Editorial on Immigration

From the Daily Herald, an editorial I liked about the recent events taking place in Utah and their stupidity.

Two proposed Utah laws highlight — through their flaws, unfortunately — key ingredients in any legislation on immigration: practicality and fairness.

With many Americans simmering over a wave of illegal immigration, state lawmakers are feeling popular pressure to take action. Estimates put the number of illegal aliens somewhere between 7 million and 20 million.New laws addressing illegal immigrants are clearly needed, but they need to be carefully conceived.

A proposal (HB 239) by Rep. Glenn Donnelson, R-North Ogden, would revoke “driver privilege cards” that are issued to about 35,000 drivers without Social Security numbers — mostly illegal immigrants. Donnelson said it aims to prevent people from misusing the cards for identification purposes, as in buying alcohol.

The main purpose of the cards is to provide a way for illegal aliens to take the state driving test and get auto insurance. A new study suggests the program is working. The Legislative Auditor General found that 76 percent of the card holders insure their vehicles, just slightly less than the 82 percent of licensed drivers who do so.

What would revocation of the cards do? Apparently take insurance away from at least 20,000 drivers, and keep thousands from studying the rules of the road to pass the license exam. Taking away driver privilege cards would only make it more likely that your car would be in a crash with that of an undocumented driver, and that he or she would not have insurance. That’s far from a useful step.

Another bill (HB 241) is patently unfair. Also sponsored by Donnelson, this bill would prohibit undocumented students from getting in-state tuition at Utah colleges. A 2002 state law gives such students the break if they attended a Utah high school for three years and graduated.

Efforts to change this law are misguided and harsh. Most of these students obviously had no say in coming to this country. We shouldn’t hurt kids to get at their parents. It’s wrong to punish them for studying diligently enough to be admitted to college and for desiring to make something of themselves. Passing this proposal would only result in more people working in lower-skilled jobs, rather than letting the economy make the best use of their talents.

We urge senators to put aside the bills cited above. One won’t work, and the other stains Utah’s honor.

Other aspects of illegal immigration have prompted other proposals. We are tempted to urge the Utah Senate to consider a resolution proposed by Sen. Howard Stephenson, R-Draper, asking that the state defer immigration legislation until Congress and the president approve a workable national policy. That sounds good, but we might be waiting a very long time. Congress doesn’t seem to have the stomach for this.

Utah needs to do what little it can in the meantime. And on this score we urge that any action be broad-minded and fair. LDS and Catholic leaders have recently urged Utah lawmakers to be compassionate about immigrants. These insights are timely. Most immigrants are law-abiding people who come here to work to help their families and improve their lives. Punishments should be reserved for genuine criminals.

Clearly, Americans must accept some responsibility for allowing the immigration problem to develop. Imagine you owned a beautiful beach-front property. The law allows you to ban trespassers. But now and then a few people sneak onto the beach. You ignore them for awhile. Then you decide to pay some of them a few bucks to pick up litter, watch the kids and perform other chores. Say this goes on for two decades. Then one day you decide there are too many people on your beach. You call the police and ask them to arrest those people for trespassing.

Would that be fair? Of course not.

This is not to say we must despair of reinvigorating the law and controlling U.S. borders. But it does suggest that we should be smart about it. For example, it may not be necessary to build hundreds of miles of border fence. Physical barriers won’t work, as pointed out in a prize-winning report by the Arizona Daily Star in Tucson.

So what will work? We return to the suggestion of a virtual fence in the form of severe punishments for employers — severe enough to remove all temptation to provide jobs to illegals. Allowing for some sort of transition period, the future would look like this: No jobs; no illegal immigration; end of story. Such a virtual fence would be cheaper to build, more effective than other options, and both fair and humane. Everyone would know the rules and there’s little room for gaming the system.

Respect for the rule of law is a fundamental American value. To flout this most basic principle shows a colossal disregard for what this country is all about. Those who do so don’t deserve to be here. But in addressing the problem of illegal immigration we should be careful to retain the moral high ground.

Drivers willing to buy insurance should not be prevented from buying it. Aspiring college students should not be treated the same way as day laborers who sneaked into the country last month.

When it comes to immigration, there is no reason for vindictiveness, only clarity.

End of the Month Blogging

January has come to an end. The month’s most popular posts are the following. Illegal Immigrants and Crime first, followed by Immigration Enforcement and the About Me post. As of the moment of this writing I’ve passed the 1700 views mark, with 1400 of those views from January. The best single day was having 82 views.

My favorite video that I posted was the following, Fear Politics.

My favorite quote is the following, from Martin Luther King Jr.

“An individual who breaks a law that conscience tells him is unjust, and who willingly accepts the penalty of imprisonment in order to arouse the conscience of the community over its injustice, is in reality expressing the highest respect for the law.”

As for what I hope for February, hopefully continue to blog and have better posts than in the past.

