The notion that the first thing to do is "secure the border" and only then worry about comprehensive

[pampango]

immigration reform -- falls somewhere between hopeful fantasy and cynical cop-out. It's a good sound bite but would be a ridiculous policy.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/05/03/AR2010050303383.html?hpid=opinionsbox1

Fact-based analysis is increasingly out of fashion, however, and so the border-first hallucination has become popular among politicians and pundits reacting to Arizona's new "breathing while Latino" law. ... Anyone who thinks such extremism could be quelled if the federal government would just "secure the border" really ought to visit Arizona and take a look.

There has been much sound and fury about Mexico's rampant drug violence spilling over into the United States -- much of it wrong, at least as far as Arizona is concerned. But law enforcement officials in border communities say this simply is not true.

Roy Bermudez, assistant police chief of the border city of Nogales, told the Arizona Republic that "we have not, thank God, witnessed any spillover violence from Mexico." Violent crime is down statewide, as it is nationally.

It would be possible to build a 2,000-mile-long Berlin Wall, complete with watchtowers. But it would be stupid and counterproductive. The U.S.-Mexico relationship is vital, economically and politically, and the border has to be permeable enough to permit a massive legitimate daily flow of goods and people.

[Demeter]

1. So? What's One More Ridiculous Policy in the Land of Denial?

[liberal N proud]

2. Two reasons why nothing is seriously done about illegal immigration...

I posted one yesterday in a response to a thread by AnArmyVeteran about illegals paying taxes.

Illegal Immigrants Are Bolstering Social Security With Billions
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=389&topic_id=8264364&mesg_id=8264641
STOCKTON, Calif. - Since illegally crossing the Mexican border into the United States six years ago, Ángel Martínez has done backbreaking work, harvesting asparagus, pruning grapevines and picking the ripe fruit. More recently, he has also washed trucks, often working as much as 70 hours a week, earning $8.50 to $12.75 an hour.

Not surprisingly, Mr. Martínez, 28, has not given much thought to Social Security's long-term financial problems. But Mr. Martínez - who comes from the state of Oaxaca in southern Mexico and hiked for two days through the desert to enter the United States near Tecate, some 20 miles east of Tijuana - contributes more than most Americans to the solvency of the nation's public retirement system.

Last year, Mr. Martínez paid about $2,000 toward Social Security and $450 for Medicare through payroll taxes withheld from his wages. Yet unlike most Americans, who will receive some form of a public pension in retirement and will be eligible for Medicare as soon as they turn 65, Mr. Martínez is not entitled to benefits.

He belongs to a big club. As the debate over Social Security heats up, the estimated seven million or so illegal immigrant workers in the United States are now providing the system with a subsidy of as much as $7 billion a year.

http://www.nytimes.com/2005/04/05/business/05immigration.html?ex=1270353600&en=78c87ac4641dc383&ei=5090&partner=kmarx


The other reason nothing is done is the employers enjoy the cheap labor. From produce farmers in the southwest to meat packing companies in the midwest, they all employ illegal workers because they will work for far less than US workers and will not report safety violations.

If any government, local, state or federal were serious, they would take on the employers who hire these people. If there was no work for the illegals, then the flow across the boarder would stop.

But the reasons I stated are not going to help that happen.

GREED speaks loudly in this.

[zipplewrath]

4. They are good for us

Sure one can have "too much of a good thing", but the reality is that the immigration happens because they are useful here. It isn't just social security either. Texas doesn't do alot of complaining about illegal immigration because they are a sales tax based state. They charge everyone sales taxes. And when you get right down to it, they add consumers to the market, the AMERICAN markets.

[KharmaTrain]

3. To Quote George Carlin...

"if you invent a better mousetrap, some schmuck will invent a better mouse". So you put up a Berlin Wall along the Southern border, those determined will find a way under it, around it or over it. Short of putting armed guards every 50 feet for the whole length (like the Berlin Wall) and even that didn't stop those determined from finding a way out.

Yep...many are handling this issue bass ackwards...fueled by racism by opportunists who are creating a smoke screen for the real criminals here...those who shirk taxes by hiring these people to pick their lettuce or sweep the floor or run their meatpacking houses and so on. Start fining these people $1,000 per day per illegal and lets see how long it takes before we hear the bellyaching about how those "damned Mexicans" have ruined business. Pure xenophobia and racism as there are many other types of "illegals" in this country...Eastern Europeans in specific (who come here on a visa and never leave) who also are "taking jobs" but they're not targeted cause they aren't "brown-skinned".

This is GOOP "wedge" politics...a game similar to the GMA of a few years back that whips up the hatred...especially among the great unhinged that is meant to scare "low information" voters...and demonized minorities in hopes of disenfranchising or initimdating them from voting. Here's hoping this biggoted action will backfire with a high Hispanic turn out this fall.

[pampango]

5. The repubs' wedge issue of 2010. I think you're right. Will Obama take them on directly by proposing

immigration reform or let the repubs create their own "phantom" Democratic immigration bill (amnesty, amnesty, amnesty, baby) to use as a foil to demagogue the issue? Obama has a pretty good political compass. If he lets immigration slide til after November, he must figure the repubs would do better blasting a real bill than a "phantom" one.