Musings on Immigration

President Donald Trump signed an executive order on January 25, 2017, outlining a series of actions he directs the DHS, DOJ and related agencies to take in regards to internal enforcement of U.S. immigration law and to border security.  Many of these actions are already part of federal law, but many others will require congressional approval and appropriation of funds to carry out.   Much of what President Trump did today in this specific Executive Order (not the one on visa processing and refugees), will have an immediate impact on people's lives, but will not do anything to solve the problem of a broken immigration system. Here is what this Order does: 1.  Calls for planning, designing and constructing a wall on our international border with Mexico. This will require extensive funding from Congress (e.g. the American Taxpayer) for the immediate cost of about $25 Billion Dollars (give or take a few billion).   He also called for maintaining the wall (more billi...

Some will find no sympathy for this Border Patrol Agent . They will say, HEY, he chose to be a Border Patrol Agent, and he chose to let his twice deported father live in his house. And, he knew that it was against the law to lie to federal investigators. But, when you realize it was his DAD, don't you think, "darn, our system is broken?" In a way, I feel sorry for this young agent. His law enforcement career is over. He may serve time in a federal prison. All because he was protecting his dad. Frankly, I don't know how many of us wouldn't do the same thing. Who would rat their father out, when he personally experiences everyday the tragedy of our broken immigration system? Our immigration laws just continue to cause human tragedies every day. How sad.

The LA Times Reports that apprehensions of undocumented migrants are down significantly this year , and appear to have dropped to levels not seen since the 1970s. In fact, the Yuma Sector of the Border Patrol reported not a single arrest for 2 days in December 2008. This from a Sector that was featured on that ridiculous show “Homeland Security” featuring migrants caught last summer. Apparently, there was no guarantee of catching anyone today! One has to ask: Is this a result of all the money the Bush, and now Obama Administrations have poured into border security and deterrence? Or, is there something much bigger at play here? What comes to mind immediately when these raw statistics are rehearsed is that old James Carville saying from the 1992 election: “Its the Economy Stupid.” The reality of the economic impact on the sharp reduction of undocumented immigration is played out in the last paragraph of this article when it becomes clear that while there are still folks wanting and eve...