Too Little, Too Late
President Bush's plan to beef up the border patrol by sending in the National Guard is not going to accomplish a lot in the short term. Too many years has passed by without a secure border to expect the National Guard to come in and make a huge difference. Sending only 6000 troops to monitor 2,000 odd miles of border will have the same effect as using chewing gum to stop a 2 foot hole in a dam. Giving amnesty to those illegals already here is like giving them a pat on the back for beating the system.
On the plus side...
What good can come from the Guard mobilizing to the border? Engineering units could actually build the wall, it's cheaper to send a battalion on their annual two week maneuvers to a border state than to Germany or some other distant country, and the terrain and weather conditions are similar enough to Iraq and Afghanistan that the Guard units deployed there can learn desert survival. If anyone else can think of more positive outcomes, please feel free to chime in...
Drawbacks that come to mind...
With the increasing alarm over the firepower that the coyotes (those smugglers bringing in the illegals) and the drug dealers are packing, another operational plus for the Guard is that they could be working with live ammunition, rather than simulating war games. (Which will give the Mexican government, the ACLU and other assorted anti-border patrol groups their own ammunition to wage war on the government for attacking civilians - even if they are illegal). With more large vehicles deployed to assist in troop movement and border patrol, not to mention the troops camps that will be set up the environmentalists will have a field day. It doesn't matter that the illegals are stringing their waste all over the land, but wait until some entity such as the Guard (that can be made accountable and responsible) comes in and the environmentalists will be lining up to bring suit against the government.
For those Guard members who are pulled long-term (over the two week annual commitment) into border patrol their personal loss of income for deployment will be tremendous. That is, unless the government declares the area a war zone so they can receive hazard pay to offset their loss of personal income. Should the government declare the area a war zone to help out the Guard deployed there, that might tend to tick off a bunch of civilians living in the area, not to mention Mexico which could very well perceive it as an open declaration of war. (Which may not be a bad thing after all, if we were able to pull off a successful war with Mexico we could legalize ALL of them).
In the long-term...
Deploying the Guard will not fix our problems. Only by creating an environment that is hostile to the illegals by treating those companies and individuals caught hiring, housing, providing transportation or means to acquire transportation to them as committing criminal acts, and turning off any government aided incentives to be here (medical, welfare, housing, etc.) can the influx be stopped. Illegals (regardless of how virtuous they are, they are still illegally here) are not our problem - we are. We have either actively participated in creating the situation or have chosen to look the other way and allowed it to happen.
Until greedy Americans who are utilizing the illegals to line their own pockets are made accountable for their actions and the people of this country realize that part of the reason they won't have access in the future to the funds they are paying into the Social Security system now is because of the government underwriting across the board to handle the burden the illegals are creating in our prisons, our school systems, our hospitals, and on our welfare system we will always remain looking for a fix to this problem. When our country is bankrupt from the ancillary expenses that we are underwriting to maintain an illegal population, we Americans will be able to look in hindsight and realize that we did too little, too late in dealing with this problem.
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On the plus side...
What good can come from the Guard mobilizing to the border? Engineering units could actually build the wall, it's cheaper to send a battalion on their annual two week maneuvers to a border state than to Germany or some other distant country, and the terrain and weather conditions are similar enough to Iraq and Afghanistan that the Guard units deployed there can learn desert survival. If anyone else can think of more positive outcomes, please feel free to chime in...
Drawbacks that come to mind...
With the increasing alarm over the firepower that the coyotes (those smugglers bringing in the illegals) and the drug dealers are packing, another operational plus for the Guard is that they could be working with live ammunition, rather than simulating war games. (Which will give the Mexican government, the ACLU and other assorted anti-border patrol groups their own ammunition to wage war on the government for attacking civilians - even if they are illegal). With more large vehicles deployed to assist in troop movement and border patrol, not to mention the troops camps that will be set up the environmentalists will have a field day. It doesn't matter that the illegals are stringing their waste all over the land, but wait until some entity such as the Guard (that can be made accountable and responsible) comes in and the environmentalists will be lining up to bring suit against the government.
For those Guard members who are pulled long-term (over the two week annual commitment) into border patrol their personal loss of income for deployment will be tremendous. That is, unless the government declares the area a war zone so they can receive hazard pay to offset their loss of personal income. Should the government declare the area a war zone to help out the Guard deployed there, that might tend to tick off a bunch of civilians living in the area, not to mention Mexico which could very well perceive it as an open declaration of war. (Which may not be a bad thing after all, if we were able to pull off a successful war with Mexico we could legalize ALL of them).
In the long-term...
Deploying the Guard will not fix our problems. Only by creating an environment that is hostile to the illegals by treating those companies and individuals caught hiring, housing, providing transportation or means to acquire transportation to them as committing criminal acts, and turning off any government aided incentives to be here (medical, welfare, housing, etc.) can the influx be stopped. Illegals (regardless of how virtuous they are, they are still illegally here) are not our problem - we are. We have either actively participated in creating the situation or have chosen to look the other way and allowed it to happen.
Until greedy Americans who are utilizing the illegals to line their own pockets are made accountable for their actions and the people of this country realize that part of the reason they won't have access in the future to the funds they are paying into the Social Security system now is because of the government underwriting across the board to handle the burden the illegals are creating in our prisons, our school systems, our hospitals, and on our welfare system we will always remain looking for a fix to this problem. When our country is bankrupt from the ancillary expenses that we are underwriting to maintain an illegal population, we Americans will be able to look in hindsight and realize that we did too little, too late in dealing with this problem.
posted by Is It Just Me? at 7:55 AM
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