Border Insecurities

"A number of people who have supported me on the border fence in the U.S. have observed the fences in Israel and their effectiveness."-Duncan Hunter (House of Representative of San Diego)

In 2005, Congress handed Michael Chertoff was granted the power to suspend any laws that may impede on fence building across the U.S.-Mexico International Border. Last week, Chertoff acted on these granted powers and suspended 30 laws that vary from protection of endangered species (like the Bald Eagle, the very symbol of the States), the environment and even Native American burial grounds. Though people like Sec. Chertoff and Rep. Hunter would argue in favor of these measures, sighting domestic security would be compromised without the fence.

However, this is not the case. I feel like I have to repeat the fact that the terrorists responsible for the terrorist attack of 9/11 did not in fact come through the Mexican/American Border far too often. They crossed through the Canadian Border. There is also the issue of the rising death toll of illegal immigrant crossings, which is up a staggering 500% in the past four year (Cited). As the economic issue continues to worsten in Mexico, a result of the free-market that allows 1/5 of the nation to live in extreme poverty while a single individual, Carlos Slim Helú, is the second richest individual in the world. The 1994 NAFTA agreement still has yet to have the return anything to the actual Mexican citizens.

As for the crime claim, studies released by the FBI have shown that of all crimes commited, 19% are committed by foreign-born people, which is proportionate with the 19.6% of the population they represent. (Cited) And as for how often crime is committed by repeat offenders, "This recidivism (repeat offender) rate of 37 percent was well below the 66 percent figure for the U.S. criminal population for the comparable period. (Cited)"

Though this is just scratching the surface of the complexity of the issues with immigration and national security, I feel by talking about these issues, we can open dialog to actually resolve these issues. American citizens cannot allow this Administration to continue to go unchecked and further damage our image internationally. More to come on domestic terrorism, indigenous resistance and a favorite of mine, NAFTA and the Zapatista movement. If you want to find some more reading, I'd advise reading on here