn't that these workers (many of whom are Americans) are taking jobs for less than Americans feel is fair for them--but that Americans just plain don't want those jobs.

Consider also that the trade deficit with China has multiplied many times between the 80's and now. It is currently at its highest. Large corporations like Wal-Mart are flooding the market with cheap imports. Just about anything we buy is made in China, Taiwan, Honduras, etc. Check your chonnies if you don't believe me. When's the last time YOU checked to make sure the avocados you were eating were raised and packaged in the good ole USA? How 'bout your beer cozies? Is your iPod made in Long Beach?

I find it awfully funny how most of those people who complain the most about the loss of American jobs are precisely the ones driving expensive Japanese or European vehicles, and outsource anything they can in their own businesses to increase profits. What irks these people is that the number one source of money to Mexico itself (more now than the automotive industry or petroleum exports) is remittances from Mexicans in the Unites States. No single industry in Mexico comes even close! I agree that the drain of money is lamentable, but I feel the people sending it have more than earned it. If you disagree, please point out a single business that deliberately overpays its immigrant work-force. I've done the hiring at some of these. I know that “Mexicans” get $5 for what Americans won't do for less than $10.

How much would YOU want to clean toilets for a living?

While it is true that they are here illegally, it has been demonstrated that the vast majority of the drain on social services comes from citizens. Consider this country still has 350 million people, and only 12 million illegal aliens. You cannot say with a straight face that it is the illegal aliens causing all the trouble. I contend that while they are responsible for a significant percentage of the trouble, they also contribute a disproportionately large percentage to the economy. I contend that, in the end, at the very least, these wash out. Even if they did not pay taxes, which is by no means stipulated, their incredibly low wages more than make up for their part of improving this country.

This country was founded by immigrants (recall that humans were neither created nor evolved in the Americas). It was built by immigrants. It achieved greatness from its immigrant roots. It wasn't that long ago that we still supported the puritan work ethic, the Asian's drive for educating their children, and the hard work of the slaves in the south. The hardest work is traditionally done by the lowest social strata. Socioeconomic forces here have put white people at the top of that list, and while they have been a majority while enjoying that superiority, it is quickly coming to an end. Most major cities in the Unites States already report a majority of "ethnically non-white" citizens (not accounting for non-citizen immigrants). California will have a majority of Latino/Hispanic citizens (the voting kind, not just the living-in kind) by the end of the decade. Texas, New Mexico, Arizona, Florida, and perhaps surprisingly, states like Georgia, are not that far behind. I have to wonder to what degree this new-found concern for security is not really a concern for racial supremacy.

I laugh when I see how the market is staying away from this argument. HBO is running shows not dubbed, but originally filmed in Spanish. Companies are entering a bidding war for the Spanish-language television network, Univision. The market knows the importance of the Spanish-speaking population, precisely because it knows that regardless of the legal status of the customer, the dollars spend just as well. Lending institutions bend the rules to allow non-resident (their word for illegal) aliens to get loans to buy cars or houses. The worst part of all this is that the majority of these negative views on immigration are all centered on Latino, specifically Mexican, immigrants. I commend the border patrol for managing to stay above this argument and still get their jobs done. I have never felt discriminated against, harassed, or in any way mistreated leaving or entering the country.

It wasn't too long ago that channel 9 here in Los Angeles ran a story a long-time veteran from the Long Beach Police Department who turned out to be an illegal immigrant from England. Nobody ever thought of asking him for his papers.

And now many people complain about all the immigrant-rights demonstrations. My biggest complaint is that we as immigrants are concentrating on the lowest rung of the social ladder, instead of asking also for the rights of the many doctors I know who came here to be nurses, college professors who came here to be teachers’ aides, engineers who came here to be draftsmen. I guess these good folks have gotten used to the placid, submissive, subservient immigrant clutching the straw hat against the chest and saying "si, señor!"

What has this world come to?