Posted on 12/19/2002 11:49:09 AM PST by firebrand
That's not the same as digging a tunnel from one hill to another in the middle of a desert.
Nope, some were begun out in the open.
And you'd think that the Border Patrol would have noticed all those people going INTO a building and never coming back OUT.
They must have to expend a huge amount of resources to dig these tunnels. They can only dig so many. We'll find them and close them.
The wall's a success. Illegal immigration and drug smuggling in that area is reduced. We owe it to all of the citizens of the United States to secure our borders, but especially to the citizens that are living this nightmare on the borders.
First, the smugglers HAVE a huge amount of resources. The Arellano brothers have security at their hideouts (note the plural) on a par with what the US Air Force maintains around ICBM silos. It's why the DEA never tries to set up a raid to capture them--there are easier ways of committing suicide.
Second, your complaint is that the illegal aliens work much more cheaply than Americans do. That means that digging tunnels costs the smugglers a fraction of what it would cost you.
They can only dig so many. We'll find them and close them.
They're pretty sure one of those tunnels was in service for eight years--and they never had a clue that 25 people an hour were using the thing at its peak. That's 600 illegals a day through ONE tunnel.
Now dig 20 tunnels in urban areas, and avoid the same mistakes. Only filter 5 an hour through, and have it come up near a high traffic area.
50 an hour, 2,400 a day, all in urban areas where they can hide in the crowd.
How many is that each year?
We found 'em through dumb luck--and the smugglers' stupidity.
The five we found were a freebie. But our dumb luck quotient is never high, and the smugglers probably haven't made the same stupid mistakes with their latest tunnels. The cops know they're there--but they have no idea WHERE they are, and they're going nuts looking for them.
The wall's a success. Illegal immigration and drug smuggling in that area is reduced.
Actually, the flow of drugs into San Diego INCREASED by an order of magnitude while those tunnels were in place--and the various law enforcement agencies have no idea exactly how the stuff is getting in now, but they know it still is.
We owe it to all of the citizens of the United States to secure our borders, but especially to the citizens that are living this nightmare on the borders.
You're going to have to address the demand side--and a lot of the folks living in the border region want the cheap day labor, they just don't want the undesirable side effects.
Some of your noisiest allies are your worst enemies.
That doesn't make sense. The tunnels would be within a mile of the borders, right? The authorities just need to do a building to building search in that area.
Once we close all the tunnels and wall off the borders, even the Arellano's resources will dry up.
Ever hear of this thing called the Fourth Amendment?
The National Guard could canvas the area requesting voluntary cooperation, if nothing else. The building owners that don't cooperate are the ones they can concentrate their surveillance on.
Similar steps are taken when authorities are searching for escaped convicts or other criminals on the run.
OK, so you're saying that anyone living within a mile of the border no longer has 4th Amendment rights.
Then it goes to two miles. And then three.
And after the tunnels are filled in...just what keeps the bad guys from digging another one in the same place?
The National Guard could canvas the area requesting voluntary cooperation, if nothing else. The building owners that don't cooperate are the ones they can concentrate their surveillance on.
OK, so you support "permissive" searches for "illegal" guns...and those who don't permit them get targeted for surveillance.
I have news for you: someone taking the 4th Amendment seriously does not equate to "probable cause."
Thank you for revealing your true colors.
Oh no, thank you for taking the art of the creation of a false dilemma in a desperate, but futile, attempt to win an argument to new heights.
I wouldn't have thought it possible, but you've out-done yourself, yet again.
Now I know why you take weekends off. No-one could do what you do 7-days-a-week.
LOL!
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