It's time that the Obama administration take on the border issues, as well as get a comprehensive immigration reform package through Congress. If this nation is going to be safe, it cannot ignore what's going on at the border with our southern neighbor.
Could you imagine what would happen if al-Qaida began working with the Mexican drug cartels? The drug smugglers already have the supply lines into the United States.
The Fresno Bee editorial board asks some basic questions about the nation's security in today's lead editorial. Click here to read the editorial.
The most immediate problem is dealing with the drug-spawned border violence. The administration has offered Calderon initiatives that should help, including aid in going after the drug cartels and boosting U.S. manpower on the border. The U.S. will also offer technology to better monitor activities of drug-runners.
In addition, the U.S. must attack the "demand side" of the equation. That's the drug consumers on our side of the border whose habits and dollars fuel this problem. The gun trade and money laundering are big parts of this problem and the U.S. must aggressively address those troubling areas.In addition, the violence in Mexico over the drug war has spilled across the border and that must be confronted by both governments.
This shall produce a bumper crop of posts. Immigrant bashing is still the flavor of the day. And if fleas were 6 feet tall, life on earth would have ended by now.
THIS LETTING MEXICAN TRUCKS INTO THE U.S. I'M A INDEPENDENT OWNER OPERATOR DRIVING CALIFORNIA ONLY. WITH CARB TRYING TO PUT US OUT OF BUSINES COUPLED WITH LOW RATESU WANT TO LET IN MORE TRUCKS FROM MEXICO. ARE THEY GOING TO SPEND THOUSANDS OF DOLLARS TO UPGRADE FOR CARB? ALSO LOOK AT THE THOUSANDS OF AG TRUCKS HAULING ALL THE AG PRODUCTS TO PACKING HOUSES, WINERIES, ETC. THAT CARB WILL PUT OUT OF BUSINESS. YOU SHOULD BE LOOKING INTO THE RATES PAID TO TRUCKERS, THEY HAVEN'T CHANGED IN YEARS. YOU TALK ABOUT HELPING FARMERS, WHAT ABOUT THEIR TRKS THAT WILL NOT MEET CARB SPECS?
I don't want the Mexican trucks in the US either. And it was not Jim Boren doing immigrant bashing. He just opened the door to the xenophobes of the beehive. The entire thing could have been equally valid without the word immigration in it. And those Mexiocan truck drivers are not immigrants, they are dangerous drivers on our highways. I know little of the trade, but let those trucks be reloaded at the border or take on an American driver. It might reduce contraband smuggling as well.
Illegal immigration and border patrol has been an issue for years, until it can no longer be ignored with the border drug cartel warfare taking place. The point has been that aside from illegals crossing, terrorists have entered our country. The US cannot afford millions of illegals crossing our borders, especially in this economy. We can thank Mexico for food on our tables?? What about the social welfare programs (millions of $'s for one family) provided to illegals in our US, housing, Mexico has taken our jobs, healthcare, education, diseases brought to our US, jails/prisons are full of illegals, gangs and killing in our streets for fear to leave homes, pollution and traffic from the millions of Mexico's trucks on our highways. The US can grow their own fruit and vegetables! Local government has placed hispanic americans in positions thruout the state and legislature, ignoring their performance and/or qualifications, forcing other employees out of their jobs with Schwartzenegger's/lobbyist's help. Government is not providing sufficient answers to the financial bailout (AIG) banks and lending institutions. Border issues have not been properly addressed.....but, ignored until we have WAR AT OUR borders. Hmmm, similar to the bailout situation and our economy. No good answers?? Was their a reason for all of this to be happening intentionally?? Someone plain and simple is not doing their job. I know local government has spent way too much time with downsizing in disciplining, along with dishonest evaluations with employee's performance. Illegal immigration has been ignored for too long and needs to be clearly defined. The US cannot afford to pay for Mexico's neglect!
He MUST! But will he? Just wait until Obama's politically correct advisors get a hold of him. We'll see where that leads. My prediction: Not a thing or so little it won't make a difference.
Isabel: There is a big difference between immigrant bashing and illegal immigration and this is the latter. I am sure you know the difference. These people are here illegally and consume tax dollars meant for education, medical,insurance and many more things. They clog our judicial and criminal system.
Jim Boren; affirmative! I am sorry that I was not able to convey what I meant. I was not for a moment thinking that you were immigrant bashing. But the word alone gets xenophobic bloggers like Brain Murray spew out his hateful tripe which leads him to believe to be another (or better) Shelley Berman or Don Rickles. I am sure that illegal immigration is a very costly problem. And I am sure some of them are of the criminal element. But many of them are being brought here upon demand by American enterprise and when they don't need them anymore....well we all know the drill. ".....Some of us are illegal and others not wanted, our contracts are out and we have to move on. Six hundred miles to the Mexican border, they chase us like rustlers, like outlaws, like thieves.....you won't have a name when you ride the big airplane; all they will call you will be deportee..." That song had really got to me.
Clarification. The commenter named Jim is not Jim Boren. When I comment, I always give my full name so there will not be any misunderstanding about who is leaving the comment.
