SAN DIEGO – The U.S. government is launching two new media campaigns to try to stop immigrants from attempting clandestine border crossings and trying to sneak children into the country in car trunks, engines and even gasoline tanks.
One ad unveiled Thursday shows a young girl gasping for air inside a car trunk while her mother bangs desperately on the lid as the vehicle sits snarled in traffic.
Others invoke images of a graveyard and a funeral procession.
The U.S. Department of Homeland Security announced some of the ads Thursday at San Diego’s San Ysidro border crossing, the nation’s busiest.
The Spanish-language public service announcements call attention to what authorities say is the alarming practice of smugglers stuffing children into vehicle compartments that could become death traps.
This is a colossal waste of money. Why? Because our politicians have, for the most part, taken a position of all but condoning illegal immigration with their statements and policy.
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All I know is we need to totally overhaul the entire system. The number of illegals here in Iowa is even staggering. I bet the ammount has doubled within the last 5 years alone in Iowa.
Immigration should be no more. We don’t need more people, especially illegals. I think we should let the Minutemen do as they wish and control the whole thing.
So what are they going to do to deter them? Give them a ranch on the border? http://www.azcentral.com/news/articles/0819ariz-immig-abuse19.html
VW
Tyler wrote:
I think we should let the Minutemen do as they wish and control the whole thing.
Ah yes, now there’s some rational thinking. Why expect the government to actually take a serious look at immigration policies and enforcement when you can let a bunch of pissed off citzens with guns handle the issue? I mean, hell, who needs police officers and border patrol agents and judges…why not just give everyone a rifle and let things fly? Great plan there Tyler…
Rob:
Anyway, the measures I described above, coupled with an effort to make the legal immigration process easier, would go a long way toward solving the problem we’re faced with now. Sadly, our politicians seem more interested in perpetuating the paradox that is our current system.
I agree. You bring up good points in your post, namely that there are multiple issues that need to be dealt with, and that the incentives to come here legally need to outweigh the benefits of coming here illegally. If it keeps paying off to come here illegally, then people are going to keep doing it…and they’re going to keep getting hired when they do get here, since the penalty for that is just about nil.
RE: Ryan A’s post (August 19, 2005 03:32 PM)
Why expect the government to actually take a serious look at immigration policies and enforcement when you can let a bunch of pissed off citzens with guns handle the issue? I mean, hell, who needs police officers and border patrol agents and judges…
Well, certainly one doesn’t prefer such drastic measures, but such a response is inevitable given the abdication of responsibility by those in charge of implementing and enforcing those policies of protecting this nation’s citizens and upholding law. The Federal branch has decided in practice and not in theory that illegal immigration is desirable, or at least, not desirably enforced. At that point, it is the citizens’ responsibility to step in and force that government to uphold the Constitution and defend its borders at a national level. When those motivations fail, the citizens are obligated to defend their own and their land. When things reach that point, and that day is approaching quickly, you will see pockets of “revolution” whereby the locals don’t wait for Federal intervention to act. The Minutemen are such an outfit though their actions are currently rather passive. If they fail, landowners will take more extreme measures to protect themselves. It would be justified.
To push the envelope, if a citizen did take such drastic measures to defend life and property and the state (local or federal) charged said citizen with a crime, were I a sitting juror, I’d defend the citizen and not the state. There is only so much abuse these legal citizens should be expected to tolerate.
I’m just wondering… do you live in a border state? There is no real need to answer because I don’t want to know your specifics; however, I believe people’s perspectives change depending on how close they are to the problem. The indirect costs (and I’m talking economic) hit everyone and those may be absorbed without too much observed pain. The pain is real and tangible, but it may be obfuscated by spinmeisters and illegal immigration advocates. The direct costs, however, are borne only by those directly impacted which is certainly less than, at this point, the bulk of this country. As an adjunct, does one have empathy for those saddled with the worst burdens and not just the economic ones which some, well buffered from the acute, will debate as acceptable?
I’m just wondering… do you live in a border state?
To answer the question that you asked but really dont want the answer to, I think:
Yes. I live in southern California, and have all my life.
I understand the mentality and reasoning behind what the Minutemen types are doing, but that certainly isnt the ideal way to go about this problem, as Rob pointed out in the post there are many issues that need to be resolved.
Well, certainly one doesn’t prefer such drastic measures, but such a response is inevitable given the abdication of responsibility by those in charge of implementing and enforcing those policies of protecting this nation’s citizens and upholding law.
The lack of efficiency by our government is part of the problem, but not all of it. Somebody is over here hiring and paying these people, and helping to create the incentive to come over here. And those somebodies are American citizens. Thats a problem as well. Those people are basically handed jobs when they get here…they arent forcing people to hire them by any means.
Posted by: Ryan A at August 19, 2005 06:29 PM
The lack of efficiency by our government is part of the problem, but not all of it. Somebody is over here hiring and paying these people… American citizens. Thats a problem as well.
To be sure. In fact I’d say that is a bigger problem than the government as policy-setter. Politicians will not advocate that which their constituents, particularly the most vocal and well-heeled, disapprove. Businesses heavily dependent on labor strive to minimize that cost and will lobby stridently to contain them. The argument in management is that they must get those costs down to compete (or outcompete) in their industry. Of course, their competitors are having the same debate and reaching the same conclusion, so there is that reinforcing downward wage pressure and the lowering of the standards. Law-abiding companies manifestly suffer. I’d prefer to reward the law-abiders and will (and do) pay a premium to reward such ethics. I wish more were willing to do the same or that researching such ethics were easier.
AnonymousD:
Law-abiding companies manifestly suffer.
There you have it. Due to competition and the drive for higher profits, immigration laws go by the wayside.
One of my issues with the minutemen is that I think they might need to address some of their fellow Americans who are part of the problem. They act as if it’s just the immigrants who are creating this influx. In my opinion, those immigrants are responding to a demand that is created here. They are, in a sense, filling a market niche, albeit illegally. Not to take all the blame from them by any means, but if the jobs and money werent here, I dont think they would be either.
The other aspect to consider is the fact that since many of those people are here working, the benefits of their labors have to be taken into account. While American workers suffer the wage depressions, the consumers benefit from the “fruits” of their labors, as they say. You know what I mean? They dont just come here and take all our money…illegal workers get alot done, to the benefit of American businesses and citizens. But how big is that benefit, and does it outweigh the negative aspects?
I’d prefer to reward the law-abiders and will (and do) pay a premium to reward such ethics. I wish more were willing to do the same or that researching such ethics were easier.
I can understand that. Living in southern California, as I do, it’s pretty difficult to go anywhere where they dont pull from the illegal labor pool. Along with that there’s really no way for consumers to accurately tell whether or not laborers are legal or illegal. It’s not like you can just go up and ask your grocer whether the guy that picked your head of lettuce was legit or not!
My thinking is that if American businesses and citizens want to employ people from this labor pool, and they obviously do, then the whole thing needs to be regulated. People seem to forget that part alot, the fact that Americans happily partake of this labor pool.
I agree with Rob when he says that we need to streamline LEGAL immigration. When people only have to pay some coyote a thousand dollars to get across, why would they wait for months or years to go through the process the legal way? They’re often pretty poor, and probably dont have time to be waiting around…with families to feed and all. They can get here and instantly start making 10 times what they make in Mexico.
What throws this whole thing out of whack is the fact that not all the immigrants who come across are doing so to work hard and all that. A certain amount is drug trafficking, and that creates a bigger mess to deal with. But if all these people had to go through some type of processing center, maybe the drug runners could be picked, or sniffed I should say, out.