halcitron

http://www.pantagraph.com/stories/08...50830003.shtml

Pantagraph Editorial

Tuesday, August 30, 2005

Don't leave immigration woes to border states

While the rest of the United States concerns itself with social
problems involved with immigration, Arizona and New Mexico have
declared states of emergency because of violence in some of their
counties bordering Mexico. And there is talk of California making a
similar move.

Arizona and New Mexico alone plan to spend $2.25 million on unspecified
security improvements. This is not a two-state or three-state issue; it
is a U.S. issue.

U.S. residents want to be compassionate and welcome other nationalities
to the world's melting pot of immigrants, but the guns, drugs and
illegal crossings must be stopped -- and the quickest way to resolve
the problem is through more reinforcements at the border.

It is not just the number of immigrants these border states are
concerned about, it is violence caused by drug runners at
border-crossing towns. Even when violence erupts on the Mexican side of
border towns, it is not something of which the United States can wash
its hands. There might not be drug-cartel shootings in Mexico if not
for the drug demand in the United States. It takes a buyer as well as a
supplier to make the drug trade lucrative.

In Nuevo Laredo, Mexico, alone, more than 60 people were killed in the
first six months of this year, most blamed on drug feuds. Nuevo Laredo
shares a border with Laredo, Texas. Nuevo Laredo is where the police
chief was gunned down by three carloads of gangsters on his first day
in office two months ago.

While the border states seek help from the federal government, people
throughout the United States should pay more attention to the border
concerns. The drug violence may not directly affect them, but the
non-drug-related border crossings should be of increasing concern if a
recently released Pew Research Centers poll is near accurate. It says
41 percent to 46 percent of the people in Mexico would like to work in
the United States. With more than 100 million people in Mexico, that
means 10 million to 12 million adults would like to cross the border --
and 20 percent of those would come illegally if they had to. And
pollsters said many respondents were Mexican professionals, not just
stereotyped farm laborers.

Many residents in those border states are already upset, saying illegal
immigrants are using the states' tax-supported healthcare, social
service and education systems and not paying taxes in many, if not
most, instances. Federal tax coffers also suffer losses from
undocumented aliens' unreported earnings.

Other states have the same issues, but not to the same degree as the
border states.

President Bush and Congress seem to spend more time worrying about
documenting illegal immigrants after they have arrived than beefing up
efforts to stop the flow of illegal immigrants across the border. Of
the estimated 10 million illegal immigrants in the United States, most
are said to be from Mexico.

The illegal immigration numbers and violence along the Mexico border
are growing. They must be checked by the United States and not be left
up to the bordering states.

Halcitron - Minuteman
misc.survivalism

"illegals are like the flies outside my window,
if I didn't have screens, I'd have a house full of flies."

alt.politics.immigration, misc.survivalism,
soc.culture.mexican.american, ca.politics