DAVE NEESE’S PROVOCATIONS: Illegal immigration’s inconvenient truths – The Trentonian
If a wall along the U.S.-Mexico border is aterrible, horrible, awful, horrendous, despicable, loathsome, un-American idea, as some aresaying, then isnt it time to quit talking and take action?
Isnt it time to start dismantling the more than 650 miles of border barrier thats already there?
Thats right, more than 650 miles. Wall, fence, barrier. Already there.
Isnt a stretch of border barrier that actuallyexists at least as much an affront to humandecency as the mere idea of constructing morebarrier?
Advertisement
Six hundred fifty-plus miles, thats a pretty good stretch, wouldnt you say? Roughly equals the distance from Trenton to Indianapolis. Think ofthat. All the way across Pennsylvania. All the way across Ohio. Half way across Indiana.
The existing stretch includes over 600 milesof vehicular and pedestrian barriers, plus about 40 miles of double fencing.
Question: If the very idea of a border barrier is intolerable, shouldnt those who had a hand in approving the existing structures be held toaccount? Maybe, say, be tarred and feathered?
Or put in a public stock?
Careful. Trick question. If you answered yes, then you favor taking degrading punitivemeasures against such titans of enlightened policy as former President Barack Obama and former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton. They voted in favor of a U.S.-Mexico border barrierwhen they were U.S. senators.
That was, of course, before a political strategy of all-out pandering to a Spanish-surnameconstituency became the Democratic Partys Plank Numero Uno.
While were busy dismantling the physicalbarriers erected by the Anglo occupation ofCalifornia, Texas, Arizona and New Mexico,shouldnt gringo Yanquis get to workdismantling the legal barriers theyve erected aswell?
Why have any borders at all? The idea hasappeal to both ends of the political spectrum.
Recall if you will the Wall Street Journals no-borders editorial crusade in the 1980s. Keep inmind that the Journal serves as the theologianof economics doctrine for the transnationalcorporate wing of the Republican Party. Thats the wing that salutes no national flag OldGlory included. In any event, the Journal championed a constitutional amendmentdeclaring simply: There shall be open borders.
In other words, there shall be cheap laborgalore, making it easier for capitals CEOs and CFOs to meet their net earnings projections.
Libertarians, too, find open-borders to be ahot-diggity notion. And over on the opposite end of the spectrum, meanwhile, rabble-rousingleftist pressure groups like La Raza likewisefavor a policy of laxly guarded, or unguarded,borders on the American side, almost asenthusiastically as the pro-business Chamberof Commerce does.
The idea of ignoring if not activelyencouraging illegal immigration would seem at a superficial glance to conflict with theDemocratic Partys labor union component and its ostensible advocacy for the toiling masses.
But take a closer look. The unions these daysare increasingly concerned with the public-employee sector of the toiling masses. And thissectors interests are dependent on legislative appropriations on political clout more than on the mysterious workings of free-enterprisemarket forces.
The long and the short of it is that for theDemocratic Party theres an over-riding benefit in leveraging a growing Latino-voting bloc intopolitical power.
To hear the media describe it, any measure toenforce immigration law, however feeble, isxenophobia run amok. To collar a criminal alien and deal with him as the law provides isregarded as spray-painting graffiti all over the Statue of Liberty.
In light of such views, what are we to make ofMexicos own harsh laws for dealing with anillegal gringo element on its side of the border?
As anyone can tell you who has ever ventured down into the Baja or across the borderelsewhere, the Policia Federal arent reluctant to pull you over and check your papers. (Andmaybe, on occasion, to coax you to cough up la coima.)
Point is, if youre visiting Mexico, youd betterhave papers showing you crossed the border legally.
Crossing the border illegally, south to north,into the United States is a mere civil infraction.
But crossing the border illegally going the otherway, into Mexico, is a full-blown criminal offense.
A criminal offense that can land you in one ofMexicos hell-hole prisons for two years. Up to10 years for a repeat offense. And given thenightmarish nature of Mexicos gang-run, corruption-lubricated detention facilities, eventwo months could be the equivalent of a deathsentence.
