Immigration....huh?

Here's an interesting take on the border fence (and by nature, illegal immigration) issue.

And here's my response.

I disagree with the idea that making a border fence along the Southern border of the United States will somehow "magically" solve the illegal immigration issue. It won't. Here's why, (from a quote from an unnamed politician)

You show me a 50-foot wall and I'll show you a 51-foot ladder at the border.

Building a large fence at the border is not the answer; what the United States needs is comprehensive immigration reform. The way it stands now, people from Mexico who wanted to be able to immigrate into the United States would be able to do so....if they'd filed their paperwork in January of 2001. That's if you wanted to bring your unmarried son or daughter over; as soon as they were born, you'd have to file the paperwork, and they still would just be getting a number. Anyone want to hazard a guess as to why they don't?

Unfortunantly (and, by the way, there is no way of knowing whether or not those 20 to 40 "Mexicans" you see in front of the Home Depot are illegal immigrants, or just people who have a very low education level-or who might have been born here but have family in South America) this has become an "Us vs. Them" debate. And sites like this don't help much. One of the claims by this site is that "Such fences in Israel have curbed terrorist attacks by 85%!". Of course, Isreal does have a much smaller landmass (U.S.: 3,794,066 sq mi: Israel: 8,522 sq mi) and the most illegals aren't planning terrorist attacks-the 9/11 hijackers were here on valid US visas. They were not illegal immigrants. Besides, if we're going to fence in the entire country, why not the border between Canada? It's a larger border, and has more people crossing that one than between the US and Mexico.

Illegal immigrants, when they do come to the US, tend to be in better health than natives. (scroll down to the heath portion). Yes, teen births by hispanic women are higher than any other demographic; but that's not just in Texas, that's in the United States overall. There is also evidence to show that illegal immigrents have lower crime statistics than the United States as a whole. And illegal immigrants pay taxes; those who have fake Social Security numbers pay income taxes to the IRS, just like anyone else. It's not like they're not paying anything to use the benefits-well, they don't get the benefits from the taxes they're paying (and since Texas doesn't have a progressive income tax-or any income tax-not paying income taxes in Texas is not their fault). Not to mention that an "illegal immigrant" isn't just someone coming to the United States from Mexico; it can also be defined as someone who overstayed thier valid visa (such as an exchange student). How's a fence with Mexico going to stop them?

In closing, the answer isn't building a fence; the answer is fixing a system that is broken. If we had a system that worked, and there was a danger of leaving the borders without a fence, then I'd understand the rationale behind it. But we're a far cry from that.