Shipped-in aliens swamping Arizona

[DonBelt]

The point I was making was that when one part of the government wants to act quickly it seems like it is able to do so and it is a shame other parts aren't able to when it should be a priority for us to help veterans that need it. If FMC Devens has excess capacity to use for this, perhaps they should transfer some of their excess capabilities to the VA which seems to be short. It's more a rhetorical point than anything else I guess since the VA's troubles have been much longer brewing and can't be solved overnight.

The other observation was just that it seems strange that this huge onslaught of unaccompanied children has suddenly occurred as though it was a spontaneous development. 47,000+ in the past 6 months and 3 out of 4 of them from Honduras. ( Number of Latino children caught trying to enter U.S. nearly doubles | Pew Research Center ) That's more than 35,000 who left their homes in Honduras and walked or otherwise made their way all the way across Guatemala and Mexico to the US. Short of a sudden war or natural disaster that has occurred in the past 6 months what else could cause it? Things are pretty tough there but it has been that way for some time. It's the second poorest country in Central America but has a 4.5% unemployment rate compared to 6.3% in the US. It has the highest murder rate in the world but has for some time without this kind of emigration of minors. It just seems like an intentional dumping. The 0 -14 yo age group is the largest growing part of the population and perhaps rather than have the inevitable negative impact on an already bad problem with violence as they age they are being "sent off". The president of Honduras recently blamed the US for this "problem" by saying it was our bad immigration laws and drug use that caused it. President Hernandez is even asking Mexico to set up consulates to assist them in their journey.

I don't want to turn my back on children in need, but at some point these countries need to step up and accept some responsibility and if they need help, ask for it and acknowledge that they need help and stop blaming us for all the problems in the world. A please would not be unpleasant to hear. At least he has also asked for some aid to establish (unspecified) social programs and for help battling drug cartels. That should help some but maybe not immediately. As for US drug use- good luck with that! The current social trend is becoming more and more tolerant of drug use. Not a good trend for us, but that won't change with legislation- it's a cultural thing and the culture is heading south.

[Minskaya]

Guatemalans who crossed the border near McAllen, Texas.

Almost all the women from Guatemala, Honduras and El Salvador say the situations in their countries is rapidly deteriorating. Salvadorans report that a 2 year truce between the country's two largest criminal gangs had disintegrated and the government is impotent. They are terrified that their children will either fall victim to gang violence or be forced to join a gang. It takes about 15 days walking from Central America to reach the Rio Grande river. They say the going smuggler raft-rate now is $1000 per person which is ten times what it was just year ago. Holding facilities in Texas and Arizona are overwhelmed. Medical workers fear disease/epidemic outbreaks because only a strip of yellow tape separates those who have been quarantined from others in many facilities. Federal officials have rented another 55,000 sq. ft. warehouse in McAllen, Texas. At the current rate, 90,000+ unaccompanied children and teenagers will cross into the US from Central America in 2014.

[Albany Rifles]

Okay Don, got it. Missed your point.

Frankly, with the results of this past Tuesday here in Virginia there is little hope that things will get better anytime soon regarding sensible immigration reform.

So much of this is muddled together with the politics of the day.

[kato]

I find it interesting how much US immigration differs from EU immigration, considering the numbers are in the end about the same either way.

If I get it right, the current immigration wave in the USA is to a considerable extent families - or rather, people who move to the US wholesale, leaving without major roots left back? I.e. more of a traditional refugee situation, not so much the typical labour immigration of young men in their 20s faced otherwise.

[DonBelt]

I'd have to dig into the numbers a bit, but this most recent event seems much more like a refugee type event. But there is also a large component that is just people maybe 18 thru 30 say that come in for cheap labor and have families at home. They may live in large numbers in a small apartment, use social and welfare programs to supplement their income and living needs, go in the morning to a day labor office where they get loaded in a van and driven to the corporation of your choice who pays the day labor place as a subcontractor. Day labor business picks them up at the end of the day and drops them back at the office, pays them their pittance and they head to the nearest "checks cashed" and western union office to cable money back home to the families. This isn't limited to farms and big corporate manufacturers either- there are many going to "contractors" people doing roofing and home repair, landscapers (the jobs teens used to do for extra cash) and even big construction. I remember working at a power plant that was being built in my area- I was in a union shop office doing my thing and a few ICE guys came in. They had a list, they talked to the guy in charge there for a bit and eventually left. Afterwards it was noted that a number of French-Canadian guys who were working there were gone. So it occurs everywhere in all groups, not just Latinos. Then of course there are numbers of people who come in just for crime- fraud, drug smuggling, whatever presents itself.