Oh, and there are no sanctuary cities south ofthe border. Sanctuary cities are strictly a Yanquiconcept. From San Francisco to Chicago toTrenton, Democrat-run municipal Waziristanshave proudly proclaimed themselvesaccommodating safe zones for illegals, er,undocumenteds. And the preening self-righteous of liberalism have taken to postingyard signs proclaiming, Hate has no home here.
Try telling that to Fidel Ruiz Serrano,Alejandro Castillo, Ruben Perez Rivera,Santiago Mario Garcia and other such names conspicuously adorning the top of the FBIs listof most wanted violent fugitives.
Try out your dewy-eyed no hate heremessage on the army-size criminal gangs the machete-wielding M-13 (estimated 70,000strong), the Latin Kings (estimated 100,000strong) todays huddled masses yearning to establish a few million dollars of producto coke, crank, weed in your neighborhood.
Those who favor loosely policed or even un-policed borders must steel themselves againstcertain other inconvenient realities.
Theres a blurry line distinguishing Mexicanpolice from the Sinaloa, the Juarez, the Tijuana and other crime cartels. Meanwhile, you need a roster to keep straight the Zetas, the Colima,the Sonara, the Guadalajara and other teamsof the Mexican bandito league. All havetentacles reaching into El Norte. Their standingproposition is: Whatll it be, amigo, plata oplomo? (Silver or lead? I.e., Which would youprefer to take? Bribes or bullets?)
There are 351,000 criminal aliens in U.S.
state and federal prisons. A GovernmentAccountability Office study found 2.9 millioncriminal alien offenses committed over a three-year survey period including 500,000 drug,213,000 assault, 94,000 weapons, 70,000 sex,42,000 robbery and 25,000 murder charges.
It does not logically follow that just becausePresident Trump is a blustery, narcissisticblabbermouth, therefore unguarded borders andunenforced immigration laws add up to a great idea. Thats a dingbats syllogism.
Trump elicited horrified gasps from the liberal bien pensants when he said the Latino border-jumpers include some bad hombres. But what term would better describe the 351,000 criminal aliens packing American jail cells already overflowing with home-grown bad-hombre Yanquis?
Yes, Latino criminal gangs no more defineLatinos than the Forty Thieves, the BoweryBoys, the Dead Rabbits or the Westies defined Irish Americans. Or than the Bonannos, the Gambinos or the Luccheses defined ItalianAmericans. But they were real menaces, too.
They might have been dealt with much soonerthan they belatedly were had there not been theobstacle of ethnic politics.
Those who prefer to wink at illegal immigrationalso must gloss over additional inconvenienttruths besides crime.
For example:
Illegal aliens tap into social-services andschool resources. Those resources arestretched thin especially in financially strapped cities. Nearly nine out of 10 border-jumper immigrants with children receive some form oftax-funded benefit, such as schooling and school lunches. The costs of emergency medicaltreatment must be squeezed out out of tapped-dry public funds. And even nearly a quarter ofillegal immigrants without children still manage to wangle some form of public benefit, according to the Center for Immigration Studies, which derives its percentages from U.S. Census data.
African Americans, especially black teenagers,
are likely paying most of the cost for illegalimmigration, paying it in the currency of lost jobs.
And African-Americans are also paying in thecurrency of eroded wages for unskilled jobs inthe under-$25,000 pay range. This according tothe research of Harvard economist GeorgeBorjas.
Other research economists report that fullythree-quarters (actually, 76 percent) of Mexican illegals coming north over the border have lessthan a high-school education. They compete forscarce jobs with Americas high-school dropoutsand undermine the already low pay on thebottom rungs of the workplace ladder.
Including 40 percent visa overstays, thereare now by official estimate 11 million illegal immigrants in the United States. Thats a number roughly equal to the population of Ohio. There are other credible estimates that put the numbermuch higher. In any event, accepting the lower figure of 11 million, thats nearly as manyimmigrants as entered the country legally through Ellis Island over the six decades of 1892-1954.
Mexican immigrants in this country send $25billion a year back home to Mexico, according to the U.S. Treasury Dept. Think of that as moneysiphoned out of the U.S. economy. Suchremittances now constitute a revenue sourcefor Mexico greater than its oil.
Perhaps not entirely unrelated to the topic ofremittances, a Mexican oligarch billionaire andtelecom monopolist Carlos Slim Helu is now the biggest stockholder of the New York Times,after rescuing the paper with a $250-million loan.
