Amnesty for Illegal Aliens
I joined the Marines when Regan was president and left when Clinton was president. I was deployed to Saudi Arabia for Desert Shield/Storm. Although I was in the 2D Marine Division Band, strictly peacetime units have alternate wartime functions. We had trained as a security unit and we were responsible for establishing the perimiter guard for the 2D Marine Division staging camp, building the division rear camp about 30K from the kuwait border and establishing the forward guard there. I have no problem engaging the enemy and have a sensitivity to avenues of approach. If I had a means to support my family, I might join the minutemen. Our borders need to be more secure.
Having said that, I've had the opportunity to talk to some immigrants who were illegal and have managed to become legal. I've recently been on a trip to Venezuela to support a church in Maracaibo in its outreach to impoverished people in the Maracaibo area. The fact is, most people who illegally cross our border want to be legal. I know it's a shocker for most of you, but they actually want to do better for themselves and their families.
This is how it often goes down: In seeking to immigrate to the US, they go to their local corrupt official who explains that they need a certain amount of money to go to the US. If they have the means, they save the money and go back to the official. He demands a fee and explains that at every stop between their country and the US, they will be examined and the fee is $20.00 or so. After a couple of stops, they realize that this is illegal. However, if they choose not to pay the official at the next stop, they find that they will be arrested and taken to prison. They are assured that the US Americans will probably not catch them and that there are ways of getting what they need in the US. The best option for them is to continue and hope they can become legal in the US somehow. Many do, but only at a feasable rate for our system. Once legal, they can establish legality more easily for their family members.
Therefore, the solution is not to simply secure the borders, although I believe we should. In light of NAFTA and CAFTA, there will always be weak spots. The solution is to attack the corruption. How? I believe George Bush has a plan, although to disclose this plan would be to defeat the measures he intends to take to implement it. What CAFTA does is take the teeth out of the corruption and allow us leverage to strong arm these countries south of the border. What amnesty does is reset the ticker and earn us millions of informants. Are there some who are not Hispanic who have snuck in from Mexico? Who would know but the ones with whom they snuck? We could potentially generate hundreds of leads to sleeper cells. Where are the avenues of corruption? We could unravel the entire system of corruption that traffics the illegals.
I've been baffled by this apparent lack of judgemnt from one who has been so strong against terrorism, but this sounds like the Bush we all know.
Having said that, I've had the opportunity to talk to some immigrants who were illegal and have managed to become legal. I've recently been on a trip to Venezuela to support a church in Maracaibo in its outreach to impoverished people in the Maracaibo area. The fact is, most people who illegally cross our border want to be legal. I know it's a shocker for most of you, but they actually want to do better for themselves and their families.
This is how it often goes down: In seeking to immigrate to the US, they go to their local corrupt official who explains that they need a certain amount of money to go to the US. If they have the means, they save the money and go back to the official. He demands a fee and explains that at every stop between their country and the US, they will be examined and the fee is $20.00 or so. After a couple of stops, they realize that this is illegal. However, if they choose not to pay the official at the next stop, they find that they will be arrested and taken to prison. They are assured that the US Americans will probably not catch them and that there are ways of getting what they need in the US. The best option for them is to continue and hope they can become legal in the US somehow. Many do, but only at a feasable rate for our system. Once legal, they can establish legality more easily for their family members.
Therefore, the solution is not to simply secure the borders, although I believe we should. In light of NAFTA and CAFTA, there will always be weak spots. The solution is to attack the corruption. How? I believe George Bush has a plan, although to disclose this plan would be to defeat the measures he intends to take to implement it. What CAFTA does is take the teeth out of the corruption and allow us leverage to strong arm these countries south of the border. What amnesty does is reset the ticker and earn us millions of informants. Are there some who are not Hispanic who have snuck in from Mexico? Who would know but the ones with whom they snuck? We could potentially generate hundreds of leads to sleeper cells. Where are the avenues of corruption? We could unravel the entire system of corruption that traffics the illegals.
I've been baffled by this apparent lack of judgemnt from one who has been so strong against terrorism, but this sounds like the Bush we all know.
posted by Jim Pemberton at 11:03 AM
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