The ongoing border crises

It is nothing short of amazing as to how the crises at the US/Mexican border has not abated over the years, but, has, instead, spread like proverbial wildfire.

Personally, I feel that the current crises comes from too many past administrations "passing the buck" over the past several decades.

Ellis Island (located in New York Harbor), over a century ago, functioned like a well-oiled machine, allowing the "good people" to enter our country and begin their journey to becoming American citizens, while keeping out the undesirables.

Of course, in those days, all immigrants from Europe came in via ship; ditto, the immigrants who arrived in San Francisco.

Far too many ex-cons, drug dealers, and sex offenders are entering this country illegally (NO background checks, of course) by the tens of thousands, causing ALL hard-working legal immigrants to be painted with the same brush.

NOT fair at all, to my way of thinking.

Then again, look at those who WANT to become American citizens, but still cross the border illegally, so desperate are they to flee oppression and poor economic and social conditions in their homelands.

IMHO, the recent sending caravans of buses full of buses to New York (and elsewhere) full of migrants, is, in a sense, human trafficking.

These people are, quite honestly, mere political pawns in some outlandish games played by certain state governors .

New York is been a dark state for some years now; rising crime, dangerous subways, hate crimes, homelessness, and COVID.

Things are really at the crises state as it is; it cannot take on any more situations that will overly tax its already-straining infrastructure.

As I had said earlier, it is sad that decent, hardworking immigrants who have resided here for years have to be "painted with the same brush" as thodse who come here illegally, only to take blatant advantage of our country.

In this highly-volatile immigration game, NOBODY wins.

FAR too many good people are being caught in the crosshairs; SOMETHING (in some form or fashion) HAS to be done, hopefully sooner than later........far too many of the "Powers That Be" have been allowing this overly-taxing situation to run amok for too many years now..........let's hope SOME sort of solution can FINALLY be found.......

"Live long and prosper"

 

A “border crisis” entirely of our own making.
We carpet-bomb their agrarian societies with USDA-subsidized corn (more than $116 billion, wheat at $48.4 billion, and soybeans at $44.9 billion since 1995). We overthrow their democratically elected governments and install Fascist dictatorships in the name of fighting Communism. The death squads that murder their families in the night are trained by us at the School of the Americas at Fort Benning, Georgia ($11.2million annually), or privatized by our corporations, like Chiquita, whose mercenaries make an example of anyone who dares whisper 'land reform' or 'unionize' on their neo-colonial plantations. Once we have functionally reduced their options to starvation, torture, and death, they try to escape by the only route available to them, seeking asylum in the United States; a right supposedly guaranteed by the 1948 Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the Refugee Convention of 1951 and its 1967 Protocol, and the Refugee Act of 1980. Most do not sneak across the border (of those who do, at least 750 died in the desert in 2022), but present themselves at U.S. ports of entry, where they're met by Customs and Border Patrol, an institutionally racist and xenophobic agency that is so brutal (more than 250 killings since 2010), corrupt (the highest number of prosecutions of any Federal agency), and that functions as such a law unto themselves without the constraints of the 4th and 14th Amendments that Trump wanted to use them to put down the civil rights protests of 2020. In clear violation of U.S. and international law, 83% of asylum seekers are immediately deported without ever getting the chance of a fair hearing before a judge.

Those who do make it into the U.S. undocumented must get fake credentials to work; including a bogus Social Security number. In 2016, undocumented immigrants contributed $13 billion into Social Security and $3 billion to Medicare; programs which as non-citizens they can never benefit from. Their below-minimum-wage labor subsidizes vast areas of our economy, especially labor-intensive things like food production; undocumented farm workers are why lettuce isn't $15 a pound. Despite the racist tropes so often spewed by Republicans, undocumented workers are half as likely to be convicted of violent crime than native-born Americans.
From start to finish, the whole system which we've created is brutally exploitative and inhumane, but every good-faith attempt to reform it has been vociferously opposed by Republicans who politically benefit from overtly racist fear-mongering, scapegoating, and let's face it; who sadistically delight in making the poor and powerless suffer.

 

Maybe if Americans stopped buying so much fentanyl,,,

 

We overthrow their democratically elected governments and install Fascist dictatorships in the name of fighting Communism.

The US did not install Fidel Castro, (Cuba) Hugo Chavez,(Venezeula) Evo Morales (Bolivia) Daniel Ortega, (Nicaragua)
President Bidens Press Secretary, Karine Jean-Pierre recently remarked on our migrants fleeing Communism.

