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The Border Fence (USA/Mexico)
I've been seeing a lot of news today about problems with the placement of the border fence in Texas. There is a great line in this article from someone working on the fence project where they essentially say, "If we told you what metrics we are using to place the fence than the illegals would figure out how to get around it."
I know people like to tease Digg for their, "if we told you the algorhythm people would game it" or the old, "I'd tell you but then I would have to kill you" line but this is just ridiculous!
We have contractors building a fence through some people's homes yet bypassing a golf course. We also have people who own land that is on both sides of the international border and the govt. wants to put a fence right through the middle of their property! I was reading one account of a family that used to own 12K acres of land on the border but it has been whittled down to 3 acres after all the wars. (The land was granted to her great-great-great...etc grandparents when Mexico was part of the Spanish empire.
Building the wall is really a "feel good" move by politicians. If they would instead remove the impetus for people to illegally cross the border we would not need a wall.
I'd like to say we should prosecute business owners who hire illegals but you know that never works out because half of them will say they did not know and you will end up with the other half getting punished because the illegal had very sophisticated forged documents. The only thing I can think of that might work is to offer some sort of "migrant worker" visa that allows someone to come up from Mexico to work for a short period of time (perhaps a year or two). We also need to get rid of the "have a kid on American soil and the kid is American and you can not be deported" rule.
I'm all for people coming over the border legally to work and live the American dream but I am not for people coming over the border illegally and not assimilating into the country. I'm also against the idea of illegals having to live in fear of being deported. I'm not entirely certain of how to fix the problems that cause people to cross the border illegally. Is it that bad in Mexico?
We could just use the same policies that Mexico uses on people that cross their southern border but... I hear their system tends to end violently for those crossing the border into Mexico.
I know people like to tease Digg for their, "if we told you the algorhythm people would game it" or the old, "I'd tell you but then I would have to kill you" line but this is just ridiculous!
We have contractors building a fence through some people's homes yet bypassing a golf course. We also have people who own land that is on both sides of the international border and the govt. wants to put a fence right through the middle of their property! I was reading one account of a family that used to own 12K acres of land on the border but it has been whittled down to 3 acres after all the wars. (The land was granted to her great-great-great...etc grandparents when Mexico was part of the Spanish empire.
Building the wall is really a "feel good" move by politicians. If they would instead remove the impetus for people to illegally cross the border we would not need a wall.
I'd like to say we should prosecute business owners who hire illegals but you know that never works out because half of them will say they did not know and you will end up with the other half getting punished because the illegal had very sophisticated forged documents. The only thing I can think of that might work is to offer some sort of "migrant worker" visa that allows someone to come up from Mexico to work for a short period of time (perhaps a year or two). We also need to get rid of the "have a kid on American soil and the kid is American and you can not be deported" rule.
I'm all for people coming over the border legally to work and live the American dream but I am not for people coming over the border illegally and not assimilating into the country. I'm also against the idea of illegals having to live in fear of being deported. I'm not entirely certain of how to fix the problems that cause people to cross the border illegally. Is it that bad in Mexico?
We could just use the same policies that Mexico uses on people that cross their southern border but... I hear their system tends to end violently for those crossing the border into Mexico.
Comments
Out of those three, we should be able to manage at least two of them.
I've picked up at least the basics on four languages other than English just by travelling in Europe while in the Army. I also took Latin in high school which helped set the ground work in my head for picking up Romance languages.
It is a shame that many Americans do not speak more than one language.
I remember spending a week in Lorette De Marr (I know I butchered the spelling) in Spain and marvelling at the fact that the girls out in front of clubs trying to get people to come in often spoke 5 or more languages, fluently no less! We always told them we were from Canada, we got better deals and were not seen as marks that way.
The lack of bilingual training in America is a problem, a big problem, but it is not an immigration problem.
"Blah blah blah hot dog blah blah blah Cadillac blah blah blah blah Television..."
If you study the entomology of languages you can see where a new language entered and brought about changes in the native tongue. The reverse can be seen by looking at American English and the Queen's English. Even though those two languages are 95% the same differences have evolved.
And when I have visited other countries, I spent some time, BEFOREHAND, learning enough to get by. Before, not after, I got there. English is a hard to learn second language, yes, but we ARE the most powerful country in the world, and it has worked damn fine as a language for us.
You people go on and on about how many languages people in other countries know. How many people speak English around the world? And why can't people coming here be held to a standard of knowing languages? And they are coming here, it is common courtesy to conform to the laws and culture of the residing people when visiting them. If you don't agree, you are basically saying it is okay for me to go to the Middle East and throw bacon at the Jawas.
That is the definition of hypocrisy.
Did you know, that the 2nd largest income for México is all the money being sent back by illegal and legal immigrants from the US?
Did you know, that the 2nd largest city with Mexicans, besides Mexico city is L.A.?
I agree that this is a big problems, for both countries. But building a wall is not the way, this requires a shift in policy and a level of cooperation that hasn't been seen as far as a I know before.
EDIT: English for immigrants
I now a lot of people that speak spanish at home and english at school or at work. It is our culture, and maybe it will change eventually with different generations.
However, this thing about why putting spanish instructions on food or other things comes down to money. It is not that corporations do not have balls, the thing is that they like money better. :P
By the way this is salchipapa
If Mexico were to become a state it would be subject to the same laws American companies currently adhere to in regards to hiring workers and their salaries. Can Mexican companies afford to have to pay their workers a minimum wage equivalent to $6.50 per hour or so? What about infrastructure improvements and other improvements?
Politically do you really think the American political parties would want to allow Mexico into their system? There are enough Mexicans (100K+) in Mexico to make a third party a very viable entity. Even though Mexicans are expected to vote Democratic they could easily form their own third party instead.
If Mexico were to be seriously entertained as joining the USA it would have to be as multiple states, not just one. There is also the language barrier to think about. Besides, what does the USA gain by adding them as a state?
Also El Salvador is very small, really small. I mean I have seen counties in the USA larger than El Salvador. Nevertheless, it is a beautifull country small as it is but I think it would be easier to assimiliate one county than a county of the size of Texas.