Rancher fighting illegal immigration says fence not the answer

Rancher fighting illegal immigration says fence not the answer

www.statesman.com

BROOKS COUNTY — Though he is not in law enforcement, Mike Vickers is a witness to the gruesome, tragic consequences of illegal immigration. He sees them in his "backyard" amid the vast, rugged ranches of South Texas.

Large processions of illegal immigrants and human and drug smugglers, sometimes in groups of 30 or more, regularly cut through his cattle ranch south of Falfurrias to skirt a Border Patrol checkpoint. The checkpoint off U.S. 281 is about four miles south of Vickers' home and (...)

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This is a serious problem since over 3 million people cross the border illegally and nobody really seems to care about it, except people who live nearby or those who are later replaced by cheap work force. Another issue is homeland security, but Homeland Security is not doing anything to prevent terrorists from entering US illegally.

www.statesman.com
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Check this excellent video you won't see on mainstream media:

Google Video Link

[edit on 2-7-2007 by sb2012]

The barrier isn't the answer, but it is a barrier.

I agree that much more needs to be done to secure the border, but a fence/barrier won't hurt.

Well, obviously just a fence isn't going to do much good. If we don't increase our border patrol or place troops on the border, we are just spitting in the wind.

You might be interested in this story:

The recruitment of agents and their retention have long been challenges for the agency, which began the decade with little more than 4,000 of them and would have 18,000 by the end of 2008 under the president's plan. The agency recently raised the maximum age of cadets to 40 from 37 and has stepped up recruiting with a television commercial draped in patriotic themes and broadcast in large cities in the North and the Midwest, the idea being to widen the pool of applicants beyond the Southwest, a customary stronghold.

www.nytimes.com

The agency has also been having particular trouble recruiting blacks and Asians, with whites accounting for 35 percent of recent hires and Latinos 62 percent. Blacks and Asians each account for less than 1 percent.

source

That is pretty amazing to me. There are more Hispanics on our border patrol than whites or blacks? I certainly didn't realize that.

I do think that it is a good thing that they are training more border patrol. It will be interesting to see if this continues or just falls by the wayside.

This is a huge problem. Instead of leaving our troops overseas in Iraq and other such places lets bring them home and close our borders. We don't really need to have as many bases overseas as we do. We do however, need to control our own borders.

If some one wishes to immigrate here legally that's fine. If that person is willing to become a citizen with all the attendant rights and responsibilities then let's welcome them with open arms. If however, they are not then they need to stay away.