 

Conflating immigrants and drug smuggling is precisely the kind of vicious racist trope that Republicans have been using for years to gin up nativism & xenophobia.

 

Fidel Castro; Bay of Pigs. Hugo Chavez; U.S. backed coup d'etat. Evo Morales; U.S. backed coup d'etat. Daniel Ortega; Iran-Contra.
Castro was Communist; the others Socialist; none of them Fascist. I'm unclear what point you're trying to make, but thanks for all of the examples of U.S. interventionism.

 

Yep, no doubt we have plenty of points of entry.
But again, if it weren't for all the Americans eagerly sucking up fentanyl,,, then there probably wouldn't be such incentive for any group to keep going through the trouble of bringing it into the US,,,

 

Has not abated over the years? Not so. The current situation began in 2020, not in 1850.

Migration across the US southern land border is cyclical. It rises and falls. It dropped precipitously during the recession and multi-year financial crisis of 15 years ago. For several years, more people crossed headed south than headed north.

The US population of 332 million people includes about 44 million immigrants. The US is by no means full. There is plenty of room for more immigrants. Some credible demographers and economists conclude that to compete economically with China, the total US population should more than double from its present level. The birth rate of the US-born population is not going to produce population growth, nor even maintain the current population.

The US has one-third the population density of France, for example, and France is not particularly densely populated. Border-crossing migrants do not stay in the southern border states, but the only southern-land-border state that is densely populated is California. Texas is only a bit above average for the US. Arizona has below-average density. New Mexico is 6th on the list of the least-densely-populated states. New Mexico has less than one-fifth of the average population density of the 50 states, and it has less than one-tenth of California's population density.

The workforce participation rate is higher among immigrants than it is among the native-born population. Immigrants, particularly refugees, are twice as likely as the native-born population to start new businesses and to be self-employed. Over 50 percent of immigrants eventually become US citizens.

The level of immigration without legal status is on the rise, but 77 percent of all immigrants in the US have legal status. The situation is the opposite in Mexico. Ninety percent of US citizens living in Mexico do so without legal status. Yes, 90 percent crossing the border going south simply ignore Mexico's requirements to establish legal residency there, and live without legal status for years or decades. US persons are not nearly as respectful of immigration laws as many claim them to be.

 

Interesting...every one of these countries other than Cuba has a public/government sector that is smaller than that of the US as a percentage of its GDP. Cuba's is larger than that of the US, but not much above those of the Scandinavian countries. Anyone fleeing the heavy hand of large government and the crowding-out of free enterprise isn't moving to the US. The US is already more socialist than most socialist countries are. China has a smaller government sector than the US does, relative to the size of its economy.

Each man, woman, and child in the US owes about $100,000 that the US central (Federal) government has already spent. Venezuela is in terrible economic shape, but not because its public sector is too large. Venezuela operates as a pay-as-you-go socialist state. In the US, it's buy-now, pay-later socialism. I'm not convinced that's better.

Today, it may feel better, but wait until you have to come up with that $100,000 per member of your family. It's a game of musical chairs, and someday the music is going to stop. As long as the music keeps playing, everyone thinks he's going to land on a chair, but that's not the case, as will be clear when the music stops.

The big lie that Republicans tell the public is that Democrats spent all of that money. The big lie that Democrats tell the public is not to worry, because they'll get the super rich to pay the bill when it comes due. Neither is true in the least.

 

Fellows:

Greatly appreciate all of your views, comments, and opinions on this subject.

It is always good to listen to the opinions of others and to, perhaps, even learn something more than we already have.

Being raised "color blind", I could certainly care less who comes to this country, what race or religion they are, or where they are from.

As long as these people want to come here to become citizens, work hard, and establish themselves as Americans, I certainly have no objections whatsoever.

When I was still commuting to and from the city, I got to be very good friends with a number of bus drivers who were of Hispanic heritage (mostly Mexican, Cuban, and Puerto Rican). I heard some very interesting stories from them regarding immigration, fleeing Communist Cuba under Castro, and facing discrimination.

These guys were great fellows, to say the least; again, who cared where they came from?

They were GOOD CITIZENS and GOOD MEN, period.

Our economy, also, is another "hot button" issue; while there are untold millions to play pro ballplayers, we also, on the "flip side", have people working several jobs just to keep a roof over their heads and food on the table, not to mention so many of the elderly (and veterans) who, also, are having a most difficult time during these uncertain days.

But, back to immigration......