His telecom empire surely has reaped a tidy sum in fees extracted from the transmission of thoseremittances.
Meanwhile, the Gray Lady frets and fusses constantly over the social injustice, the hard-hearted cruelty, the Know-Nothing bigotry ofenforcing immigration laws which have been onthe books for decades. But this, of course, couldbe mere coincidence.
Sure it could.
Here is the original post:
DAVE NEESE'S PROVOCATIONS: Illegal immigration's inconvenient truths - The Trentonian
- Kansas AG Kris Kobach says KBI agents will work with ICE on illegal immigration - The Topeka Capital-Journal - February 18th, 2025 [February 18th, 2025]
- ICE Boston arrests illegal Guatemalan national charged with forcibly raping Massachusetts minor - U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement Newsroom - February 18th, 2025 [February 18th, 2025]
- Texas and Trump boost cooperation to prevent illegal immigration at the U.S. - Mexico border - CBS News - February 14th, 2025 [February 14th, 2025]
- ICE Washington, D.C. and FBI Washington, D.C. arrest 7 illegal aliens in Northern Virginia operation - U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement... - February 14th, 2025 [February 14th, 2025]
- ICE Seattle captures illegal aliens with histories of unlawful entries into the US - U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement Newsroom - February 14th, 2025 [February 14th, 2025]
- India, US commit to tackling illegal immigration, human trafficking: Foreign Secretary Vikram Misri - The Tribune India - February 14th, 2025 [February 14th, 2025]
- Trump admin ends deportation protections for massive number of Venezuelans amid illegal immigration crackdown - Fox News - February 3rd, 2025 [February 3rd, 2025]
- Explained: India-US ties and the illegal immigration issue - The Indian Express - February 3rd, 2025 [February 3rd, 2025]
- Armstrong Williams | Will the government follow Trump's lead on illegal immigration? | Columns | tribdem.com - TribDem.com - February 3rd, 2025 [February 3rd, 2025]
- ICE arrests top 5,500 in first week of Trump's crackdown on illegal immigration - ABC NEWS 4 - February 3rd, 2025 [February 3rd, 2025]
- Cracking Down on Illegal Immigration Would Raise Wages for Lower-Income Americans - Heritage.org - February 1st, 2025 [February 1st, 2025]
- 'Newsom-proof California': Lawmaker proposes bill to strengthen fight against illegal immigration, trafficking - AOL - February 1st, 2025 [February 1st, 2025]
- Four Bangladeshi women arrested in Thane for illegal immigration - The Times of India - February 1st, 2025 [February 1st, 2025]
- Northwest Florida schools brace for possible ICE raids amid illegal immigration crackdown - WEAR - January 30th, 2025 [January 30th, 2025]
- Ending Illegal Immigration in the United States - Department of State - January 30th, 2025 [January 30th, 2025]
- Woolley Addresses Illegal Immigration with Bills to Protect Oklahoma Jobs, Track School Funds - Oklahoma House of Representatives - January 30th, 2025 [January 30th, 2025]
- Illegal Immigration and Fentanyl at the U.S. Northern and Southwest Borders - FactCheck.org - January 30th, 2025 [January 30th, 2025]
- Undocumented migrants in New York arrested in Trump crackdown on illegal immigration - NBC News - January 30th, 2025 [January 30th, 2025]
- Modi and Trump call: US president says India 'will do what's right' on illegal immigration - BBC.com - January 30th, 2025 [January 30th, 2025]
- NGOs 'outrageously' profit from illegal immigration, former DHS advisor says - Fox News - January 30th, 2025 [January 30th, 2025]
- DHS announces launch of new office for victims of illegal immigrant crime - U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement Newsroom - January 30th, 2025 [January 30th, 2025]
- MO Senate Hears Discussions Related To Illegal Immigration This Week - krmsradio.com - January 30th, 2025 [January 30th, 2025]
- Planes carrying expelled migrants arrive in Latin America as US cracks down on illegal immigration - FRANCE 24 English - January 26th, 2025 [January 26th, 2025]
- The Texas-Mexico border already seeing big changes to illegal immigration after Trump's executive or - CBS News - January 26th, 2025 [January 26th, 2025]
