I live 19 miles from Mexico. We lock our doors and travel armed.

Not because I have anything against Hispanics, but because I live 19 miles from Mexico.

This is something some people have trouble grasping.
Yes there are a zillion Mexicans coming in illegally, that are just poor starving people that are willing to work hard to support themselves and their families back home, blah blah blah.

BUT, if you are a Mexican criminal running from the police, or the army, where can you be safe? USA.
If you are a Mexican criminal looking for money, as most criminals are, where's the money? USA.
If you are a Mexican smuggler, where are you going to smuggle to? USA.

If we don't know who's coming in, how do we ferret out the criminal element, which is significant and increasingly violent?

Maybe the US should pay the illegal immigrants to build the wall to keep themselves out.

Actually we should hire Israelis, they know how to build a wall.

Or the germans

No, their wall sucked, only the no man's land, barbed wire and machine guns were really effective.

Funny story about that.

I know one of the main contractors for the portion of the (mostly symbolic) wall built in Arizona. Guy owns a pretty good size crane company. He watched some guys being hauled off the concrete crew by INS.

On the other hand, over in Benson, the guy who owns the wreckers caught 4 illegals on his property (crossing the border). He held them at gunpoint until INS arrived. He was sued for "mental cruelty" by the four, represented by some ambulance chasers from Sierra Vista. He wound up settling with them at $78,000.

Next time, I think he'll "be scared" because "they were coming right at him". I mean, what the FUCK was that judge thinking?

We can't afford (in terms of dollars or cash) to man a front that long indefinitely.

No problem, with a decent wall, plenty of electronic sensors and drones in the air, we could be 99.9 % effective.

Or dust off MacArthur's plan for keeping the Chinese out of Korea. ;)

Fuck that. Like I said, I'm 19 miles from the border. So you can understand that I'm not in favor of that last bit.

Somehow I didn't think you'd be enthusiastic about that one. :lol2:

pffft.

Good idea. :D

Decriminalise drugs.

Put the money saved into rehab programmes.
And a bit of the current "defence" budget into helping previously Taliban-supported poppy growers to find a new crop, because all opium previously bound for the US will now be grown in the US.

Buy American!

Phooey!

Screw the wall. Dredge out the Rio Grande, extend it to the Pacific and make it a navigable canal like the Panama Canal. Let Mexico be a half partner on the construction, maintenance and operation and we'll have thousands of jobs on both sides of the border, going on forever. And a natural barrier to illegals coming across the river, which as it stands now, can be crossed without getting one's knees wet.

I like my idea better than the wall, which will be tunneled under before it's even finished.