Thread: Our Opinion: Border fixes - the right way and the wrong

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Thursday, April 14, 2005
Our Opinion: Border fixes - the right way and the wrong
Tucson Citizen

The Minuteman Project is midway through its monthlong faux border control mission, so this is a good juncture at which to examine the project's impact on the Arizona-Mexico border.

At the same time, it is encouraging to see a possible glimmer of progress in Washington, D.C., on immigration reform.

Since April 1, fewer illegal immigrants have been arrested in the portion of the Cochise County border patrolled by the Minutemen. But that is mostly because the project has been well publicized in Mexico, with would-be border crossers entering elsewhere or delaying their attempts.

Mexican authorities increase patrols

Mexican law enforcement officials also have stepped up their patrols south of the border, detaining emigrants and smugglers operating near Minutemen territory. That has been effective. It is a tactic that Mexico should implement more often, not just when spurred by political expedience.

Despite fears that the Minutemen would bring violence-prone yahoos into southern Arizona, there have been no reports of illegal activity. One Minuteman who photographed a detained immigrant in a

T-shirt with a mocking slogan was bounced out of the project - a credit to organizers.

But the deployment has had detrimental effects. Because of fears of "migrant hunters," some Mexican citizens are not entering the United States legally to shop. That has badly hurt businesses in Douglas and other border communities where the Minutemen are operating.

Amateurs hinder Border Patrol efforts

And although the Minutemen say they want to help the Border Patrol, they are more of a hindrance. The amateur border watchers and other groups watching them have been tripping sensors, sending Border Patrol agents on fruitless hunts for illegal immigrants.

If there is a benefit to come from the Minutemen, it is the international publicity focused on border issues, which have become routine to Arizonans but remain largely invisible to the rest of the nation.

There also was good news on the immigration front this week from an unlikely place: Washington, D.C.

Two Republicans promise reform

Republican Sens. Jon Kyl of Arizona and John Cornyn of Texas said they will introduce "comprehensive immigration reform legislation that would address border security as well as the economic and political realities" that have drawn millions of immigrants to the United States.

The two said they would embrace President Bush's call for a legally enforceable guest worker program, but not amnesty for illegal immigrants now in this country.

That is far better than the silly proposal recently announced that would require American citizens to carry passports when returning from visits to Mexico and Canada.

The time for reform is right.

A national survey by the National Immigration Forum found that 3 of 4 Americans support a program that includes a guest worker program, family reunification and a path to legal residency for illegal immigrants already here. Those polled also overwhelmingly said the immigration system is broken. They want to replace an illegal immigration flow with a legal flow.

As the Minutemen try to solve immigration problems the wrong way, Congress - pushed by an increasingly impatient public - may finally be inching closer to fixing this mess the right way.

I don't know about Mr. Kyl but if you go look at John Cornyn's record, he is very much on the side of illegal immigrants. To a point where people in TX who voted him in can't wait to get him out of office. Don't count on him for anything.

As for the MinutemanProject, they have done a great deal of good. They aren't hindering the progress of stopping illegal immigration. They are shining a spotlight on the fact that it CAN be done and encouraging the government to stop trying to cover up the problem and deal with it. Up until they started the project, no one seemed to care that between one and three million illegal immigrants each year enter the United States. A large portion of them walk right across the Mexican border and disappear.

Later, those people who broke the law and snuck across the border show up by the thousands with kids to put in our schools who don't speak English, sick and needing free medical care, in our colleges on taxpayer funded tuitions taken from taxpayers who can't afford to send their own children to college, and on the roles of people needing food and housing assistance because they can't make enough money on their illegal jobs to support themselves and their families.

Meantime, American citizens and people who have gone through legal channels to work in this country suffer the consequences while these thives wander around scott free. It isn't fair and nothing the government can ever do will make it fair.

The hundreds of illegals who are constantly reported sneaking across the border daily between Naco and Douglas, AZ may have slowed to a trickle in that area but the numbers have increased dramatically enough in other areas to prompt other groups to want to establish Minutemen Projects in their area. El Paso, TX and Las Cruces, NM alone have arrested and deported more than 200 illegal immigrants in the past two weeks. How many came across without being caught?

This problem has got to be addressed and the Minuteman Project is the most effective peaceful means of addressing it that this country could have. Those men and women who gave up a a few days, a week, or a month of their everyday lives to sit on the border and turn in illegal immigrants to the Border Patrol deserve praise and recognition for the part they are playing in American history.

