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Title: Bordering Chaos: A report from the birth-pangs of America's Citizen Border Patrol Militias
Source:
[None]
URL Source: http://www.atlanticfreepress.com/content/view/679/81/
Published: Jan 14, 2007
Author: Christopher Ketcham
Post Date: 2007-01-14 12:47:16 by robin
Ping List: *The Border*
Keywords: None
Views: 265
Comments: 9
I camped out in April 2005 a mile north of the Mexican border, in the foothills of the Huachuca Mountains of Arizona, and heard two voices talking in the darkness. They were Minutemen, so-called after the nascent Minuteman Project, the “citizen border patrol” movement that wants to put a stop to illegal immigration. A wise old voice said, “Hell, when the government destroyed the unions in the 1980s, they destroyed all those protections that people had fought for to keep their wages fair. Mexicans ain’t got no protections at all. So the wages keep gettin’ pushed down and down. The Mexicans showed up twenty years ago and said, ‘What can we do?’ Dry-wall, the crap-end of the business, back-breaking, the worst. White dry-wallers charged $15 an hour. The Mexicans did it for $10 an hour. The next wave said, ‘We’ll do it for $7 an hour.’ Dry wall illegals today get $4 an hour.” Poster Comment: A long critique, click source for entire article. Source Link Recent related border thread: 2 Border Patrol agents face 20 years in prison (Officers prosecuted – wounded drug trafficker given full immunity in exchange for testimony)
posted yesterday by RickyJ
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#1. To: robin (#0)
Interesting article. The author claims that border policy is "schitzophrenic" and then writes a similarly themes article - full of sympathy for the migrants in the beginning because Big Bad Whitey is on the border --- and then giving actual explanations of the gaming of the system at the end. We're screwed because people can't think straight.
We're screwed because people can't think straight. That's a really accurate synopsis. All I could think to call it was a critique. However, I've been a bit confused myself. I want border security, but I realized a bit late, I don't want a wall that keeps US all in. I think the employers are the right place to target. And give the Border Patrol agents the right to do round ups. Hundreds were rounded up in San Bernardino and Riverside counties here in CA 2 years ago. Then Asa Hutchinson said, just kidding, and ordered the agents to let them all go. There were empty classrooms and lighter traffic for a couple weeks before the release order.
Employers are absolutely the right place to target -- as are county jails, especially once the employers start filling them. Tax, vagrancy and loitering laws, which have been on the books since before we were a country, are another method of handling problems, albeit one that a lot of people don't like. A simple solution is that - if the documentation on a worker doesn't match up, the employer doesn't get to expense the wages. How many employers are going to risk an IRS audit over a few illegal workers? As for border security - here are questions I have: Don't Canada and Mexico also conduct border security operations? How do they do them? How do they do interior enforcement? I don't see a wall as "keeping Americans in" like some people do. Is there going to be a mass exodus of Americans to Canada or Mexico? Don't they have rules about how people are supposed to enter their countries? I don't understand this argument. Is there a good explanation of it?
a pleasant thought A wall in combination with the new authority and policies of DHS is not a good idea. The UnPatriot Act has left us vulnerable to the whims of an evil regime. This is what 9/11 was for, to take away our liberties. That reminds me, I passed a vehicle with a bumper sticker on the back windshield that said "I wasn't using my civil liberties anyway".
The fear is understandable. The question still remains - when going to Mexico or Canada, does one cross the border in the middle of Montana or Arizona or go to a legitimate border crossing? Would Canada or Mexico arrest people crossing at an illegitimate crossing point? Would Americans flock to "middle of nowhere unguarded points" and if so, are they likely to be picked up once they get to the other side? That is the part I don't get. The argument seems entirely about fear without looking further down the line. Hence, I have questions.
True, Canada is still open. But a wall to the south would make everyone in the southwest feel blocked in. I don't know the policies of Canada and Mexico. I guess I have questions too.
#7. To: robin (#6)
A remote outpost in the Yukon is starting to look good.
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#2. To: mirage (#1)
Interesting article. The author claims that border policy is "schitzophrenic" and then writes a similarly themes article - full of sympathy for the migrants in the beginning because Big Bad Whitey is on the border --- and then giving actual explanations of the gaming of the system at the end.
#3. To: robin (#2)
I think the employers are the right place to target. And give the Border Patrol agents the right to do round ups. Hundreds were rounded up in San Bernardino and Riverside counties here in CA 2 years ago.
#4. To: mirage (#3)
especially once the employers start filling them.
#5. To: robin (#4)
A wall in combination with the new authority and policies of DHS is not a good idea. The UnPatriot Act has left us vulnerable to the whims of an evil regime. This is what 9/11 was for, to take away our liberties.
#6. To: mirage (#5)
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