I was dismayed to hear of the suggestion that the National Guard be used to patrol the border. A national Guard source said that they were ready to do so, which I was surprised to hear (I put it to a zealous higher-up); my wife pointed out that if this was an alternative to being in Iraq or Afghanistan, it might look quite good. Hadn't thought of it that way.
It would be interesting to see a map (were it possible to create one) of the flow of illegal immigration and how it percolates through the United States. I envision a dark smudge near the Arizona and Texas borders (for some reason, California doesn't seem likely in that role) as well as the New York, Michigan, and Washington State borders. In my guess, the effect of the immigration then trails down, sometimes skipping large areas, and puddling in major cities. I don't 'see' much in the center of the country.
Assuming thats true, or close to it, then that would mean that the primary cost of dealing with this would lie with the states where there is a port of entry, or a high resident alien population. But what about the flip side? If there is a benefit to having illegals here, as some have said, is it concentrated in the same areas? And is it proportal to the cost, or less, or greater?
I know I don't like the image of my country keeping people out at gun point, and I don't like the image of us demonizing people from one country. But I also don't like the image of us having to house and feed people who could not get that from their country of origin (or perhaps not get it as easily).
I need to think about this some more.
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Oh yes .. you must watch for those illegal Canadian immigrants. ;)
Maybe you can confirm this piece of info for me. I heard within this year the Canadian/USA border can only be crossed with a passport and no longer just a piece of picture ID. Is it really going to go into affect that soon?
I found the following at http://www.cbp.gov/xp/cgov/travel/vacation/kbyg/documentary_req.xml --
Documentary Requirements for Entry To The United States
Important Note: The Western Hemisphere Travel Initiative will soon require all travelers to and from the Americas, the Caribbean, and Bermuda to have a passport or other accepted form of documentation to enter or reenter the United States. The program will be rolled out in phases. The proposed timeline is as follows:
December 31, 2006: Requirement applied to all air and sea travel to or from Canada, Mexico, Central and South America, the Caribbean, and Bermuda.
December 31, 2007: Requirement extended to all land border crossings as well as air and sea travel.
Thanks for looking into that for me, Bill. Looks like I have till Dec 2007 before needing a passport to visit my sister in Washington. :)
If you're driving, yeah. In which case you would come relatively close to where we live.
When I say Washington, I mean Washington State (west coast). Isn't Pennsylvania in the East?
Technically.... I suppose we could try to move it further West so as to be in your travel path, but those Amish are hard to budge. Might take a while.
We have Menonites that are much the same. Deep roots.
Hah, well no Nanaimo bars for you, sir. ;)
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