Sen. Cornyn (R-Texas) and Sen. Feinstein (D-California) offered a resolution that the Senate would keep immigration amendments off the spending bill so aid could get to our troops in Iraq as soon as possible.

When Craig and Mikulski rose to defend their proposals, Cornyn and Feinstein really spoke forcefully against amnesty and importing so many foreign workers.

It was spirited war of words that revealed that the elections of several more House Members to the Senate, we are hearing immigration finally debated more candidly and with an ear for what the American people are saying.

Sen. Isaakson (R-Georgia), Sen. Kyl (R-Arizona) and Sen. Coburn (R-Oklahoma) were fantastic allies of our throughout the debate.

I think you're incorrect in your statements about Sen. Cornyn. He's my senator, I talk to his office on a weekly basis. I just called him minutes ago and thanked him for his efforts to hold the line on voting on these 'amnesty bills' .....I had called him on Monday and requested he use all his might and main to resist having these immigration amendments attached to this bill. Apparently I'm not the only one sending him this sort of communication.

Sen. Cornyn is not anti-immigration, but he IS anti-illegal immigration. I am certainly one Texan that does NOT want him voted out of office.

RR

Originally Posted by watchman

But the deployment has had detrimental effects. Because of fears of "migrant hunters," some Mexican citizens are not entering the United States legally to shop. That has badly hurt businesses in Douglas and other border communities where the Minutemen are operating.

Boo F'n Hoo!

Douglas has raised such a stink about the MMP, that I am DAMN glad they are being monitarily hit. The leaders from that corrupt little blight on America have done EVERYTHING they can to derail the project. Now when some of the graf of their corruption is no longer flowing, all I can say is HUUURRAAHH!

I think you're incorrect in your statements about Sen. Cornyn. He's my senator,

Go have a look at FAIR.org. He's my senator, too. I write to him constantly to encourage him to vote against things that will make life better in our country for illegal immigrants. He is also for "amnesty" which is the same thing as rewarding people for breaking the law. If we are going to do that, why don't they give people rewards for speeding instead of fines?

Douglas has raised such a stink about the MMP, that I am DAMN glad they are being monitarily hit

LOL If downtown Douglas is like downtown in most border towns, the shops are all run by the very people who coax the illegals across the border to start with. I don't feel sorry for them, either. If they would try to do business with Americans instead of making their signs in Spanish and refusing to speak English in the United States, perhaps they would have American customers who actually have money to spend. I can tell you that the LAST place I, as an American, would go shopping is downtown in a border town. If I want to deal with Mexicans, I'll shop in Mexican border towns. At least then I won't be blatantly discriminated against in my own country.

i think it's a real stretch for the reporter to claim that Mexicans are too "afraid of migrant hunters" to come over the border legally to shop. Everyone knows the MM volunteers are stretched out on the border, they're not manning the actual border crossings where any "legitimate" shoppers would come across with their cars and their paperwork. If they're actually creepin' through the desert shrub to get to town to shop, well then yeah, they might be having a little problem. I guess their whiny claims deserve Husker's beautifully eloquent response: Boo f***'n Hoo. LOL (love that.)

Boo f***'n Hoo. LOL (love that.)
_________________

I love it too! And you are right. shoppers would cross the border legally at the checkpoint. Think we should write a letter to the person who printed that article and tell them so?

Go have a look at FAIR.org.

I did. I didn't find anything on FAIR.org that shows a legislators record. I'd found that elsewhere, I've visited so many sites that I don't recall exactly where it was. However, I thought he had as good a record as anyone else, probably in the middle of the pack. Not the best, not the worst. He's also not been in the senate very long.

Nonetheless, he did a fine job today...I was pleased with both Cornyn and Hutchison.

RR

Now let's get behind DeLay and PUSH...he has some very good ideas.

Now let's get behind DeLay and PUSH...he has some very good ideas.

LOL Sounds to me as of the news today that Delay is going to get pushed out the door. What is the scoop with him anyway? I'm pretty disgusted with the republicans at the moment. I really feel betrayed because of this illegal immigration thing.

But I'll keep a close eye on Cornyn's voting record and try to give him the benefit of the doubt for awhile. Maybe he's beginning to see the light. So far, I'm really disappointed. And he doesn't seem to respond to any letters the way others do.

Reyes is my rep. His voting record is spotty but he at least writes back with his reasons if questioned. I have to give him credit for that.

As for Hutchinson, I just don't know. She's a little wishy washy and rarely responds to anything either. I hear she wants to be gov. I'd rather have her than Perry, I think.