Realism alert.
The funniest aspect of this whole immigration debate is the right-wing idea that a wall next to Mexico would "secure our borders."
It won’t.
- Only about 23% of our undocumented or illegal (take your pick) workers are Mexican.
- We have a Free Trade Agreement (remember the giant sucking sound) that prevents us from closing the land borders to our north and south.
- Anyone with a valid passport can cross the border at any crossing point (by land, sea or air), say they’re a tourist, get the passport stamped, then toss it and become someone else very, very quickly. That’s how the vast majority of the undocumented get here.
No system of "identity papers" which are not mandated for all — all Americans having "their papers" — can hope to have any effectiveness. No matter how good the technology on those papers are, they will be copied — which has been the argument against them in the first place.
So is there any hope?
Yes.
- End NAFTA, at least with Mexico. Same with CAFTA and any other AFTAs in which we’re supposedly on equal terms with Third World economies. Let those folks get together on their own, as in South America.
- Employer sanctions are mandatory, even for tiny employers. If those aren’t at the heart of any program, there is no program.
- We are going to have to keep millions who are already here, unless we really do want to copy the example of Nazi Germany.
- Yes, the false paper industry will mean billions for organized crime, but we’ve got to get started. National identity cards with high and rising proofs and a national database of who belongs here.
There is plenty here to hate for everyone — left, right, center. Even me.
But if you want solutions and not just rhetoric, you’re going to swallow your pride, people.
Oh, there is one real solution. An American Depression akin to that of the 1930s. And given our trade and budget deficits, we could easily be headed in that direction.
