Very interesting report. One thing they hit on that is the main reason illegal come here and that is the magnet that draws them here. We need to get rid of that magnet and put pressure on employers who hire illegals.

We didn't pay to get them here and we should not pay to remove them. We DO need to have those who hire illegals pay and pay heavily. That is the only deterrent that will work. Like the report said - fences, technology and manpower all work in concert but we need to remove the magnet!!!!!

Posted by: Sick 'n Tired on April 9, 2008 10:58 AM

THE BORDER FENCE WILL WORK, ONLY IF THE OPEN BORDERS POLITICIANS WILL STOP TRYING TO STOP IT...

THE AMERICAN VOTERS NEED TO THROW THESE TRAITORS OUT OF OFFICE, COME THEIR ELECTION TIME, AND ONLY THEN WILL THE IMMIGRATION LAWS BE ENFORCED, AND THE BORDER SECURED...

IF THESE TRAITOR POLITICIANS REMAIN IN OFFICE, IT WILL JUST BE MORE OF THE SAME BORDER AND ILLEGAL ALIEN CHAOS...

http://www.cnn.com/CNN/Programs/lou.dobbs.tonight/

Posted by: American Me on April 9, 2008 12:07 PM

Enforce the law, demand that e-verify and basic pilot be mandatory, stop anchor babies and cut off federal funding to sanctuary cities...

In my opinion, it takes a multi-faceted approach, not the least of which is a physical barrier, that is worth the money at even twice the price...

Posted by: takn on April 9, 2008 04:09 PM

SICK 'N TIRED YOU SAID IT FOR ME

Say you have a bad leaky automatic transmission in your car, so you change the oil and seals; and guess what it runs better for a while, then breaks again. That's like a fence.

But if you replace the torque converter and other worn parts; the tranny is as good as new and doesn't keep falling apart. That's like fighting American overpopulation at the source, eliminating ALL illegal alien organised crime American employers!

Posted by: Softwarengineer on April 9, 2008 04:19 PM

THE FENCE WORKS and it is the most cost effective deterent to illegal crossings! Ask Duncan Hunter who helped US get the fence here in San Diego. This is why the traffic moved to AZ. Agree the real solution is to make employers pay for all costs incurred by illegals they employ. I agree with sick 'n tired. The laws are on the books and the solutions are on this page. V

Posted by: Vickie on April 9, 2008 04:23 PM

takn has it exactly right! Enforce the laws of the land, throw any public elected official into jail and indict him/her if they openly push for santuary status like that Communist Mayor Newsome in SF or that Open Borders Mayor of Phoenix. The Feds HAVE to start going after public officials who break the law, who aid and abett illegal aliens. And that goes for governors, as well!

At some point, CA will change its sanctuary policy. It will take the Feds going after elected officials to get it done, IMHO. Gov. Ahnold? Absolutely! Let's take him down!

Posted by: levotb on April 9, 2008 10:11 PM

Fences do work. And they are cheap to build. A real fence also is low maintenance. Virtual fences might be cheap to put up but the cost to maintain them is expensive.

Once thing the article did not mention is how much it will cost to patrol the border without a fence. The overall cost will go down because it will take far fewer border patrol agents to keep em out with a fence then without.

Ading more concertina wire is cheap.

Posted by: hugo on April 9, 2008 10:58 PM

Mexican! WHY do we NEED MORE MEXICAN’S Seriously, what makes the Mexican illegal alien so special? NOW!! They smell Amnesty in 2009!

What do we owe Mexico, as our neighbor to the South, or the Mexican Nationals living in the United States of America Illegally? If we truly wanted to help the Worlds less fortunate, why do we not hold out the hand of Mercy to the Sudanese, Haitians, Moldavian, Central American’s, and those starving children of Chad these the huddled masses of these Nations are truly in need? All we hear about is the poor Mexican this, the poor Mexican that! Arizonians, have invested Millions upon Millions of dollars on its ELL program, there are at least 140,000 of these children in Arizona alone, GOD, knows how many are in California, and for what? Every other ethnic immigrant group managed to adapt to our American educational system. These children went on to become the intellect behind the Manhattan Project, NASA, and were instrumental in winning the Cold War! LOOK IT UP!!!

