July 07, 2006
Republican Answer to NY Times on Illegal Immigration
The New York Times wrote the following about illegal immigration from Mexico. You may want to read it twice.
"The rise in illegal border-crossing by Mexican 'wetbacks' to a current rate of more than 1,000,000 cases a year has been accompanied by a curious relaxation in ethical standards extending all the way from the farmer-exploiters of this contraband labor to the highest levels of the Federal Government."
Don't believe it? Well, read in this article, How Eisenhower solved illegal border crossings from Mexico, about Dwight D. Eisenhower's answer to that NY Times 1951 statement, and how he succeeded in stopping illegal immigration and deporting illegals after he became President--while being opposed by Democrats including Sen. Lyndon B. Johnson, who "favored open borders" and was "against strong border eforcement."
Now you know the rest of the story. But, keep reading to see what President Eisenhower actually did about the problem.
Then on June 17, 1954, what was called "Operation Wetback" began. Because political resistance was lower in California and Arizona, the roundup of aliens began there. Some 750 agents swept northward through agricultural areas with a goal of 1,000 apprehensions a day. By the end of July, over 50,000 aliens were caught in the two states. Another 488,000, fearing arrest, had fled the country.By mid-July, the crackdown extended northward into Utah, Nevada, and Idaho, and eastward to Texas.
By September, 80,000 had been taken into custody in Texas, and an estimated 500,000 to 700,000 illegals had left the Lone Star State voluntarily.
Unlike today, Mexicans caught in the roundup were not simply released at the border, where they could easily reenter the US. To discourage their return, Swing arranged for buses and trains to take many aliens deep within Mexico before being set free.
Do you think that the U.S. is not capable of doing this again? Oh, I think that we are capable--but, do our politicians have the will and integrity to do it?
Something else interesting is this tidbit offered by the Border Patrol veterans who worked during the Eisenhower crackdown and enforcement:
The Patrol veterans say enforcement could also be aided by a legalized guest-worker program that permits Mexicans to register in their country for temporary jobs in the US. Eisenhower's team ran such a program. It permitted up to 400,000 Mexicans a year to enter the US for various agriculture jobs that lasted for 12 to 52 weeks.
This sounds similar to recent proposals but read closer. Note that the immigrants had to register in their own country and that the work permits expired in one year or less. The problem with doing this today is that the politicians want to give these permits to millions who are already here illegally and then make them eligible to vote--the next step right behind that.
This is a brief but interesting look-back at illegal immigration issues from over fifty years ago. What's amazing is that this Republican president, President Eisenhower, was the last one, to my knowledge, to do anything seriously about the problem. You can't let you house go fifty years without replacing some broken windows and some doors--otherwise anything could blow in, and it has.
Now, it's going to be hard to undue fifty years of neglect. But, it can be done. The question is, who will have the integrity and resolve to do it. I'm afraid that we already know the answer, amigos.
Posted by Woody M. at July 7, 2006 04:40 PM | TrackBackSince our politicians won't do their jobs, maybe we should hire illegal alien politicians to do the jobs American politicians won't do.
Great post Woody ;)
Posted by Wild Bill at July 7, 2006 04:21 PM
Heh...give me a platoon of Marines and we'll get the job done. Quietly, quickly...without much fanfare.
How have we allowed the government to fail so badly here? Never again!
Posted by Raven at July 7, 2006 04:51 PM
Excellent article, Woody.
Remember Kinky Friedman's solution. Hire a retired Mexican General. Put $1 million in a bank account in his name. Tell him that every captured illegal alien from Mexico will result in a deduction of $50,000.00. Would the flow of illegal Mexicans dwindle to a mere trickle? You betcha. So maybe Kinky Friedman should be our next president?
Posted by Mustang at July 7, 2006 07:57 PM
Great post, Woody!
There are quite a few Republican Representatives who have the will.
So does Newt Gingrich if he is being honest, and I have no reason to doubt him, so far.
However, We know the LSM will keep airing sob stories about broken families, and poor, hard working illegals just trying to survive.
There is a grain of truth in some of that, but we can't afford to save everybody.
The LSM also fails to say what the percentage of prisoner inmates are illegals, and drug runners and such.
Posted by Ben USN (Ret) at July 8, 2006 05:37 AM
I think the reason most of us were caught napping on the criminal alien issue because it was viewed as more of a border state affair than a national one, and because a lot of opportunists who hired illegal aliens were keeping a lid on it.
There was a lengthy article in WSJ about it back in the mid to late 1980s, how businesses on this side of the border were accepting pesos, MacD's served jalapenos to put on your Big Mac and scads of local businessmen viewed their turf as "The Border" rather than the U.S. As has been the case before with WSJ investigative reports, such as exposure of "slave labor" camps in Louisiana during the offshore oil boom of the 1970s and early 1980s, the government has responded to WSJ's "new information" by addressing the problems.
They should have done so after that report, as well.
In not raising hell with our politicians about it, we were doing them a "favor" -- out of sight, out of mind and they ignored the problem, with all its political ramifications, until it grew into the mess it is today. We really have to watch those folks even more closely than we do now.
Really good post, Woody.
Posted by Seth at July 8, 2006 12:27 PM
I wonder if the NY Times will apologize for their insensitive use of the term "wetback," since they are always on the side of those demanding that the U.S. apologize to every culture in every continent for everything at every time in history that we have been accused of doing.
I've been on the side of gradually cleaning up the illegal immigrants by making it hard enough on them so that they would go back over a period of a few years. Now, I wouldn't mind sweeping this nation and sending them home like was done before.
The NY Times and other media may defend them for reasons of compassion, but they do that for everyone on death row, too. Because they don't show reason should not be our reason to stop law enforcement.
Sometime soon, enforcement has to start and our borders need to be respected.
BTW, I had to laugh at Wild Bill's proposal about having illegal immigrants take over the work of our politicians. I guess this is just one more area where Mexicans can take jobs that other Americans don't want.
Posted by Woody at July 8, 2006 02:50 PM