One can only imagine the thousands.....millions.....of stories.....that so many immigrants could tell us, fleeing Communistic regeimes, poverty, and exploitation.

Think about it.....outside of, perhaps, the Native Americans (and these proud people are indeed no stranger to not only discrimination, but, also, sadly, virtual extermination) we are ALL immigrants.

Personally, I'd rather keep my ears open and LISTEN to the voices of people who know what TRUE HARDSHIP is, and somehow, forge ahead with courage and dignity.........

"Live long and prosper"

 

But the long and short of it, we cannot handle that many migrants, especially border towns.. Perhaps it's time our allies came to our aid for a change. Let's see, I think France, Germany, Canada, Japan, would all be excellent places to step in and offer shelter to these poor folks.

Maybe it's time to make a deal with some of them. We have a horrendous shortage of child care and elder care workers. If you want to live in the US, you commit to learning the language and work in these fields at a fair wage, pay taxes, while working towards your citizenship under supervision. Just dumping people off with no means is only asking to make criminals of them and further burden our nation.

 

Fellows:

Appreciate, again, your comments and views.

As it is, our country (for so many reasons) can barely care for those ALREADY here (those born here, and those who have immigrated), and we are, already, at the "breaking point" in so many areas.

We have to seriously consider housing, educational facilities, medical care......so many vital areas that are already taxed beyond their limits.

Regarding immigration, I personally feel that EVERYONE (native-born and otherwise) deeserve a FIGHTING chance and ALL should be treated EQUALLY and FAIRLY.

Immigration (legal and otherwise) is certainly a serious issue today, not only for us here in the States, but, also, in other parts of the world.

Having other nations assist us in this time of "immigration crises" is, I feel, a good idea, and one that, indeed, should be looked into.....

"Live long and prosper"

 

Yeah, no. These two are not gonna help you with your mex problem. They have their hands full with their own immigrant crisis with all those refugees coming in from Africa and the Middle East. Boatloads of them every week crossing the Mediterranean Sea, some drowning on the way. Plus, now there's also the additional pressure from the Ukrainians who are running away from the war started by that bastard putin the suka. Sorry America, we already have our hands full. You're on your own with the latinos.

Now, I don't like pointing fingers, but maybe destabilizing the Middle East with the Iraq war wasn't such a great plan after all.

 

VERY good post; also, some very important observations, for certain.

I have read that Sicily has also had a number of issues regarding boatloads of immigrants from Africa.

With so many "points of entry" around the globe now reaching beyond the saturation point, it's anyone's guess to see what solutions might actually be taken into consideration and implemented.......

"Live long and prosper"

 

Latest bit of immigration news.......

Just heard Haitians are now lining up at the sole immigration office at Port-au-Prince, trying to secure visas which will enable them passage to enter the US and become citizens......

"Live long and prosper"

 

Recall the timeless song from "The Lion King", "Circle Of Life"?

In some sense, immigration can also be thought of as a "circle of life", forever changing patterns, colors, and hues, like the shifting colors of a human rainbow comprised of living, breathing tints.

However, in "real life", there is still so many serious issues that must be addressed.......

"Live long and prosper"

 

Just wait 'till Arizona's hotter than the Middle East is today, most of Florida's underwater, and the Central American noonday sun is hot enough to melt lead.
You ain't seen nuthin' yet.
There could be 1.2 BILLION climate-change refugees by 2050.

 

I used to be accused of watching and reading "too much" science fiction.

It is, indeed, VERY sobering (and frightening) to see how much "science fiction" has already come true.

Supposedly, the human race is SUPPOSED to be an INTELLIGENT species.

Well, I certainly have not seen much evidence of any semblence of intelligence as of late.

Look at how long it took BEFORE people FINALLY started to wake up to the fact the climate change and global warming were NOT farces concocted by some tinkering, crackpot scientist, holed up in some little cluttered laboratory, in some far-off, godforsaken atoll.

In the "grand scheme" of things, any and all aspects of immigration is but the loftiest tip of the iceberg, when it comes to the countless serious issues affecting our planet today.......

"Live long and prosper"

 

As long as there are dirt-poor countries such as Mexico and in Central and South America the migrants will keep coming. Think they're underpaid here? In their home countries they can't feed their families. Add to that the flagrantly corrupt governments, military and police that they're fleeing from.

I don't see it improving. World population has tripled since I was born while the climate has become less conducive to growing the crops needed. How can we stop them when they'd rather face our border patrol than their own policia back home?