A Discussion of US Immigration Policy

[FadeToBlack&Gold]

Re: A Discussion of US Immigration Policy

Construct new wall at former Mexican border.

With today's technology, I'm thinking we could put the Berlin Wall to shame in fairly short order.

[Kepler]

Re: A Discussion of US Immigration Policy

With today's technology, I'm thinking we could put the Berlin Wall to shame in fairly short order.

You've never been to the Mexican border, I take it?

The border IS the wall. Anybody who makes it can stay -- they've already shown more character than 98% of home-born Americans.

[FadeToBlack&Gold]

Re: A Discussion of US Immigration Policy

...they've already shown more character than 98% of home-born Americans.

OK, my first post was a joke, but seriously? Sneaking into the country with help from drug cartels "shows character" now?

[Kepler]

Re: A Discussion of US Immigration Policy

OK, my first post was a joke, but seriously? Sneaking into the country with help from drug cartels "shows character" now?

Oh, please. The drug cartels are an emotional red herring; we're talking about people showing tremendous courage to get here. Not to mention they've already been dealing with the (insert Parade of Horribles of being poor and brown and living in a place where the average August temperature is HOTTER than Phoenix, without AC).

Demonize the coyotes all you want, they deserve it, but the poor schmucks who are trying to get here are exactly the same poor schmucks who made the trip 100 years ago.

[FadeToBlack&Gold]

Re: A Discussion of US Immigration Policy

No, I get it. It's an easy choice for most of these people, because staying in Mexico, Guatemala, Honduras, etc. guarantees as sh*tty existence, whereas if they make it to America, they have a legitimate shot a lower middle class existence, which is pretty much the 21st century American Dream™.

Don't hate the player, hate the game.

[Kepler]

Re: A Discussion of US Immigration Policy

No, I get it. It's an easy choice for most of these people, because staying in Mexico, Guatemala, Honduras, etc. guarantees as sh*tty existence, whereas if they make it to America, they have a legitimate shot a lower middle class existence, which is pretty much the 21st century American Dream™.

Don't hate the player, hate the game.

I don't think it's ever "an easy choice." You're leaving everything you've always known and most of your family. And the place you're going is going to hate you and give you a total shit existence cleaning their toilets for two generations, minimum, and at least a third of the population are mouthbreathers who want to hunt your kids for sport.

And as far as sneaking in goes, I just can't bring myself to get all that bothered about The Game. New blood makes the country better; illegals make it... well, faster, anyway.

Also: this has GOT to help us in soccer.

[Jimjamesak]

Also: this has GOT to help us in soccer.

Kind of. Mexico has been making a real effort in getting eligible, talented kids back.

[FreshFish]

Re: A Discussion of US Immigration Policy

One element of the current "crisis" that seems under-reported to me is the problem of communicable diseases. I remember a CDC report from 2006 that discussed immigrants bringing in a higher-than-expected amount of tuberculosis cases into the country in that year, and I read in a print newspaper recently that there was more than 300 cases of leprosy among immigrants this year.

i have no idea whether a routine health check is included or not, but depending upon where a person is coming from, maybe we'd want to consider it?? though might this logic also apply to routine travelers and tourists as well as immigrants? pretty gnarly when you think about it. maybe not such a good idea?

any public health people here to comment?

[mookie1995]

Re: A Discussion of US Immigration Policy

"Policy"

What policy

[FreshFish]

Re: A Discussion of US Immigration Policy

"Policy"

What policy

"Not to decide, is to decide"

[Kepler]

Re: A Discussion of US Immigration Policy

Kind of. Mexico has been making a real effort in getting eligible, talented kids back.

I was thinking about those Central American kids -- no way are they going to hitch their CONCACAF wagon to Guatemala or Honduras when the US Federation can just excrete money all over them.

Plus it would be great to watch the Usual Suspects' heads asplode when we win our first World Cup with a team composed entirely of brown people.

[FadeToBlack&Gold]

Re: A Discussion of US Immigration Policy

Plus it would be great to watch the Usual Suspects' heads asplode when we win our first World Cup with a team composed entirely of brown people.

You've made a mistake in assuming that those folks pay any attention to soccer.

[unofan]

You've made a mistake in assuming that those folks pay any attention to soccer.

They don't pay attention to track, either, but they came out to denounce Meb as not a real 'Murican after he won the Boston Marathon.

[Timothy A]

Re: A Discussion of US Immigration Policy

No, we do not. Not even close - assuming, of course, that you do not mean to abandon all of our other military missions at the same time. The border with Mexico is 1,954 miles long. 1 guy can watch, what - 500 ft of the border? That's 21,000 troops - per shift. Figure 6 hour shifts (at best), with travel time to-and-from barracks, so that's 84,000. Allow time off for sickness, training, leaves, etc, and let's call it an even 100,000 people who would need to be actively watching the border. But that's really not enough, because who watches your section while you're detaining someone who you caught coming across? And how can one guy detain 100 people coming across in a group? Figure everyone realistically needs at least one backup, so you're at 200K. Figure 10% overhead to manage and train all those soldiers, and you're at 220K - that's 16% of our total armed forces, or 40% of the US Army.

Not a realistic solution.

I think it is realistic. From a mathematical angle, there's 10,317,120 feet to cover. If 1 solider covered 200', that would equate to 51,585 soldiers needed. I'd figure 12 hr shifts (they are in the military after all), that's 103,170 needed. Based on that, the National Guard could easily do 6 month deployments, see the following numbers.....The Army has 541,000 active, 358,000 National Guard, 205,000 Army Reserves. The Marines have 195,000 active and 39,000 in reserve. And yes, we get out of Iraq and Afghanistan and make this our #1 military priority. I'd build a great wall, and the policy would be if you see as much as a head peep over that wall, you blow it to bits. The policy would also be no medical assistance period for any reason to anyone behind the wall. I bet very quickly the illegals would stop even trying. It's harsh, but let's stop playing games and have all parties take this seriously. Once it's taken seriously, you'd need less troops to man it. Plus you could have sensors on the wall, use drones and Airforce aircraft to patrol it. It's a big effort, but this is a big problem that affect the US on multiple fronts.

[Kepler]

Re: A Discussion of US Immigration Policy

You've made a mistake in assuming that those folks pay any attention to soccer.

Doesn't matter. The cognitive dissonance of them seeing the flag (orgasm) followed by non-whites not wearing shackles (terror) will be enough. Just remember these morons.