- Analysis of Trump Day 1 Executive Orders: Unconstitutional, Illegal, and Cruel - National Immigration Law Center - January 26th, 2025 [January 26th, 2025]
- 'Not my job': Sheriff vows Las Vegas Police will not assist with Trump's illegal immigration 'roundups' - Fox News - January 26th, 2025 [January 26th, 2025]
- Indiana attorney general files lawsuit against sheriff for defying feds on illegal immigration - Fox News - January 26th, 2025 [January 26th, 2025]
- The Texas-Mexico border already seeing big changes to illegal immigration after Trump's executive orders - MSN - January 26th, 2025 [January 26th, 2025]
- Bounty hunters: Proposed bill aims to curb illegal immigration with $1K rewards - Fox Baltimore - January 26th, 2025 [January 26th, 2025]
- Sen Ernst renews push for bill ending illegal immigration loophole as Congress takes action - Fox News - January 13th, 2025 [January 13th, 2025]
- DeSantis Announces January Special Session to Aid Trump With Illegal Immigration - The Floridian - January 13th, 2025 [January 13th, 2025]
- Congress Takes First Step to Crack Down on Illegal Immigration - Concerned Women for America - January 13th, 2025 [January 13th, 2025]
- Red state AGs welcome Trump crackdown on illegal immigration after four years battling Biden - Fox News - January 13th, 2025 [January 13th, 2025]
- What Trump Can Achieve on Illegal Immigration, and How - National Review - January 13th, 2025 [January 13th, 2025]
- Did Trumps win force Democrats to change course on illegal immigration? - Washington Examiner - January 13th, 2025 [January 13th, 2025]
- Wyoming Sheriffs Team Up With ICE To Fight Illegal Immigration - Cowboy State Daily - January 13th, 2025 [January 13th, 2025]
- Laura Kuenssberg: Labour's illegal immigration plan is clear - but is it effective? - BBC.com - December 18th, 2024 [December 18th, 2024]
- Illegal immigration and the economy our top priority, says AfD MP - MSN - December 18th, 2024 [December 18th, 2024]
- Florida Bill Would Repeal In-State Tuition Rates for Illegal Aliens - Federation for American Immigration Reform - December 18th, 2024 [December 18th, 2024]
- Letter: We need to stop illegal immigration - Quad-City Times - December 18th, 2024 [December 18th, 2024]
- Trump can fix the illegal immigration crisis and make them pay for it, too - Fox News - December 8th, 2024 [December 8th, 2024]
- Heading into FY 2025, Illegal Immigration at the Northern Border Remains High - Federation for American Immigration Reform - December 8th, 2024 [December 8th, 2024]
- Bidens Illegal Immigration Phone App Could Allow Millions of Gazans Into US: The BorderLine - Daily Signal - December 8th, 2024 [December 8th, 2024]
- Maryland taxpayers forced to underwrite illegal immigration | READER COMMENTARY - Baltimore Sun - December 5th, 2024 [December 5th, 2024]
- Trump's illegal immigration crackdown welcomed by border town police strained by Biden policies - Fox News - December 5th, 2024 [December 5th, 2024]
- Universities freak out over potential Trump crackdown on illegal aliens, other immigration restrictions - Campus Reform - December 5th, 2024 [December 5th, 2024]
- Henry Cuellar: It was my idea to use buoy barrier on Texas-Mexico border to stop illegal immigration - San Antonio Express-News - December 5th, 2024 [December 5th, 2024]
- POLL: Should Texas be used as a nationwide template for how to handle illegal immigration? - FOX 29 - December 5th, 2024 [December 5th, 2024]
- The U.S. Industries That Rely Most on Illegal Immigration - Visual Capitalist - November 24th, 2024 [November 24th, 2024]
- Trump says he'll make good on using military to curb illegal immigration - NBC News - November 24th, 2024 [November 24th, 2024]
- ICE lodges detainer against Mexican illegal alien arrested in South Carolina for sexual abuse of a child - U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement... - November 24th, 2024 [November 24th, 2024]
- Green Cards Blocked While Illegal Immigration Runs Wild - The Lars Larson Show - November 24th, 2024 [November 24th, 2024]
- Gingrich: A Seven-Step Strategy for Ending the Crisis of Illegal Immigration. - The New York Sun - November 24th, 2024 [November 24th, 2024]
