Border Issues

 

I’m writing this post due to another post that appears on the Main Feed. Please do not take this post as a rebuke to the writer of the Main Feed post. Click on the link for in-depth reporting that covers border-crossing deaths in the Big Nowhere in Texas, New Mexico, and Arizona.

Living about 90 miles from the border in the Arizona Sonoran Desert, I’m familiar with the brutal conditions that kill border crossers. Extreme heat in the summer, hypothermia in the winter, and rugged terrain that means the revealed remains of illegal border crossers, as well as remains that may never be discovered.

I’m not without empathy for those that have lost their lives in their desire to enter the US. I have no empathy for advocacy groups that encourage the trek, and then accuse others of having no compassion for those that have been duped by them, or cartels that profit from trafficking in human smuggling.

The lucky ones make it into detention facilities, the others die horrible deaths in horrible conditions in the Big Nowhere. Take the time to read through the report. Some of it will offend you, and some of it will provide more information than you’ll get in superficial sound bites.

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  1. Al French, sad sack Moderator
    Al French, sad sack
    @AlFrench

    Doug Watt: I have no empathy for advocacy groups that encourage the trek, and then accuse others of having no compassion for those that have been duped by them, or cartels that profit from trafficking in human smuggling.

    Amen.

    • #1
  2. MarciN Member
    MarciN
    @MarciN

    I wish I could find it, but one Ricochet member from Australia described how the Australian government stopped accepting immigrants who came in boats. Turned them all back. That sounds hard-hearted, but the truth is, it was a very short time afterward that people stopped trying to get into Australia that way. There were fewer drownings, then none at all. The change was dramatic. And Australia takes in thousands of immigrants every year. They are not against immigration or immigrants.

    It is our responsibility to create a closed and orderly border.

    I often think about the 1979 Who concert disaster in Cincinnati where 11 people died. The investigators said the problem was the open seating–that is, the first come, first served admission policy. They said it was the promoters’ fault. The promoters should have anticipated how the crowd would behave when they opened the doors.  The city banned open-seating concerts as a result. I believe a lot of cities followed suit and also banned open-seating concerts.

    That is exactly how I feel about the wall.

    Furthermore, there’s a humanitarian issue to consider. The people getting in are the more aggressive and better able to get to the border in the first place. And they are able to pay the traffickers’ exorbitant rates. They may not be the people most in need of help or asylum. We’ve created a jungle-justice system where the strongest survive. That’s not right. We should be trying to help the people who need our help the most.

    • #2
  3. Jager Coolidge
    Jager
    @Jager

    I don’t generally cite Breitbart, but they have a post up about the 20 times they did reporting on migrant deaths at the border during the Obama Administration. It over laps pretty well with the article you posted. 

    https://www.breitbart.com/border/2019/06/26/20-times-breitbart-reported-migrant-deaths-during-obama-biden-years-and-no-one-cared/

    • #3
  4. Kozak Member
    Kozak
    @Kozak

    Al French, sad sack (View Comment):

    Doug Watt: I have no empathy for advocacy groups that encourage the trek, and then accuse others of having no compassion for those that have been duped by them, or cartels that profit from trafficking in human smuggling.

    Amen.

    Don’t want to die?  Don’t try and cross the border illegally.

    • #4
  5. Kozak Member
    Kozak
    @Kozak

    MarciN (View Comment):
    here were fewer drownings, then none at all. The change was dramatic. And Australia takes in thousands of immigrants every year. They are not against immigration or immigrants.

    Try to immigrate to Australia.  You can’t be old or sick. You need to have a skill they need and want.  They have laws that ensure that immigration to Australia will benefit Australia.  

    • #5
  6. Slow on the uptake Coolidge
    Slow on the uptake
    @Chuckles

    Maybe it’s only because South Texas was home for the wife and I that I can say this is not news, I don’t know:  What will be news is if this results, not in a stronger push for open borders, but in productive support for credible border control.

     

    • #6
  7. MarciN Member
    MarciN
    @MarciN

    Kozak (View Comment):

    MarciN (View Comment):
    here were fewer drownings, then none at all. The change was dramatic. And Australia takes in thousands of immigrants every year. They are not against immigration or immigrants.

    Try to immigrate to Australia. You can’t be old or sick. You need to have a skill they need and want. They have laws that ensure that immigration to Australia will benefit Australia.

    They actually do take many asylum seekers:

    According to the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, between 2005 and 2009 Australia was ranked 47th out of 198 countries in the world in terms of the number of refugees hosted, out of those countries who host refugees. In 2012, the Refugee Council of Australia ranked Australia 22nd on a per capita basis in a list of countries that accept refugees. The Council found that in terms of resettlement (as opposed to “receiving”) asylum seekers, Australia ranks 2nd in the world overall, 3rd per capita and 3rd as a proportion of GDP.

    That’s what I found most remarkable about the post by the Ricochet member who lived in Australia. He said that for refugees, Australia is one of the most generous countries in the world. As are we. And as we would continue to be.

