If Barriers Worked I Wouldn't Be Alive...

Okay, so I'm being facetious but only because THE WALL should be treated with one eyebrow cocked and a healthy dose of skepticism.

Let's start this discussion with a few clarifying points. First off we do not have wide open borders right now and acting like we do lets me know that you aren't really interested in a discussion of the actual situation. Next most liberals do not want wide open borders. Some do. Sure. I can find examples of liberals and hard core libertarians who absolutely think we shouldn't have any borders at all. Now they might feel that way for different reasons, the liberals think we should help anyone who comes to us for help and the libertarians/anarchists (there is a fine line between hard core libertarian and anarchist) think that borders are just government inventions that are put there to condition us to believing we can only go where government tells us we can go. 

So yeah, you can find the case to be made out there for open borders. But most people aren't there. 

Next not all conservatives want a wall because they are racists and hate other people. But some do. Just like you can find quotes from people who want no borders it's just as easy to find quotes from people who want borders because it will keep out the brown people.

And I will also say that at more than one time people with the "mainstream" view walk right up to that line. Pelosi saying that The Wall is immoral. Trump wondering why nobody from Norway wants to come to the US only people from those shithole countries and also his Muslim ban. But in the same interview where Pelosi said that The Wall is immoral she also said that we have a responsibility to control our borders, just that a wall isn't the right idea. And Trump doesn't care if you call it a wall, a barrier, steel slats or peaches (not even kidding) as long as he gets something he can show his base. So yeah, you can look at The Wall from a purely partisan stance and pick quotes from either side that will further your belief. 

However...

That's stupid.

Yes, I said it. That's stupid. And can we please stop being stupid and starting getting stuff done? 

We need to fix our entire immigration system. We need to look at it from top to bottom. We need to look at what we are doing to contribute to the conditions in South American countries that are causing people to leave in mass to try to get here. We need to find answers that work. Not rhetoric that doesn't. And, by the way, could we learn from past mistakes?

For instance the amnesty under Reagan and the border tightening under Clinton both had unforeseen consequences arise. But now we have seen them so maybe we should learn from them. And how shocked are some of you that the Republican was the amnesty and the Democrat was the lock down? Things shift, so don't act like your party has ALWAYS done it this way, they haven't.

Granting amnesty is thought to have increased the number of people who came AFTER the time period was closed. The belief was that amnesty was for anyone. It wasn't but that's a big dream to float out to the world. Tightening the border under Clinton by building more barriers over some of the easier spots to cross and making the punishment for illegal crossings more extreme did two things. One it ended the flux. Migrants come over work the harvest, then leave and spend the off season with their families in Mexico. Once the punishment became too high to risk crossing back and forth they stayed. So net illegal immigration increased, not decreased. Also by blocking off the easier routes it funneled people in to the more dangerous areas to cross. And people die there. And we knew they would. And we know they do. And we still funnel people to those more dangerous areas. It doesn't prevent them from trying to cross but it does mean they are more likely to die in the desert from starvation and dehydration (the immoral part of Pelosi's argument, by the way).

So we know that full scale open and accept doesn't really work. And we know that block and punish doesn't work. So what do we do?

Well we need to understand the real problems before we can solve them. So you have to accept that illegal crossings from the southern border are at record lows. Even with big scary caravans coming. (put a pin in that we will come back to it). They started dropping off at the end of Bush the younger kept getting lower during Obama and stayed low. There was a dip again when Trump took office that can possibly be attributed to his hardline rhetoric but since that didn't stick and the numbers went back up to where they were before (yet still historically low) we can't really think hardline works. So why did it drop off? It's the economy, stupid. See our economy tanked. There weren't jobs to be had so people didn't make the trek.

This lets you know that the reasons for most of the crossing on the southern border are economic. Not due to drug smuggling or more opportunity for the raping or other criminal activity. Which the president wants to have you believe so you can believe we NEED a wall. It's economic. People want to come here because they can't make money where they are. 

Okay, back to the caravans. Those scary scary things that Fox told you all about right up until the election when they stopped talking about them. They aren't coming as a voting block, or a George Soros sponsored scare tactic. They are coming, again due to economics and also due to fear. Where they are is dangerous. It's also why they come in caravans. Safety in numbers. The journey from South and Central America is dangerous. But living in an area where gangs have overtaken the entire system and you are under threat is even more dangerous. So they come here. And seek asylum. Which is perfectly legal. So stop saying they are coming illegally. They aren't.

And why is there such a big drug and violence problem? Because there is a huge demand for the drugs. From us. Here. In the states. So their countries are paying the price for our addictions and then we want to turn them away at the border because it's not our issue. Man, again that immoral line from Pelosi kind of rings true doesn't it?

Anyway...so the number of illegal crossings is down. Where are the majority of illegal immigrants coming from? Legal entry. The come in legally. On what is supposed to be a temporary visit and then they stay. Still the highest numbers. On planes. That a wall wouldn't stop. 

And what about those drugs? They come in hidden with other shipments. Smuggled in through legal ports of entry. They aren't being hand carried over the border. We use way too much of them for that to be practical. Ships a lot of the time. Again, no wall is going to stop that. 

