A REAL Proposal to Mend our "Leaky Borders"

04/10/05 | vanity

[genefromjersey]

Some have proposed the addition of thousands of new Border Agents,and the deployment of Global Hawk surveillance drones to combat the increasingly burdensome tide of "undocumented residents" (illegal aliens) flowing across our borders-especially our border with Mexico.

I think it would be cheaper in the long run to construct adequate detention facilities near the border(s),so that those captured by the Border Patrol could be held for a few days (or weeks) until they could be "re-patriated".

I would also add more Hearing Officers,and have them set up shop right inside the detention facilities.

My home county did this (they called it "have gavel,will travel")and it was an enormous success: There was no need to assign deputies and vehicles to transport detainees to court (unless the detainee was actually going to trial).

Lawyers actually had greatly improved access to their clients. Case backlogs were cut to a fraction of what they had once been.Security,it goes without saying,was terrific !

The present system,in which the detainee is given an appearance ticket and released,seems much of the reason for the immigration problem: 85% of those so released never come back for their hearings !

Deal with the immigrant "forthwith": have him/her loaded on a bus for Mexico before the expectant can give birth,and before the border crosser can vanish into the American heartland !

It would cost a lot less than thousands of new Border Agents ,and /or fleets of Global Hawks,and would probably be a lot more effective.

This assumes,of course,we as a nation are willing to do something useful about the problem; that we actually consider it a problem.

I've heard it said-by people from the Left,the Right,and the Mainstream-Corporate America does not consider illegal aliens a problem:it considers them "bounty from Heaven" , and will fight tooth and nail to maintain access to low-cost,non-union labor...at taxpayer expense .

If this is true,and BOTH parties are dancing to this tune,we might just as well tear down the fences,send the Border Patrol home,and wait for the inevitable.

[Mount Athos]

I don't know enough to say whether this is a good idea or not.

I just wanted to say that I admire you for trying to put forward an innovative solution. Anyone can be a critic, but it's harder to come up with new ideas and possible solutions.

[peyton randolph]

Oops! I meant El Paso and Laredo...NOT Brownsville. ;-)

[proxy_user]

You guys are wasting your time with this stuff.

Every year, the IRS gets millions of W2 forms where the name does not match the social security number.

All we really have to do is tell employers that these workers have given phony SS numbers, so you can't employ them, and you will be fined.

When the illegal immigrants find they cannot get jobs in this country, they will leave. Maybe not all of them, but lots of them. The flow will all be in the other direction.

[Arthur Wildfire! March]

I had a similar idea when I was much more young. Actually, having a freeway along the border where cars have right-of-way would probably be more politically correct. I say that, not because I mean it, but to prove a point: people think that only an idiot to run into a freeway, but when you have warning signs of land mines, they think it's perfectly sane to walk through a land mine anyway.

Conclusion: we need non-lethal mines, I guess. Knockout gas, maybe. Or a cactus wall. Thorns. Etc.

[Arthur Wildfire! March]

Politically correct prisons are expensive. Now how about this: we ship them to Iraq or Afghanistan for 'compulsory volunteer work' for oh, maybe five years. I personally would like them put on a work program up at ANWR, no pay of course-- and profits to Halliburton just to tweak the left.

[MizSterious]

I'm not sure...this much, however, I DO know: if it were not so beneficial to the illegals here in this country, a lot fewer of them would try it. If they arrive needing medical care, deport them to a Mexican clinic. If they arrive needing welfare money, refuse them. If they want to go to school, send them back to Mexico for it. If they want work, don't hire them--I can't imagine why anyone would anyway. Most people want honest workers, not crooks and thieves, which all illegals are simply by virtue of how they got here.

[Arthur Wildfire! March]

Here's a way of funding the detention: we create a new, 'fast track green card' for farm workers, who are taxed to pay for it. The fast track has a lighter, more expedient background check than normal, and requires calling in to the Feds once a week, or even once a day if they become suspected of something. Later, they may be shifted to once a month.

We get DNA samples, fingerprints, photographs, etc. and for the first month, an ankle bracelet to track their activities [or a pysych-op ankle bracelet for most if we can't afford the real thing for all of them].

[Condor51]

With all due respect, Dubya could solve the Illegal problem with a stroke of the pen, two strokes actually, and it wouldn't cost a nickle and doesn't involve putting troops on the borders.

All he has to do - if he really wanted to, is to issue TWO executive orders.

• The first EO would make it a Federal Violation for any city and or municipality to create, establish and or maintain "Sanctuary Zones" for illegal aliens. Punishable by prison (no 'fines').
  
• The Second EO would mandate that any city and or municipality who ignores and or otherwise flaunts the above EO would immediately be excluded from receiving any and all Federal Funding. From roads, schools and 'social programs' - not a penny of Federal money would be forthcoming.

