Illegals?

[BaLa]

Will never be stopped.
They WILL find a way.


About a year ago, I used to go down to the 'Valley' (South Texas Edinburg McAllen area) every week to Deliver.


They don't have a problem crossing the border illegally the challenge is to get past the checkpoints.
I heard stories but never had it happen to me.
They caught a guy (on the way back to Temple) on top of the truck (not trailer) at the Falfurrias checkpoint.
Big inconvenience as we (co worker and me) got questioned and held up for about 2hours or so.

After that I climbed up every week to check.
This happened the very next week..(gonna find a way to upload the crappy quality video)

https://easyupload.io/5g2as9
The week after caught a guy checking it out from the ground.

There is no good/safe way to climb up to check.
We had people make it all the way back to Temple from down there. Which is a 6+ hour drive.

[Philip]

When people don't have much to lose they're prone to desperate actions. I bet it was not pleasant for you to get caught in the middle of it.

Still, I can understand why most of them are trying to cross over. The vast majority of those people are looking for some semblance of economic independence, the right to work and earn a fair wage, not to exploit our social system (and we are not a country with such great social safety net to boot, especially for undocumented residents). Even though this may be impossible today, a century ago before Ellis Island/Castle Garden America was truly free, one didn't have to be approved to enter the country.

Just my 2c.

[Easto]

Will never be stopped.
They WILL find a way.

Exactly. Unfortunately many people don't think of the danger they're putting themselves in when trying such a stunt. I can't even imagine what it's like to be so desperate that I would be considering that as an option. And as Philip mentioned, it sucks when innocent people like yourself get sucked into that event and fall under the scrutiny of the law.

[Rivas]

I guess we are all illegals in some way, all the native massacres, broken treaties, stolen land, who are we to call them illegals ?
Mexico is a narco state, and most of the south American states as well, we all got different point of view but I wouldn't separate any parent from their kids, lock them in cages, human trafficking ....yes it did happen and it's happening.

There's an old joke about economists: If you laid all the world's economists, living or dead, end to end, they still wouldn't reach a conclusion. That joke hits very close to the bone on the illegal immigration question.

Some economists, and many business leaders, say that the American economy depends on illegal workers; they accept low wages for necessary jobs, pay taxes, and spend money, all of which expands the national economy. Other economists say that the influx of illegal workers costs the government in increased expenditures for Medicare, law enforcement, and education -- and in a hundred other ways -- and illegal workers don't pay enough in taxes to recompense what they cost.

The full article is here https://news.gallup.com/businessjournal ... ation.aspx

I do assume you are natives Easto, Bala, Philip ?

[Easto]

I do assume you are natives Easto, Bala, Philip ?

I'm not quite sure... I was adopted.

[BaLa]

I guess we are all illegals in some way, all the native massacres, broken treaties, stolen land, who are we to call them illegals ?
Mexico is a narco state, and most of the south American states as well, we all got different point of view but I wouldn't separate any parent from their kids, lock them in cages, human trafficking ....yes it did happen and it's happening.

There's an old joke about economists: If you laid all the world's economists, living or dead, end to end, they still wouldn't reach a conclusion. That joke hits very close to the bone on the illegal immigration question.

Some economists, and many business leaders, say that the American economy depends on illegal workers; they accept low wages for necessary jobs, pay taxes, and spend money, all of which expands the national economy. Other economists say that the influx of illegal workers costs the government in increased expenditures for Medicare, law enforcement, and education -- and in a hundred other ways -- and illegal workers don't pay enough in taxes to recompense what they cost.

The full article is here https://news.gallup.com/businessjournal ... ation.aspx

I do assume you are natives Easto, Bala, Philip ?

Old post you dug up there, was surprised to see it again.



Naturalized US Citizen. Feb 2017
I did come here legally in 1996.



We can argue all day long about Broken Treaties and all that junk.
Bottom line is people are coming across the border illegally and getting law abiding citizens or legal aliens in trouble..

Because they (Border Patrol) are all but accusing US (me in this case) of trying to smuggle ILLEGALS (people that did not come to this country legally..NOT NATIVES)
into this country.

