Should the Border Be Closed at All Costs and End Illegal Immigration?
We had a lively discussion, so I figured we could continue that online. Feel free to post questions and opinions on the topic here.
Tuesday, November 22, 2011
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I just want to apologize to anyone who felt offended by the views that were expressed in class today.
ReplyDeleteI think closing the border is a terrible idea. Build a wall in some places, and migrants will go around it. Build a wall across the whole border, and migrants will dig under it. Collapse the tunnels, and they'll start flying over the border and parachuting in. By then we'll have spent so much money closing the border even the most radical estimates of how much immigrants are costing our country will look like lunch money, and we'll have made an enemy out of Mexico. Why don't we use that same money to help boost their economy, increasing the incentive to stay in Mexico, if we're so worried about immigrants coming? Or just help them come legally, stop whining about Mexicans destroying our precious white culture, and use the money to make our education not suck or just give it back in tax cuts.
ReplyDeleteI think the most important aspect of the debate about closing the border is not that illegal immigrants are ruining our white culture, it's how dangerous it is to have such an insecure border. First of all, there's no way Mexicans are going to be parachuting into the US if we build a wall around it, not only will they be incredibly easy to catch, it will cost a ton to do that. If they were to dig under the wall they'd be ridiculously easy to catch as well and it'd be incredibly hard to survive that kind of journey. But regardless of that, the main reason why the border should be secured is because an insecure border is destroying Mexico. The entire reason that Mexico is so violent and dangerous right now is because of the guns and drugs that are being supplied by America. It's easy to fall into this mindset that all immigrants are good people trying to support their families but that's not the case. Even if only 1% of illegal immigrants are bringing and taking guns and drugs, that's still at least 100,000 people. That's a TON of people to be involved in gangs! Once a gang has grown that big, it is so easy for it to have commanding influence in any city. People will easily come to fear them. Once they fear them, they either join them of spend their lives in danger. If those hypothetical 100,000 people separate into 100 cities that's still 1,000 gang members per city which is also a ridiculously high and threatening number. If we don't stop this now this problem will only increase. Not only will Mexico be a terrible place to live, but soon our own cities are going to be threatened big time. I think a wall on the southern border would make it easier for border patrol to catch people coming to America illegally, but it is not necessarily the best option. Either way we should have A LOT more guest worker programs for the Mexicans that aren't dangerous and we should make it easy to apply and be accepted into. This will keep out the dangerous people, give us documentation on the people that are here, and ultimately help both countries.
ReplyDeleteThe border does not to be closed at "all costs" per say. Part of America is allowing other to come and visit in order to learn more about who we are and what we value. We also are known as a country who helps others out in their time of need. By closing the border America would become less diverse and I honestly love the diversity in America. I grew up in an area that was surrounded by people of all nationalities and I love what I learned from these people. Instead of closing the border we simply need to regulate it better, controlling who can and can not enter. Another thing to do would be to provide more protection on the border and possibly add walls in the areas that bring in the most illegal immigrants. The border shouldnt be something that keeps everyone out at all costs but rather something that simply differentiates
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Katherine Watts
Although my character for the town meeting was to argue for the closing of the border, I don't necessarily believe that closing the border at ALL costs would be the best idea. Like others have argued, it has been shown that once we build a wall, immigrants will find a way around it, under it, over it. I think that by closing the border around the entire nation, the pressure from illegal immigrants to enter the country would just increase. I think that it would even heighten security risks rather than decrease them. It might be a better idea to enforce the laws we already have. I think it would be best to crack down on big businesses that are hiring undocumented workers, because that's what lures them here in the first place. They know someone somewhere will hire them.
ReplyDeleteClosing the borders wouldn't be a positive end to illegal immigration, and not to mention the tremendous financial burden it places on the US, and it's not like we need any more debt.
ReplyDeleteIn a sense, building a wall would be a drastic solution for an on-going controversial topic, and not many drastic solutions really work.
