First, let us recall how prohibition worked. The Federal Government, in the 20s, decided it should be illegal to produce alcoholic beverages. In spite of the fact that there was enormous demand for booze, the laws were passed. It is debatable whether this actually lowered the amount of booze consumed in America. In the brief time prohibition was the law of the land, organized crime exploded, cops were bought & paid for and an entire underground economy and illegal industry developed to thwart the law.
Yes, booze were illegal, but that didn't actually stop many people from drinking.
Some of the slightly more clever of you already know where this is going.
The lesson learned - or the lesson that should have been learned - is that outlawing something which is under very heavy demand is absurd.
When it comes to immigration, we have two equally stupid camps. On one side, we have a political party that panders to any and every socially identifiable group they can find. Blacks, gays, hispanics, women, environmentalists, union members, poor people, ex-cons, legal immigrants, illegal immigrants, handicapped people, federal employees, cops, teachers, short people, fat people, bald people... okay, minor exaggeration, there, but you get the point. In this pandering, they've decided that by sucking up to illegal immigrants and finding a way to get them a voter ID card, they can get a few votes from them. So, their solution to the immigration problem is to basically legalize anyone here illegally, and do nothing to keep anyone else from coming to the nation illegally.
They're morons.
On the other hand, we have a bunch of old white guys who basically think we need to put up a TexMex version of the Berlin Wall & shoot the first Messicun who comes too close and not allow any more of "them" to come here.
Yeah, they're morons, too.
Neither group is interested in fixing the problem. One is all about blindly legalizing everything and the other is about prohibiting everything.
Oversimplifying? Perhaps. Am I wrong?
You see, the root of the problem is prohibition. If you make something that is in high demand illegal, you're going to end up with people breaking the law. The number of people breaking the law depends on the availability of what you're prohibiting and the potential consequences of getting caught vs. the benefits.
Availability? Yeah, that's an awfully big open border with even bigger open coasts. After we build the wall from the Gulf of Mexico to the Pacific, will we then start with the walls around our beaches?
Consequences vs. Benefits? The consequences are that, if you ALSO kill someone, they might send you back to wherever you came from. The benefits are that you get to live in America. Duh. I know what I'd choose to do.
The problem isn't that people from South and Central America want to come here. That's a good thing. The problem is that we've made it nearly impossible for them to do it legally. Seriously. If you're a Mexican and want to move your family to America to work hard and become Americans, the U.S. basically says, "Piss off, we don't want you."
So, these people come here anyway. The second they cross the border, they are criminals. Their lives are instantly lived as though they're on the run from the law. They are taught and learn ways to subvert every level of law enforcement and government. In cities where illegal immigrant populations are high, there are cottage industries that provide drivers licenses, social security cards, birth certificates and any other documents one might need to obtain a job. They live without their names on leases, drive without insurance and put their kids in our schools without paying taxes. Why? Is it because they're bad people? Nope... it's because the immigration system is run by and has been set up by morons - morons who live in a fantasy world who seem to think that by making a thing illegal, that illegal thing disappears (sounds like prohibition, doesn't it?)
Before we build any walls or legalize the illegals (I refuse to call them "undocumented,") we should be changing immigration laws to provide a quick and easy system by which would-be immigrants can come here legally. Afterall, clearly, they're going to come here anyway. Why not side-step the system we have now that ushers them into instant criminal status and let them live as normal people? Instead, give people a background check, set up a system by which they can become citizens, and let them live here productively and legally! Again... they're going to come here anyway!
After we've broken down the barrier that keeps good people out of the nation, then we should most certainly build our "Berlin Wall" to keep out the people who would then have a need to thwart our relatively open doors. When did we develop the mentality that America was "off limits" to foreigners?
I would like to leave you with two thoughts:
The first is the inscription at the base of the Statue of Liberty...
“Give me your tired, your poor,
Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free,
The wretched refuse of your teeming shore.
Send these, the homeless, tempest-tossed, to me:
I lift my lamp beside the golden door.”
Second is one simple fact about the Berlin Wall. Unlike what has been proposed for our Southern Border, the Berlin Wall was not designed to keep people out. It was designed to keep people in.