    • #7
  8. Kozak Member
    Kozak
    @Kozak

    MarciN (View Comment):

    Kozak (View Comment):

    MarciN (View Comment):
    here were fewer drownings, then none at all. The change was dramatic. And Australia takes in thousands of immigrants every year. They are not against immigration or immigrants.

    Try to immigrate to Australia. You can’t be old or sick. You need to have a skill they need and want. They have laws that ensure that immigration to Australia will benefit Australia.

    They actually do take many asylum seekers:

    According to the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, between 2005 and 2009 Australia was ranked 47th out of 198 countries in the world in terms of the number of refugees hosted, out of those countries who host refugees. In 2012, the Refugee Council of Australia ranked Australia 22nd on a per capita basis in a list of countries that accept refugees. The Council found that in terms of resettlement (as opposed to “receiving”) asylum seekers, Australia ranks 2nd in the world overall, 3rd per capita and 3rd as a proportion of GDP.

    That’s what I found most remarkable about the post by the Ricochet member who lived in Australia. He said that for refugees, Australia is one of the most generous countries in the world. As are we. And as we would continue to be.

    Since 1980, the U.S. has taken in 3 million of the more than 4 million refugees resettled worldwide.

    Enough. It’s a big world. Let them take the load for awhile.

    • #8
  9. Kozak Member
    Kozak
    @Kozak

    MarciN (View Comment):

    Kozak (View Comment):

    MarciN (View Comment):
    here were fewer drownings, then none at all. The change was dramatic. And Australia takes in thousands of immigrants every year. They are not against immigration or immigrants.

    Try to immigrate to Australia. You can’t be old or sick. You need to have a skill they need and want. They have laws that ensure that immigration to Australia will benefit Australia.

    They actually do take many asylum seekers:

    According to the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, between 2005 and 2009 Australia was ranked 47th out of 198 countries in the world in terms of the number of refugees hosted, out of those countries who host refugees. In 2012, the Refugee Council of Australia ranked Australia 22nd on a per capita basis in a list of countries that accept refugees. The Council found that in terms of resettlement (as opposed to “receiving”) asylum seekers, Australia ranks 2nd in the world overall, 3rd per capita and 3rd as a proportion of GDP.

    That’s what I found most remarkable about the post by the Ricochet member who lived in Australia. He said that for refugees, Australia is one of the most generous countries in the world. As are we. And as we would continue to be.

    When it comes to immigration the Ausies are very very picky about who they take…..

    “The requirements for an Australia Skilled Visa are as follows:

    • Age – you must be under 45 when you apply;
    • English language – you should have sufficient ability in the English language to work in Australia (at least at a competent level);
    • Nominated occupation – when you apply you nominate a skilled occupation, which fits your skills and qualifications. This occupation must be found on the Medium and Long-term Strategic Skills List;
    • Skills assessment – before you apply, you must have your skills assessed by the Australian assessing authority designated to assess your nominated occupation (which will usually have specific qualifications requirements);
    • Health assessment – you should be of reasonably good health and all applicants must have their health assessed by a panel doctor and undergo a medical examination; and
    • Character assessment – you should be of good character and this too will be assessed.”

    I would be just fine if we adopted immigration policies like this in the US.

    • #9
  10. Petty Boozswha Inactive
    Petty Boozswha
    @PettyBoozswha

    In civil law there is an attribution of liability to those that create an attractive nuisance – if you have a swimming pool that will attract the neighborhood kids you need to fence and secure it adequately. 

    I wonder why those that encourage, aid and abet these life risking journeys are not equally held accountable for the results.

    • #10
  11. MarciN Member
    MarciN
    @MarciN

    Petty Boozswha (View Comment):

    In civil law there is an attribution of liability to those that create an attractive nuisance – if you have a swimming pool that will attract the neighborhood kids you need to fence and secure it adequately.

    I wonder why those that encourage, aid and abet these life risking journeys are not equally held accountable for the results.

    I agree with this. 

    • #11
  12. Chris Member
    Chris
    @Chris

    Jager (View Comment):

    I don’t generally cite Breitbart, but they have a post up about the 20 times they did reporting on migrant deaths at the border during the Obama Administration. It over laps pretty well with the article you posted.

    https://www.breitbart.com/border/2019/06/26/20-times-breitbart-reported-migrant-deaths-during-obama-biden-years-and-no-one-cared/

    So yesterday I was treated to being within earshot of someone excitedly discussing how AOC owns Trump and Republicans with the FACT that we are running concentration camps on the border.  He knows this because an academic on NPR was discussing that yes, we technically are concentrating people in a camp.  Just like we did with the Japanese in WWII, etc., etc.  

    Not being engaged in the conversation, I did not ask about the inconvenient truths you referenced above.  Not that it would have helped much, but perhaps it could have.

    • #12
  13. Slow on the uptake Coolidge
    Slow on the uptake
    @Chuckles

    I only know two ways to stop these deaths, but one of them delivers the coup de grace to these United States.

    • #13
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