There are other ways that can help decrease illegal immigration, like putting more stipulations and rules against employers that hire illegals to work. This is only good for the employer, but overall is not that beneficial to the economy since illegal immigrants have a lack of education and don't generally contribute to the US becoming more of an international competitor. Illegal immigrants are just as illegal as their employer counterparts are for hiring them, so unless they devise a plan similar to Australia and focus on the economic advantages that immigrants can bring to the table, then this debate will continue to move on without any solutions for a long time.
Ok let me reiterate the fact that it's a ridiculous assumption that we couldn't close the border if we tried. If we built a wall around America it would definitely stop A LOT of immigrants if not most of them. Our current laws are garbage because of two reason: A. we don't enforce them and B. if we did it would negatively affect our economy. Having laws that don't help our economy need to be changed. Let's keep the bad illegals out and the good illegals in
ReplyDeleteI think it is a good idea to secure the border, however, I don't think it's possible to close the border around the entire United States. It will cost tons of money to first build a wall or whatever, and it will continuously cost money to keep the border closed. I don't think the government has enough money for that. Rather, governemnt should come up with a new immigration law that can encourage people to come legally than illegally, then there won't be a need for closing the border.
ReplyDeleteOkay, assume we CAN completely close the border. The time, money, and overall amount of resources that would be required to achieve such an endeavor would be insane. Not only would we need a wall, we'd need some way to keep people from tunneling, boating up the coast, and any other possible way of circumventing a wall. Beyond this, we'd need a heck of a lot of manpower to patrol and enforce our wall and whatnot. Would the benefits of all this be worth it? I don't think so. I think it'd be so much more effective to direct our attention to eliminating push factors, etc.
ReplyDeleteThe money and resources to create a physical border between Mexico and the United States would not be as high as all of you are claiming. To make a standard prison fence it would only cost the United States government 851 million dollars. Now before any of you start to say that's a lot of money take into account that illegal immigrants cost the government of Arizona 1.3 billion to 2.5 billion dollars EACH YEAR. A one time fee of 851 million or even 2 billion (the cost of a twelve foot high two feet thick concrete wall) is not that high. With the wall, less manpower would be needed to secure the border which would give the US government more money to hire customs workers that could help Mexican immigrants come to the US as safe guest workers rather than continue having a border open to dangerous immigrants who are taking guns and drugs to and from Mexico. Clearly the benefits would be absolutely worth it.
ReplyDeleteClosing the border would only create more conflict and tension between the US and other countries. Immigrants would definitely find a way around the so called fence. In the time that it would take to build the fence, fights and chaos would break out. It would really only segregate our country further. I don't agree with this building of a fence or wall.
ReplyDeleteTake a step out of your shell and think about the economic repercussions building a wall would have on the country. You said that 2 billion dollars isn't a lot of money? In who's eyes?! That money could be used to implement public policy laws that help illegal immigrants apply legally. Immigration is not a physical issue, it's an economic issue. To justify building that expensive of a wall is absurd. Laws need to be enforced, implemented, and created. Walls don't need to be built.
ReplyDeleteWere you even paying attention to my argument? I already told you the costs of illegal immigrants on Arizona's economy. It's easily justifiable when you begin to mention the fact that illegal immigrants costs one state 1.3-2 billion dollars A YEAR. One time payment of 851 million for a prison fence is nothing. So obviously in the eyes of the American government and any rational human being. How would saving money be an economic repercussion? Building a fence would be an inexpensive way to begin enforcing the laws that we have while keeping the violence out of America, and we could have that fence up in two years. Are you aware of the drugs and guns being exchanged between America and Mexico? And tell me how all 11 million illegal immigrants would find a way around the fence? All of the proposed methods of immigrants avoiding the fence can be easily shut down. Parachuting across the border? Mexicans are really going to afford to fly over the border? Without having to constantly watch out for people simply running across the border it would be much easier to see airplanes coming to and from Mexico. As for digging under it, it's going to be incredibly easy for border patrol to see a giant hole between the fences. Building a fence would make it easier for border patrol to protect the border so we could open our border through guest worker programs rather than letting random people come through undocumented.
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