For those who believe that a 700-mile long fence across the southern border of the United States would be a deterrent to illegal immigration, may I remind them of the Maginot Line? The German Army went around the thing, and people who really want to get into this country do the same here.
The barrier is located in the urban sections of the border, the areas that have been the location of the greatest number of illegal crossings in the past. These urban areas include San Diego, California and El Paso, Texas. As a result of the success of the barrier, there has been a marked increase in the number of people trying to cross the Sonoran Desert and crossing over the Baboquivari Mountain in Arizona.
I don't see a wall as being part of any sensible solution to the "problem." I'd be more inclined to enforce existing labor laws and more tightly regulate employers who depend on migrant workers. Without enforcement, people are inclined to cheat to save money. With enforcement, maybe we could get rid of this oft-repeated nonsense that "illegals do jobs Americans won't do." Pay decent wages, offer health insurance, and have government ensure that all the participants in the industry do the same, and I suspect that native-born Americans would take those jobs. If that happened, the word would get out south of the border that the number of jobs available had dropped, and the number of border-crossers would also drop. Then we could start working on the larger problem of helping Mexico and other South and Central American countries build their economies so that their residents wouldn't need to go elsewhere to find work.
Ok, so the price of fruits, veggies and chicken might go up. Well, too bad. Car prices go up and down, house prices go up and down. Let the market decide.
Posted by Linkmeister at April 11, 2006 09:45 AM | TrackBack