Posted by
Gayle Plato-Besley, M. Ed. on Monday, February 18, 2008 1:11:13 PM
by Gayle Plato-Besley, M. Ed.
Almost every poll of voter concerns lists illegal immigration as a top problem. Voters want to know how we are going to stop the flood of illegals coming in, and protect us from the threat of terrorists walking through the back door. The answer could be a fence or a promise of military might, but truthfully none of these ideas has legs. We cannot cut of the trafficking of illegals at the knees because the problem is NOT JUST about movement but about flow.
The flood is money not people. Illegals are coming for work, yes, but much of the border runs like puss out of a wound, as foreigners come here to deliver drugs. We Americans crave drugs; the organized crime of trafficking narcotics is a golden path full of promise for the poor and marginally surviving of Mexico. Rodger Baker, of Stratfor, Inc., writes of the dilemma:
"By some estimates, some $24 billion a year is transferred to Mexico as a result of the drug trade. This is essentially free money and needs to go somewhere, making it a substantial portion of the Mexican economy. While the Mexican government is keen to stop the violence along the border and among the cartels, in some ways it is less interested in stopping the flow of money"
There is an economic revolution going on in Mexico and an emerging middle class is coming to the surface, much based on infrastructure laundered or simply infused by the drug cartels funneling the funds into the local ecomomy. How do you tell families in Mexico to not prosper from local business created directly from blood money of the drug-addled Americans?
Mexico prospers form the funds, while US Citizens lose on every level. We lose from the trafficking, the illegals coming in, the funds going out, and mostly the ripple effect of drug use as a societal and economic drain.
So how do we seal the border? Baker discusses this question:
"The problem, of course, with completely sealing a border is that it stops trade, something the United States is not willing to do. Therefore, if the United States cannot effectively seal the border without risking trade, it instead can channel the flow of traffic and migration across the border. But even by channeling the flow, it is extremely difficult to separate the illegal trade from the legal." (http://www.stratfor.com/weekly/big_business_organized_crime_mexico)
Do we put a virtual tag on every vehicle person crossing? How do we follow each delivery when the organization of the crime is technologically cutting edge: cloned UPS and FED-EX trucks alone are almost impossible to stop. Money can be transferred electronically, with any myriad of ways like an eBay 'purchase' and Paypal money so funds never see a border at all. The Black Market is on a Greenback Super-Highway.
Identity theft is a huge business with Illegal Immigants snagging mock papers. According to Lifelock, one of the newest trends is to steal American children's identities. They've social security numbers and no parent thinks about their child having a credit history. By the time a child gets to college age, he or she may have years of data bastardized, stolen through the slippery firewalls of virtual reality.
All of this is a factor of the drug culture needed for the black market of trafficking illegals and substances. As we know in any free market full of money, the only way to shut off the valve is to turn off demand. Each candidate for President needs to talk of more than the politcal emotion evoker: the poor families suffering to get a job in America. John McCain, Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton better talk about how do we stop the run for the border? We must look at the programs to pump up our education of children and young adults about how drugs kill not only by using but because they fuel evil and degradation here.
We must also talk of the need to help Mexico help itself with infrastructure and middle class development of trade. Our money is better spent helping Mexicans stay at home instead of just talking about helping the many here. We already help the aliens here; we must look at helping them not WANT to be here.
Our Sheriff Joe Arpaio in Maricopa County has proven that pressuring the day laborers and shaking down the illegals has a ripple effect of illegal exodus. The families are leaving in such large numbers that some school districts are seeing a 20% decline in enrollment. This is monumental. Stop the aliens we find, and the family members of said illegal gets worried. My personal account is as a citizen driving through Cave Creek, AZ-- I see the sheriff's deputies stopping and questioning people every day. The number of day laborers loitering is significantly down, and the visable workers offering lawn services are now ghosts. They are leaving town.
This is a huge problem, yes, but I implore John McCain to get the honest, smart talking conversation going where he explains the complexities and the need to stop the illegals of the border before ANY get to it.