US immigration policy

Some thoughts on the recent proposal for immigration "reform" in the US and the construction of a high tech fence along the border. As described in the Washington Post:
When the House of Representatives passed the Border Protection, Anti-Terrorism, and Illegal Immigration Control Act last month, it bowed to the narrowest possible thinking on immigration. The bill, one of the harshest in decades, would fund the building of nearly 700 miles of new high-tech fences along the U.S.-Mexico border and make illegal immigration a felony. Any U.S. citizen found driving an immigrant anywhere -- even to a hospital or school -- could be arrested as an "alien smuggler" if the immigrant were determined to be here illegally.

Marcela Sanchez goes on to describe the politics of the bill and argues that the House may have made a miscalculation of US politics.

Boz argues that any immigration reforms should consider protecting the lives of immigrants who take extraordinary risks at sea or in deserts to attempt to enter the country.

The BBC reports on two tunnels found under the US border in the southwestern part of the country.

El Diario de Hoy has many stories of Salvadoran migration on its website.

Comments

Anonymous said…
It´s such a good blog. Very interesting points of view.

Also, I´d like to invite you to visit my blog, where interesting topics related to El Salvador and other ones are discussed:

segun2.blogspot.com

(It´s in Spanish)

Regards,

El_Peregrino
Gerry B said…
The angle I haven't seen taken up by any press yet is the opportunity cost of deporting all these illegals. Who will fill the jobs, who will pick up the slack of the illegals should the illegal population actually decrease? It will cost more, both in salary and benefits, to have legitimate workers fill spots formerly held by illegals. These costs will be passed directly on to the consumers.
Anonymous said…
Why doesn't anyone talk about changing the legal migration laws. Currently you have to wait 10 years if you want to petition for a sibling to enter the US legally. It seems so simple to me. Everyone would benefit. We would have a work force that is safe because they could have background checks. Legal immigrants have to have a sponsor so there would be no more discussion about illegals ripping off the system. And legal immigrants would have to pay taxes. And most of all they would be legal. They actually would have a chance of living the American Dream and not feel like they had to hide.