Once the 'free' gubmint money stops flowing the illegals would leave on their own. There'd be no 'free' Medicaid, no 'free' emergency room care, no 'free' schooling, no 'free' anything as the cities would now be FORCED to exist on local taxes only - not to mention the mayors and/or city councils of the current "sanctuary zones" would looking at spending time in 'Club Fed' for violating the EO's.

There would be a massive exodus, on the scale of Moses leading the Jews out of Egypt. In about one year 95% would be gone. Then ICE could easily round up the rest.

And since Executive Orders are not subject to court review there isn't a 'darn thing' any Klintoon appointed federal stooge judge could do about it.

As a Clintonista once said, "Stroke of the pen, law of the land - kinda cool".

[gaspar]

While we are waiting for dreamy projects to materialize, before shipping them back to Mexico why not round them up in teams and use them for 72 hours to clean up the landscape they have trashed.

[Orbiting_Rosie's_Head]

All we really have to do is tell employers that these workers have given phony SS numbers, so you can't employ them, and you will be fined.

You are absolutely correct. Also make it a felony which can result in jail time for bank officers if a bank opens an account or gives a mortgage to an illegal. Also make it a crime resulting in heavy fines and jail time for any business to wire transfer cash from an illegal to another country. Dry up the money pool and the incentive to come here will evaporate overnight. The illegals will go home, wages will begin to rise, crime will drop, our hospitals will be relieved, government expenditures for social services will start falling, and Vincinte Fox will finally have to do something about the people he is shafting instead of unloading them on us.

Then, after all this, if there is a REAL labor shortage, I will be in favor of a heavily-regulated guest worker program that must be applied for from the worker's home country. Among the regulations will be that the worker is not eligible for any governnment assistance, and if they try to apply for it, they immediately lose their visa and are sent home. Additionally, the sponsoring employer must pay an extra employment tax to cover the cost of the guuest worker program, including any problems it creates, such as overloaded and under-funded emergency rooms. Frankly, I am tired of subsidizing cheap labor for American lanscaping and home repair company owners.

[DoctorMichael]

While being held, every detainee should be given a shovel and be put to digging the moat that will stretch from the Gulf of Mexico to the Pacific.

[Certified Horticulturist]

It's a good start, g. Certainly better than the porous borders we have now. And releasing the illegal aliens into the population is national suicide.

[tubebender]

You still have the cost of capturing them for detention. Cracking down hard on their employers would be a faster way to stem the flow but with that we must stop the free hand outs (our tax money).

[upchuck]

I agree completely.

The Criminal Alien Invasion is about one thing and one thing only. Namely: Money!

Fences won't work.
Mines won't work.
A moat won't work.
Arming the border won't work.

None of the above will work because none of the above eliminate the REAL reason for the invasion, money.

This problem is easily solved by working it from the opposite direction as suggested in comment number 12.

If the Feds would tell the employers, banks, hospitals, etc. they will be in BIG trouble if they deal with a criminal alien, the criminal aliens would all leave.

Take away their motivation (money) and the criminals that have invaded our precious country will leave in droves.

[MarkL]

genefromjersey

[[snip]]

I think it would be cheaper in the long run to construct adequate detention facilities near the border(s),so that those captured by the Border Patrol could be held for a few days (or weeks) until they could be "re-patriated".

I would also add more Hearing Officers,and have them set up shop right inside the detention facilities.

My home county did this (they called it "have gavel,will travel")and it was an enormous success: There was no need to assign deputies and vehicles to transport detainees to court (unless the detainee was actually going to trial).

Your home country is New Jersey?

Mark

[John Jorsett]

While worth our efforts, I think trying to stop this at the border is the equivalent of trying to stop crime with more bars on your windows. I'd prefer to go after the real source of the problem: businesses that hire illegals. Tighten up the ID requirements, mandate a Social Security number check, and then start some vigorous prosecutions of businesses that continue to hire illegals. With jobs drying up, fewer would come here, and a lot of those already here would leave.

[MarkL]

All we really have to do is tell employers that these workers have given phony SS numbers, so you can't employ them, and you will be fined.

This is something that I've been telling my representative and senators for years.

Just like with the drug problem, you need to cut off the incentives. The incentives for people to sell drugs is that there's a market for it. Get people off of drugs, and the market will dry up. No more incentive for people to bring drugs into the country.

In the case of illegal aliens, if you dry up the job market, as you state, they will stop coming.

I suggested that for a first time offense, an employer who is employing illegals be given the opportunity to prove that he was dealing with people who gave him forged documents. A small fine of say, $1000 would be appropriate for the first offense. But he would then be on notice to better screen his employees.

For second violations, the fins should be $10,000 per illegal alien employed. Third and later violations should be $50,000 per illegal alien employed.

I think that would take care of the incentive of "cheap labor."

Mark

[InvisibleChurch]

poke them with a stick until they go home