I don't hold it against those people who want to provide for their families in hard times, but lets be honest about it. 1. not everyone who comes in falls into the group of just wanting to work honestly to provide for their families.
2. There are countries who complain that we aren't fair about immigration, yet they are the direct beneficiaries of many millions of dollars sent into their countries from those immigrants.
3. These countries don't need to have social programs or protections for the poor because they can dump them somewhere else.
4. Corporations and agro-business and small businesses take advantage of them.
5. Politics- voter fraud, inflating the population numbers to get extra congressional seats drawn up (even if they can't vote, they count towards population numbers in the census) increased federal money (tax money, your money if you are an American taxpayer) to the states and local govt, ngo's and block grants. The Census bureau printed up posters explaining this for distribution to neighborhood community centers to get them to encourage illegal immigrants to cooperate with the census. Again, I've seen the posters when I've worked at those locations. (my job is kind of funny, it is a mundane non rocket scientist kind of job but it takes me into every kind of office or workplace imaginable- Autopsy rooms, pathology labs, govt offices, VA offices at JFK ctr in Boston, Coast Guard ships, ICE courts, homes, businesses, factories, Big Dig sites, Dr offices, schools, etc,etc - it doesn't make me an expert on those things, but I see a lot)

The bottom line is that it has become a profitable business and political issue for too many for it to end.

The best thing would be if the US just set a blanket number of people who can enter with strict guidelines: No untreated infectious diseases, be able to identify yourself so we can see if you are fleeing justice from your homeland or ours or have been previously deported, not be a member of groups that are trying to kill people, organized crime or gangs, overthrown the govt, implement world communism or religion or vegetarianism etc (just joking about that one- maybe) State your reason for coming- just to work? to be a citizen? Be honest so we can deal with it and be fair. Don't come in and go straight to welfare. No quotas or priorities for certain countries, regions or peoples. Have reasonable exceptions for emergencies like war or natural disasters with a pre-plan to put in place.

Countries that dump large numbers of people and don't have similar social protections should be sanctioned in some way. They need to develop and implement those programs- it's not right that they don't. We have had and continue to have a vigorous debate about welfare programs in this country, we beat each other up over it continually and play politics over it and pay for it with our taxes. It is not fair that we should go thru all that and another sovereign nation is not willing to and just dumps or encourages the bottom 10% or what ever figure you want to go with to come here and use our system dishonestly. Welfare is help, not opportunity. There is a difference even if it might be subtle. Those countries cannot advance past their current stages of development if they can't develop a system that allows access to opportunities, education, social welfare or help to get people thru difficult times, honest police, courts and prisons to protect honest citizens and business, reasonable infrastructure. They won't develop those things if they can just export the problems and the people who are stuck in the middle of those problems.

And as for President Hernández of Honduras and President Peña Nieto who want to blame drug use in the US for their countries woes, most reasonable people while not holding users completely blameless, place the overwhelming amount of blame on the provider of addictive substances to those who are addicted - who by definition cannot help themselves. Ask them to speak to the Chinese about the Opium Wars and who they blame - the users or providers.

[DonBelt]

Okay Don, got it. Missed your point.

Frankly, with the results of this past Tuesday here in Virginia there is little hope that things will get better anytime soon regarding sensible immigration reform.

So much of this is muddled together with the politics of the day.

Last year we had our fishing derby at Mirror lake, about 600 ft thru the trees from FMC Devens- It was about a month after the attacks and I had my scouts play "Sweet Caroline" at full volume on a boom box on the remote chance that " cabin boy" (or flash bang as Howie Carr calls him) had his window open. Does that count as politics?

[Minskaya]

Obama administration announces new steps to stem flow of immigrants at Texas border
June 20, 2014

The Obama administration toughened its border policies Friday, hoping to stem a surge of women and children into the United States by sending a stronger message that unauthorized migrants will be turned away.

The steps, aimed at those entering from Mexico, include adding more immigration judges to process a backlog of asylum claims and to more quickly deport adults whose cases are rejected. New detention facilities are also being opened for families awaiting hearings, and ankle monitoring bracelets will be used to keep tabs on them, officials said. The moves mark a recognition by the administration that the unexpected influx of tens of thousands of immigrant children has become a serious humanitarian and political crisis. Since October, 52,000 unaccompanied minors and 39,000 adults with children have been apprehended along the Mexican border — a much higher proportion than normal.

Administration officials had previously said that the main cause of the influx was an escalation of gang violence and poverty in Guatemala, El Salvador and Honduras. But the new measures Friday represented an acknowledgment that there is a widespread perception in Central America that women and children who enter the United States illegally would be permitted to stay.

In addition to tougher enforcement efforts, the administration announced Friday that it would invest $9.6 million to help Guatemala, El Salvador and Honduras repatriate those sent home from the United States, along with new aid to help improve security in those countries. Although the administration took steps to expedite the removal of adults who cross the border illegally, officials said they are unable to follow similar procedures for the larger pool of children who are showing up at the border without their parents. Federal law requires the children to be handed over to the Department of Health and Human Services within 72 hours and released to family members or other guardians with orders to appear at an immigration hearing later.

Source

Other announced steps: The U.S. Agency for International Development will launch a $40 million program to help improve citizen security in Guatemala. USAID will also start a $25 million crime and violence prevention program in El Salvador. More than $18 million will be used to support community policing and law enforcement efforts to combat gangs in Honduras under the Central American Regional Security Initiative, or CARSI. The U.S. government will also provide $161.5 million for CARSI programs focused on security and government challenges in the region.

[Minskaya]

Mass graves that may hold remains of immigrants uncovered in Texas cemetery

A sad situation

[Minskaya]

It's getting ugly. Residents of Murrieta, California blocked three busloads of illegal immigrants from entering their town. The buses were rerouted to a Border Patrol facility in San Diego.