Serving Clovis, Portales and the Surrounding Communities
Serving Clovis, Portales and the Surrounding Communities
In 2014, according to the Pew Research Center, 5.8 million unauthorized immigrants from Mexico lived in the U.S. — down from a peak of 6.9 million in 2007.
In fiscal 2016, 192,969 Mexicans were apprehended at the U.S. border — down from a peak of 1.6 million in 2000. The decline reflects fewer unauthorized Mexican immigrants coming to the U.S.
From 2009-14, according to the PRC, 1 million Mexicans and their families left the U.S. for Mexico, while 870,000 left Mexico for the U.S.
CNBC.com reports the estimated cost for building an approximately 1,950-mile border wall at $15-$25 billion.
The wall faces tremendous engineering obstacles in remote desert and mountainous terrain. Building tunnels under the wall would be easy by comparison. Also, so few illegal immigrants access these remote areas, a wall there is pointless.
Of course, other than keeping an expensive campaign promise, the entire wall is fiscally irresponsible.
There has never been a documented case of a terrorist entering the U.S. illegally from Mexico expressly to commit a terrorist act.
According to CBS News, Mexican immigrants — wanting to keep a low profile — commit fewer crimes than American citizens. Only 1.6 percent of illegal immigrant males, 18-39, are incarcerated compared to 3.3 percent of native-born males.
More effective than a wall would be using a fraction of the tab to hire additional agents utilizing advanced technology.
Immigration laws are necessary, but let’s not substitute red-meat-for-the-base emotion with fact-based policy (including treating Mexico respectfully).
Most Americans refuse to work in low-pay, hard-labor jobs Mexican immigrants gratefully accept. For willing citizens, give them priority.
Since we are resistant to paying higher prices for supermarket essentials to attract American workers, make temporary work-permits readily available for jobs that can’t be filled by citizens.
If we are going to waste money on an ineffective and unnecessary wall, let’s at least make it festive.
Adorn it with volleyball nets, playhouse tunnels, pole-vaulting pits and concert stages with country and mariachi bands trumpeting Bronx-cheer singalongs amidst whooping and hollering from Tecate- and Lone Star-fueled cowboys and caballeros in cross-border camaraderie.
As bands jam to Canned Heat’s “Let’s Work Together,” graffiti artists — inspired by Pink Floyd murals — can collaborate in spray-painting “Another Brick in the Stupid Wall.”
Contact Wendel Sloan at: [email protected]