Mexico is a Democratic Republic and one of the richest countries in the world; half of all Latin America’s Billionaires are from Mexico including top dog “Carlos Slim”! Mexico is a Republic in name only. It is an Oligarchy or Plutocracy, “Ask a Mexican” do we ever read articles in The New Times, Arizona Republic or any Major American Daily reporting how corrupt Mexico is? How about a piece on the indigenous native Mexicans demand for land REFORM in the South and the genocide associated with it? Or the R__e, Murder, Assault and Robbery of the Central Americans on Mexico’s southern border.

Mexico, the legendary Mexican and in particular the “Soncho” are a JOKE in the Spanish-speaking world. A quote from the Soncho play book “I love you so many, I hardly can told you!” seriously, name two significant accomplishments Mexico has contributed to the world other then street drugs, gangs, mother’s illegally in the US with five children, raising our property tax’s for ELL instruction because Mexican children can not learn English in FIVE years, KILLING more Americans then the WAR, the list goes on and on! LOOK IT UP!

Soncho, said “You stole our LAND, gringo” reply “We should have taken it all, YOU did Jack S__t with the rest and BLAME the USA for your failures ”

Every person employed in Law Enforcement in Arizona from the Governor to the Cop on the beat should be ashamed to CASH his or her paycheck, due to dereliction of duty! All they seem capable of doing is to nibble at the loose ends, raid the high profile Drop House. They fear the wrath of Political Correct, and there hand off policy of the Mexican National; less we offend the Latino Community! One man puts duty before PC Joe A, our Sheriff and he is called a “Racist” for protecting us!

Are those of us who want are immigration laws enforced Racist, xenophobic, or nativeists I strongly believe that being an American is not a Color, Creed, or National Origin it is a State of Mind and Sprit. The Will of the People supported by or Laws governs us. Our Executive branch both State and Federal are empowered to enforce these Laws equally by the will of the Governed. Our current immigration system in not broken its not enforced. Open you eyes and look at what has happened to OUR Nation after the 1986 Immigration Reform and Control Act (Simpson-Mazzoli Act); Less the 1 Million turned into 3.5 Million + now it is 2008 with 20 Million+ this will become 100 Million in twenty years! For the record I Helped Document a number of the applicants in the Amnesty to END all FUTURE Amnesties! I am the Grandchild of Immigrants and it was a Debt of Honor I was Happy and Willing to Repay!

The truth behind our Federal and State government’s reluctance too invoke their Prosecutorial discursion in dealing with Employers and everyone else making Big Bucks off the illegal aliens is GREED! It is all about GREED and The Arizona Republic is feasting from the same feedbag as the Chamber of Commerce, they want there cut! Our elected Representative's are pandering to BIG and small business. Our Nation’s thirst for cheap disposable labor has corporate America afflicted with a condition akin to alcoholism “One is to much and 20 million isn’t enough”. Corporate America’s dependence on Illegal aliens undermines enforcement of our existing Immigration law. All of the hype over the Latino vote or the Hispanic caucus in just smoke and mirrors. It is a about GREED? The Employer Sanction Law is in effect, time will tell if any of the Big Boys take a HIT!

“God Bless the United States of America, and the Men and Women who have made her Great!”

Posted by: Chuck Adzemaqvich on April 10, 2008 11:05 AM

We need real border security, we need to stop the flow of illegals crossing into our country. Be it a fence, a wall or placing 100,000 troops along the border, whatever it takes to secure it must be done.

Begin nation-wide sting operations on businesses and employers who hire illegals. Mandatory jail time, send their sorry butts to jail, six months in the slammer, no early time out. Make them do the jail time and then we'll see how many employers are willing to risk their freedom to hire illegal criminals. This would quickly dry up the job source for illegal aliens.

Begin a mass media campaign, TV, radio, newspapers, bill boards, internet, etc.
announcing that illegals aliens will no longer be allowed to live, work or collect benefits in the U.S. , that they have 30 days to leave the United States with their children and belongings. After 30 days, any illegal aliens that are found on U.S.
soil will be immediately arrested and deported, any assets they have aquired while in the U.S., cars, trucks, homes, furniture, bank accounts,businesses, etc. will be seized and sold to help cover the costs of their arrests and deportations (Federal forfeiture of all assets of illegal aliens because their money comes as the proceeds of a criminal act).