And just to top it off, you know what happened when a large group was stopped at the border and told that they couldn't come in? That it would take ages for them to even get a hearing on their asylum claim? And they sat and stared at that wall for months? They started digging under it. Tunnels. Walls don't work against tunnels. 

So what would a wall do? It would give Trump something he can say "Look! I built a wall!" It will take property away from people who own it. From Native American tribes who have reservations that cross the US / Mexico border line. It will prevent natural migratory patterns for wild animals. It will funnel people away from where the wall is to more and more dangerous areas to cross (rivers and cliffs and more desert). But will it really secure the border? Prevent drugs from crossing? Keep people from entering legally and overstaying their visas?

What we need is real work, not a symbolic gesture.

We need more drug treatment facilities in the United States and less stigma around seeking help. Stop the flow of drugs across the border by stemming the demand. Then we need to see how we can help the countries whose economies we have wrecked with our drug demand. We broke it, we need to help to fix it. 

We need to really look at our migrant worker visa program and make adjustments. We need those workers just like those workers need us. In places where they've locked down the illegal workforce there hasn't been a huge influx of Americans taking those jobs. They don't want them. So why do we keep pretending they do?  Make it EASIER not harder for people who want the jobs to do them. I think a "fast lane" for people coming in and out to work would be great. Like my TSA precheck at the airport. People could get some sort of super processing and then be able to cross back and forth for work more easily. Let them go home to their families between jobs. 

And then look at our jobs again. Why is there a difference between what jobs Americans will take or are qualified for? Where is our skills gap? Or our pay gap? Or our expectations gap? Look at the problem and fix it from the root. Don't demonize the people who want those jobs or the employers who need those jobs filled. Figure out what it takes to have an American workforce and also where it might not make sense to have one. If it is easier to have a migrant farming community, make one. 

Look at the border and see where and what security is actually needed? Where does a barrier make sense and where doesn't it? Where would it be better to have electronic monitoring? We have technology why don't we use it? 

Stop treating people who want to better their lives as criminals. The way you talk about people makes an impact. 

Look at our legal entry system and what ways we could be better about tracking when people don't leave when they should.  And then what we do about that.

We need to put caps on DACA and make it complete. Start from right now and say this is the hard end date. Register your children, register adults who fall in to the top date, and you get this form of citizenship. These are kids, now adults, who have only known the USA as their home. To send them away is cruel and wrong and we shouldn't do it. We need to give them a path to citizenship. We need to bring them out of the shadows. But we also need to be able to say this is it. And we need to get that information out to other countries. But if we do the other things maybe we won't have an ongoing issue.

We need to look at the TPS people. There are people that came under TPS who have been here for decades. Why would we feel the need to send them away? And for some it's not like the situation for them is now better. We are sending people back to the same problems they fled from. If we accept people under TPS we need to change the T to P. Maybe they aren't fully granted citizenship, maybe they can never vote, but they are here, they are working, they are contributing. They don't have to fear being sent home. But they are welcome to go home when the danger has passed.

We need more immigration lawyers and judges. The backlog for hearing cases is outrageous. If we could clear cases and get people settled either here or there it would make a difference. And no matter what your hardliners keep telling you, the majority of people do actually come back for their court case even if they have been released to live in the states while they wait. Of course they do. They want to be here legally. To feel safe from deportation. And by the way, anyone who was waiting on their immigration hearing and the date came up during the shutdown? They were moved back to the back of the line. So years and years waiting only to have to now wait many more years again. 

I am sure there are a lot more things out there that can be done. A lot more ideas. But we need to start working toward those things.

And one more since this is already really long and I don't honestly think anyone is still reading. Stop telling people about the "right way to do it."

Asking for asylum (the majority of the people in caravans) is not illegal. It is a right way to do it.

That friend of yours who applied and did the three years not working while living here under temporary status and is now a citizen and thinks we should close the door behind them? The only thing they have in common with the people at the southern border is that they were born in a different country. 

They weren't running for their lives.
They had enough money, or enough contacts here in the states, that they could afford not to work for multiple years. 
Their story is not the same.

I'm glad they had a path to come. I'm glad they are so comfortable being here that they feel the freedom to tell other people to go away. But they aren't the same. Stop pretending that this is the only or even the best way to immigrate. If you are running for your life you don't have three years to wait. 

Which brings me to my last point. Trump talking about declaring a National Emergency to get his wall built.

Be careful what you wish for. Be careful of the rhetoric around using isolated cases of crimes being committed by people in the country illegally to build support. (illegal immigrants are statistically less likely to commit crime, by the way) He has you scared of a boogeyman illegal immigrant shooting you so he gets his National Emergency wall passed and the next Democrat in office has a path for National Emergency on the gun that the illegal immigrant used, or the climate change that drove him out of his farming community when the crops all dried up...you see my point? Government overreach rarely stops reaching.

If it wasn't a National Emergency for the last two years while he held the House and the Senate, it's not an emergency now.

But our immigration system is broken.

It does need work.

Pressure your congresspeople to do it.