[Philip]

I think immigration to the US is restricted so much currently that it is not the huge issue it's made to be.

Naturalized US Citizen as well, came here at 19yo back in 1991 on a student visa, went to college here, got married after a while.

[YeOldeStonecat]

I have some Crow blood in my roots.....Crow were Native American Indians. And I'm mixed in with Irish, some German, I've heard a bit of French. But yeah, some Crow.

History of America....America as most of us know it...was built in immigrants that initially came from Europe...and starting around the 19th century..and especially the 20th century..came in from all corners of the globe. Yes, America is a "melting pot". Many of us are "mutts".
There were records kept for those who came to our country through proper channels.

Fast forward to modern times, let's say one of us wanted to move to the Bahamas. Or wanted to move to other islands in the Caribbean (besides Puerto Rico), or say...I wanted to move to England, or Australia, or move to one of the ex-pat areas of say, South America..such as Cuenca, Equador. I would have to go through a process. I couldn't just walk in/drive in/fly in/boat in....and take up residence, and in some countries I'd have a REALLY hard time landing a job (I'd probably have to be sponsored through some program)...because they would favor giving jobs to locals, not foreigners. Some countries have rules such as....you have to be able to bring a minimum of X amount of money with you...to show that you won't become a parasite, to show that you have adequate money to sustain yourself and not be a drain on them.

..I know a bit of this..because I've looked into it, and for a while my wife and I were spending a bit of time considering moving to one of the Exuma islands in the Bahamas. And there's a guy down the hall from me where my offices are, he's retiring and moving to Equador...and he's been going down there during the winter for the past few years and I hear his stories and his process.

So...why does America get flack for trying to have rules for incoming foreigners....yet....I never...ever....read any flack from people about other countries that have processes in place.

Rivas appears to be from Canada...I never looked into the process of moving to Canada from another country, so I looked it up, and Canada has several programs for immigrants to choose from, and it appears you need to bring at least X amount of money. And they MUST pay taxes. https://visaguide.world/moving-to/canad ... pply%20for.

But lets look at our extreme southern states, where the immigration problem is quite large. Florida (via water craft typically), and..especially...Texas. (via foot, truck, small plane, etc)
Town near the southern border of Texas are getting over run. Crime is rampant. Longtime residents are moving out, because...crime is rampant. Parents can't let their kids go out and play. for fear that they're kidnapped. Home invasions are happening at a frightening pace. Immigration is one thing, "humanity"....to allow those who are fleeing from horrible circumstances where they came from....the truth is, a lot of "bad" come along with those crowds. The socioeconomics of where they came from, sadly there is a high percentage of...."bad apples" mixed in. How does America manage that?

[Philip]

All countries have procedures and extensive rules for foreigners trying to immigrate. Still, the US has tightened its immigration policies a lot in the past 20 years, more so than many other first world countries. If you take the Syrian refugee crisis, for example, the US accepted about 8500 refugees in total, Canada took in 70,000, and most small countries in Europe took in a lot more refugees than the US.

Canada has a point system for immigration, if you speak the language, or have a higher education degree you get higher on the list to get citizenship. They do have different programs for refugees though, just as the US and many other countries.
The US also has different programs for people with means, or brains. Most that come here to open a business and employ 7 people get a green card.

You are right that the situation on our south border is very complex, and there are hundreds of thousands of people from poor countries trying to cross. You also have a point in that property values may suffer with poor populations. I don't think there is a simple solution to all those issues. Still, imho the large percentage of refugees/migrants should not be viewed as criminals, many of them are hard working people, or broken families running away from violence, trying to make ends meet, hence deserving of humane treatment. I am not trying to suggest that we open the borders for everyone trying to cross, I just think they deserve to be treated with some dignity, they don't necessarily become charge of the state just because they are not wealthy.

[Leatherneck]

What is a Native? How many times has one tribe/culture/clan/peoples conquered another in what became the United States? We sometimes act like if the Mayflower hadn't landed, the entire country would still be slightly populated with people on horseback. The US got a lot wrong, but more right developing into arguably the best nation in the world. Having secure borders is not lacking in compassion. This country was built by immigrants. Asking for order & process is also not lacking in compassion.