Once faced with the prospect of no longer being able to live, work or collect benefits in the U.S., illegals would be forced to leave our country. Self-deportaion, it's both effective and humane and it is the right thing for our country.

Posted by: AmericanPatriot on April 10, 2008 11:06 AM

When are we going to stop listening to the propaganda drummed up by politicians as an excuse for not building the fence. This time around Benny Thompson wants us to believe that environmental and land use are the reason for trying to stop the fence. He is insulting in that he thinks we can be persuaded that a few million tons of garbage strewn throughout the deserts, ranch lands and our National Parks is taking the environment under consideration, or that this is what land use regulations are all about.
Why do we allow them to push this nonsense and say nothing as if we beleive they have an argument.
We all know by now what is really behind the refusal to build the fence. The cheap labor or the future votes are only a part of the truth. The Corporations and other employers are not the ones who are catering to Mexico and protecting the Drug Cartels. They are not the ones who are going to the extreme lengths to put our border patrol agents in prison for trying to stop the loads of drugs coming into this country. That is done by those in high office and powerful Bureuacrats that are making $Billions to further their own power machines. The political parties and the corporate interests that are interested in the future votes and cheap labor are interested in the continued flow of illegals, yes, but they are not prosecuting border patrol agents for stopping drug smugglers. So, just by thinking about this, where is the biggest incentive for keeping the fence from being built. I say it is the profits that are being made from a huge drug business. Who is trying to keep these profits flowing? People that should be removed from office. The biggest giveaway as to who these people are, is their vote to stop the fence.

Posted by: marg on April 11, 2008 02:28 AM

To Marg and AmericanPatriot, I beg to differ. I don’t think you give the corporations nearly enough credit. They are the reason that the situation with Mexican immigrants is the way it is today. As soon as Americans went into Mexico, bought land, and began to cultivate it, Mexican farmers could no longer make a living. The American crops are so much cheaper, that the average Mexican farmer cannot sell his or her crops and make a large enough profit to support a family. With the shortage of agricultural jobs in Mexico due to American farms, Mexicans are forced to cross the border to make money. You are so hateful towards this specific group of immigrants when many groups have come in the past, searching for work, and have helped to build up this country. This country is a country of immigrants, where many cultures have contributed. The German immigrants who started coming to America in the late 1700s also came for agricultural jobs. Now those who descended from those Germans have become an integral part of American society, bringing us such companies as Lager beer (library.thinkquest.org). These workers should not be hated. I do believe corporations are responsible for a lack of immigration reform because they exploit the labor, but this is not the fault of the immigrant and they should not be punished by being caged in like an animal with a fence. When Irish immigrants came in huge waves (exceeding one million in 1860) they were often contracted as soon as they got of the boat and paid close to nothing (www.swivel.com), often referred to as worse than slaves. Luckily at that time there was no concept of the illegal immigrant and so they were able to organize into unions. One notable labor union was the Knights of Labor, who fought for the rights of the Irish immigrant worker. However, Mexican workers don’t have that privilege, because they are illegal immigrants, so they can be exploited, and that is the tragedy. It will take a lot of money to seal our border, with troops or the fence, and it is impossible to be completely sealed; people will always figure out a way to get across it. The Secure Fence Act of 2006 authorized the building of 700 miles of fencing along the US-Mexico border (http://www.whitehouse.gov/news/releases/2006/10/20061026-1.html). So the fence you are speaking of is also partially built, and people can just go around it. These Mexican workers are most often young males who are trying to get enough money to send back to their families in Mexico. Those of them who might’ve actually returned to Mexico after harvest season had ended are actually returning less now because of the heightened border security (www.choices.edu), because they know it will be harder to get back in. With the fence more undocumented workers end up staying in the United States instead of going back a forth across the border. Even if the whole border was covered people will find a way into the country is they want to. Most of the Mexican immigrants want simply to make money to support their families, which they cannot do in Mexico because American businesses have driven them out.

Posted by: Cami on April 28, 2008 03:13 PM