A loose observation from a trip to the Mexican border:
You can unpack the issue of illegal immigration into two big parts: ordinary people coming here to work and organized cartels coming here to sell drugs. Lieutenant RJ Rodriguez, a deputy to Santa Cruz County Sheriff Tony Estrada, took us into downtown Nogales. A huge old-style fence runs through it, stretching for 20 miles. On one side of the border is the relatively prosperous Arizona city of Nogales. On the other is Sonoran city of Nogales, where the poverty means families will continue to be drawn across that fence.
Lieutenant Rodriguez tells Bill Wolff and me that when he stands at the border there, he sees that people on that side are watching us, too. It's hard to spot, but that grey/white line beside the low red-and-white sign is a video camera on a tall pole. Standing on the hill in Arizona, we could see the camera swivel to change focus. Who's looking through it at us? Local police? Drug runners? Rodriguez didn't know.
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Maybe this is a bit espionage-y, but it doesn't look there's enough infrastructure on the Sonoran side for that camera to be transmitting its data over a landline. Instead, it's probably talking to "whoever" wirelessly. If that's the case, presumably border control could pick up (and maybe decrypt) the signal as well. (Not sure exactly how that helps, but at least we'd know exactly what "they" were looking at.)
this is really amazing footage. Good for you guys for going down there and seeing what is really going on, just like in Afghanistan, just like in the Gulf of Mexico and talking to the people who are there. I have to be honest though, that I am conflicted about immigration. I see no problem with coming over and then applying for asylum and citizenship, but don't think that the children of people who come in illegally should have their children have natural citizenship, but I know that the constitution says it is okay.
I don't know why you have a problem with that. It worked just fine for Bruce Lee.
Where does it stop, eaglelady11? If it's not right for anyone born in the US *now* to be a US national because of that, was it right 50 years ago? 100? Was it wrong for the 19th century immigrants? 18th? The people in the Mayflower did not have permission from anyone on this continent. Would you argue they should have not been here?
I agree 100% with this comment. My family immigrated to the US through Ellis Island in the early 1900s. What's different then from now? Why not give people the opportunity to make a better life for themselves -- as my grandparents and great grandparents did less than 100 years ago?
I am remembering this joke from some stand up comedian:
"There has always been an illegal immigrant problem in this country. Just ask the Native Americans"
I see your point, however, if someone is going to come into the country to get a better life they should become citizens; even the people who came here from Ellis Island eventually became US citizens. My family emigrated from Italy.
I am all for bringing your tired, poor huddled masses to our shores. What is the percentage of people who then try to become american citizens, or is the system already set up against them? I personally know one of the ladies who works at the school I attend, got a job and was here on a visa or something and then got citizenship.
I got my first eye-opening look at the US-Mexico border while conducting a helicopter flight from Yuma to Nogales along the border. My client-passenger was a photojournalist interested in capturing images of illegal border crossers. We saw quite a bit of activity from the air -- and none of it was anywhere near towns like Nogales. People cross out in the open desert and head for dry washes sheltered from the air by tall cottonwood trees. That's where they meet the coyotes who force them to leave behind bags and bags of personal belongings before boarding a vehicle to head north. We covered a 200-mile stretch in about 2-1/2 hours. John McCain wants a fence there? He obviously hasn't seen the terrain.
Will Rachel and the research team discuss drug prohibition and the effects it has on both sides of the border?
On the issue of "anchor babies" and the 14th Amendment, I would be interested to know how Gov. of Louisiana Bobby Jindal feels about the new Republican issue. He, after all is himself an "Anchor Baby." If it weren't for the 14th Amendement, he'd likely be doing Tech-support calls in India right now for $20 a week.
7 deleted, Ryan-817 banned, spamming a blog address and nothing more.
I would bet my bum that the Arizona Immigration Law is going to be used to intimidate voters guilty of voting-while-Hispanic in the fall elections. Hispanic voters tend to vote Democratic. You're going to hear more attacks on the 'crisis in illegal voting' similar to the ones on Acorn during the last few elections. The goal ultimately is to preserve political power and to make people(especially Hispanic Democratic voters) afraid to vote. Good job, Rachel!!
Important to note that the section of wall where the interviews were done, commonly known as The W6, has very nice acoustic properties and works well as an instrument.
I've been playing "wall music" for and with people on both sides of the wall for roughly five years now.
To hear The Nogales Wall and others along the border sounding: http://www.sonicanta.com
Various border wall sounding videos are also available at: http://www.youtube.com/user/glennweyant
Stay tuned,
Glenn Weyant