La Frontera

The Border. That 2,100 mile line that separates the US from Mexico. Each and every day there seems to be some story about the pace of illegal immigration into this country. We are continually bombarded with statistics and numbers from both sides of this debate. Where does the real truth lie? We may never know....but I suspect it is somewhere in the middle of the two camps. If you have ever been there....you would see 2 stark realities....2 different worlds.

One world of wealth, one of abject poverty. The clash of ideologies and cultures. I have been to a number of the border cities over the years and it never ceases to amaze me the contrasts that exist.
Take El Paso, Texas for example. A medium sized city full of bustle and a developed city center. It looks to be your typical American city. But, walk across the border into Ciudad Juarez....and you are hit with the third world. One can stand on the US side of the Rio Bravo del Norte...as it is called in Mexico.....and gaze across to see the huge shanty town lining the banks of that river. Thousands of slapped together domiciles that are squeezed together like sardines. If that were not enough....you can watch children play in the dirty, polluted and toxic water flowing in that river. Indeed....2 worlds collide.....rival nations.

Not that I blame people for wanting to escape to the US to live and work.....but by the same token......there has to be limits to what we are willing to take in. In one of the latestest studies by the PEW Institute......there are estimated to be 11 million illegal aliens living in the US. Of those, 6 million are deemed to be from Mexico. Those people send aprroxomately 15 billion dollars back to their home country every year. Remember....this is money that is taken out of the US economy. By Mexico's own admission, the second highest income generator for Mexico....after tourism, is the money sent back by it's citizens living abroad. Most of this income is generated in the US.

The Border Patrol estimates that they only intercept 1 of every 2 illegal border crossers. The average number of arrests by the Border Patrol and CBP officers is around 1 million people per year.
Using their own statistics....an average of 2 million people a year enter the US illegally to live and work. At some time someone is going to have to step up to the plate and do something. Right now the hottest crossing places are between Douglas and Naco, Arizona. So as you would guess....the Border patrol has extra agencts assigned there. Still not enough to handle the thousands of people who make the crossing each day. What is the answer....short of annexing Mexico as a US territory? Well....definately the meaures we are now taking are no deterrent to this growing problem. It is an invasion.....an economic and social one....but an invasion none the less.

I hate to be harsh....but the US has to do something about it soon. I would hate to think of the public unrest and possible civil war that would likely result. What is the answer.....I just don't know. It is clear though that lack of action will only worsen the problem. It is similar to the blind eye Europe took of Hitler in the 30s. Had they acted when they should have.....instead of using the appeasement policies.....WW2 may have been prevented. That war cost Russia 20 million casualties alone. No where is the changing demographics more apparent than in Los Angeles. Within less than 15 years....the latino population has become the dominate majority. It is factored that by the year 2025...at the latest...all of California will have those same statistics. Just take a trip to most any public school in Los Angeles and Long Beach....and see what the ethinic makeup of the students are now. Statistics don't lie.

I guess since Mexico could not retain the Southwest in the war of 1848....they would reclaim it through demographics. It seems to be working very well. I know that many Mexicans feel that the southwest was "stolen" from them. But the reality remains...war is a part of human nature....and as have all winners of wars throughout history....to the victor goes the spoils. In fact....the US paid Mexico millions of dollars for the Gadsen purchase.

I suppose what I find most contradictory.....is how Mexico views the US. Often we are portrayed as an oppressive imperial power whose sole purpose is to make weaker nations bow down before its' might. You can really see this anytime Mexico plays the US in soccer. In LA....such games are flooded with Mexican pride as banners fly....and as the audience shouts anti-US slogans, or throws trash and spits on US players. You would think you were right in the middle of Mexico City....not LA.

I really love it when Mexico demands that the US stay out of its' internal affairs. Too ban they don't practice what they preach...as they are constantly trying to meddle in the internal affairs of the US. Their government tacitly exports milllions of illegal workers into the US to gain a valuable source of income. Just this last year alone....2 government sanctioned publications were printed explaining to would be "migrants" the best and safest ways to cross illegally into the US. If this isn't getting involved in the internal affairs of the US....I don't know what is.

Here is another kicker. Remember Prposition 187 in California? That proposition denying social services to illegals. Though it was supported by an overwhelming percentage of California residents....it was stopped cold by the federal courts. If you will also remember, our wannabe future LA Mayor, Antonio Villaraigosa, was standing shoulder to shoulder with Vicente Fox in Mexico City; as together they crowed about defeating prop 187. It really does make me wonder where Villaraigosa's loyalties lie. Whose side will he take if he becomes the next mayor of LA?

Yes...Mexico needs to practice what it preaches. And I am not even going to get into the criminal illegal aliens here...and of MS13 or Mara Salvatrucha. This hardcore gang of thugs now sweeping across much of the US. Nearly all are illegal immigrants. True, most of the members are not Mexican....but they use the same border to cross into the US...so Mexico is just as involved as we are.

If it were up to me....the immigration problem would be pushed to the forefront of our worries in this country. Not having Congress waste time getting involved in the Terri Shiavo case, or grilling baseball players about steriod use. Where the hell are our priorities at anyway and why do our politicians continue to ignore the will of most Americans to stop the flow? And people wonder why and how civil wars are started. Our government can start being more reponsive to this problem by quit being so damn "politically correct"! And the politicians need to stop pandering for latino votes no matter what the cost. Remember the Citizenship 2000 program used by Clinton.....what a fiasco. Where will it all end?