- Illegal immigration is a threat to democracy and diversity - The Sunday Guardian - November 24th, 2024 [November 24th, 2024]
- The U.S. Industries That Rely Most on Illegal Immigration - Visual Capitalist Licensing - November 24th, 2024 [November 24th, 2024]
- Addressing illegal immigration, a role for India, and global cooperation - The Hindu - November 24th, 2024 [November 24th, 2024]
- Illegal immigration is not just illegal, its dangerous, CA mayor says - Fox News - November 24th, 2024 [November 24th, 2024]
- JD Vance shocks NYT reporter with his nuanced takedown of illegal immigration: People will do those jobs - New York Post - October 14th, 2024 [October 14th, 2024]
- Illegal Aliens Sue the University of California to Force the School to Hire Them - Federation for American Immigration Reform - October 14th, 2024 [October 14th, 2024]
- Illegal Aliens Paroled in the U.S. Will Not Be Eligible for Extensions, DHS Says - Federation for American Immigration Reform - October 14th, 2024 [October 14th, 2024]
- Trump is against illegal immigration, not legal immigration - cleveland.com - October 14th, 2024 [October 14th, 2024]
- The Debrief: FEMA funding on illegal immigration versus hurricane recovery - Washington Examiner - October 14th, 2024 [October 14th, 2024]
- Egypt's success in combatting illegal immigration attributed to collaborative efforts - Egypt Today - October 14th, 2024 [October 14th, 2024]
- Elon Musk is one of illegal immigrations harshest critics. He once described his past immigration status as a gray area - CNN - October 1st, 2024 [October 1st, 2024]
- European leaders weigh in on 'legitimate' issue of illegal immigration: 'Must be stopped' - Fox News - October 1st, 2024 [October 1st, 2024]
- Newsom Vetoed Bill Allowing Illegal Aliens to Work at California Public Universities - Federation for American Immigration Reform - October 1st, 2024 [October 1st, 2024]
- Border Report Live: Where illegal immigration is trending up - Border Report - October 1st, 2024 [October 1st, 2024]
- Trump lists his grievances in a Wisconsin speech intended to link Harris to illegal immigration - WEAU - October 1st, 2024 [October 1st, 2024]
- Trump's illegal border numbers 'not based in reality': Immigration expert - Newsweek - September 19th, 2024 [September 19th, 2024]
- Dale Strong: Harris, Mayorkas devastated their own state with illegal immigration 'Why would they care what is happening in Alabama?' - Yellowhammer... - September 19th, 2024 [September 19th, 2024]
- Border agents to use aerostat in Florida Keys to track illegal immigration, drug smuggling - Space War - September 19th, 2024 [September 19th, 2024]
- House Speaker Pulls Spending Bill that Includes a Measure to Stop Illegal Alien Voting - Federation for American Immigration Reform - September 16th, 2024 [September 16th, 2024]
- Fifth Circuit Rules Illegal Aliens Have No Second Amendment Right to Bear Arms - Federation for American Immigration Reform - September 16th, 2024 [September 16th, 2024]
- Mexican government buses migrants to US border as illegal immigration becomes top election issue - Fox News - September 14th, 2024 [September 14th, 2024]
- Illegal immigration poses threat to election integrity - Tama News-Herald - Toledo Chronicle - September 14th, 2024 [September 14th, 2024]
- Governor Newsom Vetoes Bill that Offered Taxpayer Dollars to Help Illegal Aliens Buy Homes - Federation for American Immigration Reform - September 14th, 2024 [September 14th, 2024]
- Elon Musk slams Democrats over illegal immigration in US: Last real election if... - India Today - September 12th, 2024 [September 12th, 2024]
- Of Course Illegal Immigration is Driving up the Cost of Housing - Federation for American Immigration Reform - September 12th, 2024 [September 12th, 2024]
- Rachel Morins mother set to testify before Congress about illegal immigration Tuesday - Baltimore Sun - September 12th, 2024 [September 12th, 2024]
- Taxes, Tariffs, Illegal Immigration and Energy Are Just a Few of the Harris-Trump Splits - DTN The Progressive Farmer - September 12th, 2024 [September 12th, 2024]