Thank you; "Nancy" for taking the time to educate me. I have been around here only 57 years. I agree with many of your points which are well taken. But some of them are triggered by xenophobia and common misconceptions. For instance, indeed, the US can grow her own food. But it is US mega run-away growers who grow fruit south of the US border for cheap labor and bring them into the US after having circumvented srtingent public health laws. President Jack Kennedy tried to put a stop to the run-away industries. He found no support among the Republicans. And just stating non-partisan reality, NAFTA was cooked up by a Republican administration. I agree (a 100% plus) that Americans "...cannot afford to pay for Mexico's neglect." And what about United Fruit Growers in Central America? Dear Nancy; I think it is great that you are involved with affairs of the community, the state and the nation. Keep up the good work!
Isabel: I don't know how much farming you have done and there may be some crops grown south of the border to warrant what you say, but crops of central america like bananas, pineapple, coffee, etc need the weather they have to flourish. Also the growing seasons down there are different due to the weather and as such they once again do business there. It is not just a matter of dollar and cents as you imply.
"Dizzy"...I would like to ask you to please calm down and refrain from creating a lie about me,promulgating it and spelling my name wrong.I hope I do not have to get my attorneys, Dewey,Cheatem,and Howe, involved.
Jim" I have never farmed. With six semesters of Botany behind my belt, I have a pretty good idea as to what grows where. As for the imports that grow perfectly well in our climate zone, the best example would be the tomato. In off season I buy US or Canadian grown hot house tomatoes. I won't buy the cheaper Mexico grown tomatoes. I might just as well suck on ag chemicals which are banned in the United States and Canada, but which are perfectly legal in Mexico and thereabout. And in the immortal words of Calvin Coolidge "America's business is business. her only business."
A good start would be if American banks were prohibited from laundering drug money,...
but that would fly in the face of the Afghani surge strategy recently unveiled.
Isabel: The point I was making is your comment was written with a pretty broad stroke and there are reasons for them to be down there, such as the weather.
Re: "jim" I appreciate your critique of my literary style. And I have no doubt that the US growers have a reason for being "down there."
I spent some time yesterday thinking about a connection I see between what is going on in Old Mexico and the contrived need for an independent police auditor in Fresno. I say this because we keep hearing about police corruption there and police corruption in Fresno. The phenomena are incomparable. If Fresno needs an independent auditor now what does that say about the structure of western city governments for the last few hundred years? As we can read in these blogs much of what is produced is simply denial.
What concerns me about an impending Obama solution idea is that his minions are notable haters of the Second Amendment. In solving this long established problem they are cooking up story that goes something like this: the availability of firearms in a free nation is a threat to the freedom of another. Mayors and chiefs of police departments would be well advised to remember that the citizenry is the same pool of American men and women from which they recruit new officers. A large sector of that pool has had as much or more training and exprience with firearms and deployment than most police officers. I understand that there is a push in California to centralize the concealed weapon authority to Sacramento. I ask what is happening Sacramento which would cause one to believe that is a positive step? I say if Old Mexico had Second Amendment in their Constitution, they would not be in the predicament they are today.
BORDER PROBLEMS SOLUTION
Want to solve the border crisis? Consider building a canal from the Gulf of Mexico to the Pacific along the US/Mexico border.
We all agree there is a major drug problem here in the US that is the main source of problems along our border with Mexico, and Mexico has equally serious internal problems fueled by the trafficking of drugs through their country to the border.
Both the US and Mexico desperately need to attack our internal problems by stiffening our laws, penalties and enforcement, and here in the US, initiate strong anti-drug use programs.
Even by strengthening our control of the border with much more equipment, many more ATF/INS agents, possibly sending the National Guard, building the fence, sending equipment and supplies to Mexico, are all drastically needed immediate measures but are not economically sustainable for the long term, and will still leave our border porous and penetrable.
What is needed is a definitive method of sealing off our border for the long term. One thing that has comes to my mind that not only will accomplish that, but would also provide something useful, is to build a canal through a concerted effort with Mexico along the US/Mexico border that, upon completion, could be operated by the US and Mexico through a cooperative effort.
This would provide not only the immediate benefit of the employment of thousands upon thousands of both US and Mexican workers of all categories during the construction phase, necessitate the development of infrastructure to support these workers and this effort employing thousands more, provide increasing security as completion progresses that would facilitate the proportionate reduction of enforcement agents that could be reassigned to other tasks, effectively stop cross border smuggling and illegal immigration, provide a cargo transportation corridor that would reduce consumption of fossil fuel as well as reducing atmospheric pollution.
A project of this magnitude, though at first glance might seem far fetched and not within our capabilities, is well within our technical and physical abilities, and would have benefits far beyond those that have been discussed here.
The Egyptians, Aztecs, and Mayas built pyramids, the Chinese built the wall of China with far less technology than we have today
The age-old pesky U.S.-Mexico border problem has taxed the resources of both countries, led to long lists of injustices, and appears to be heading only for worse troubles in the future. Guess what? The border problem can never be solved. Why? Because the border IS the problem! It's time for a paradigm change.
Never fear, a satisfying, comprehensive solution is within reach: the Megamerge Dissolution Solution. Simply dissolve the border along with the failed Mexican government, and megamerge the two countries under U.S. law, with mass free 2-way migration eventually equalizing the development and opportunities permanently, with justice and without racism.
http://tlwinslow.weebly.com/megamerge-the-dissolution-solution.html
"Simply dissolve the border along with the failed Mexican government, and megamerge the two countries under U.S. law,..."
Maybe it would be a "practical" solution. But there are international laws about violating the sovereignty of nations. With Iraq and Afghanistan we have enough war on our hands. So maybe its not that practical after all????