More Than One Quote

This are all from Martin Luther King Jr, a man who needs no introduction from me. A great American, one that sacrificed much for his entire people. Not many can do that, or would want to. I find the quotes to fit the times we live in as well. These are not all the quotes I want to put of course, I will put more as time passes.

“Discrimination is a hellhound that gnaws at Negroes in every waking moment of their lives to remind them that the lie of their inferiority is accepted as truth in the society dominating them.“
Just substitute Negroes with immigrants and we have today’s discrimination.

“Freedom is never voluntarily given by the oppressor; it must be demanded by the oppressed.“

“Law and order exist for the purpose of establishing justice and when they fail in this purpose they become the dangerously structured dams that block the flow of social progress.“

Video Game: Resident Evil 4

One can easily call this game the masterpiece of the last generation of video games. I’m not one to argue with that. Despite my love of the Zelda series, the Wind Waker cannot match the greatness that is Resident Evil 4. Simply said, this was one of the greatest moments in video game history.

It all started in 2001, when Capcom announced that the Resident Evil series was going to be exclusive to the Gamecube platform, Nintendo. I was quite happy about this since the only console I owned and would own for quite some time was going to be the Gamecube. First, the original Resident Evil was remade and it was wonderful, followed by the new chapter of Resident Evil 0. Following that game, straight ports of the Resident Evil 2, 3 and Code Veronica were made. And finally, Resident Evil 4 arrived to the Gamecube in 2005. I bought it, having played Resident Evil, 0 and Code Veronica. I expected a great game but I was literally blown away by everything in it.

The graphics were fantastic for their time. The control scheme was excellent, despite the ‘tank’ controls. The pacing of the game was spot on, it was frantic and action filled. I liked the cut scenes that required you to push buttons in the middle of them as a way to keep you on your toes. It was lengthy game too, more than 10 hours of pure gaming bliss. I literally found no fault with the game, with the exception of one thing. The last boss was not epic enough, he was too easy to beat. It was a bad way to end the game.

Following the release of the game on the Gamecube, Capcom sold out and released on the PS2. That version as far as I know is not as good visually, and has no in game engine cut scenes. All the cut scenes were FMVs which showed the fact that the PS2 version was the inferior one. Later on it was released for the PC, based on the PS2 port which was a mistake. And finally, one last time it was rereleased, on the Nintendo Wii. This is the version to play. The Wiimote and Nunchuck controller prove to the world that a traditional hardcore game can be made even better on the Wii. The Wii version of the game is a port of the Gamecube version but with the added extras of the PS2 version, with Wii controls which are superb. I suggest either of the Nintendo consoles to play this game, but if you don’t have neither, the other versions are fine. Just play the game, you won’t regret it.

First trailer, Gamecube version

Another trailer, Gamecube version

Wii trailer

Education Stupidity

I would have thought that the US wanted a highly educated workforce to complete. But no, not according to Utah. No, they want to stop highly motivated students who want to go to college. How does taking away in-state tuition helping anyone. How is that stopping illegal immigration? News flash, it isn’t. And it is not stopping the highly motivated students from graduating only to find a very hostile environment. What do I mean by hostile you ask? Well, the following article highlights one of the comments a student made, “let them die. They don’t deserve to be here”.

That is what an educated immigrant who by no choice of his own hears in a daily basis. From the media, from the internet, they are being transformed from high achieving motivated students to leeches, dogs and rats. No matter how the anti-immigrant people paint their views, I can never believe that to be the view of America. There are so many stories of students like those mentioned in the article, lost, having a very uncertain future.

And I believe those are the kinds of students that America wants. Immigrant students are the ones who want the prize of education much more than their born-citizens peers. Yeah, that’s right, I said and believe it. The folks I’m talking about are students who take as many AP classes as their friends, they have as much or more community service and are well behaved. And what do they get for it in most cases, nothing. No college education, and yet they do it, even though they knew it would be incredibly hard, if not impossible, to get to college. That is the definition of determination, of dedication, to having a better life. If these students are not the ones America wants, who do they want? Is there no compassion anymore? How is taking away in-state tuition doing anything but making students lives bleaker and sadder?

Dream Act video

This video represents what the Dream Act can solve, and make someone’s life better.

And before anyone says anything, parents of people like her did pay taxes to the state. Income, sale, car, and house, everything. Immigrants DO pay taxes, even with fake papers. And because of those fake papers, they will never see a dime of that money in social security. But no one complains about that right. There is no ‘line’ for her to go to, no ‘home’ country. This is her home country. And no, it is not a way for 12 million immigrants so that they could get legalized. There are requirements for the Dream Act. Fellow blogger You May Say I’m a Dreamer has a great post about it, link here.

There is no invasion. No one is trying to cheat. We didn’t even have a choice in the manner in which we came. And I repeat, it is NOT a blanket amnesty. The Dream Act was designed to help those who want to study and have a good job and give back something to the place they call home. It is their home.

The Dream Act and the candidates

Where Do Presidential Candidates Stand on The DREAM Act?

by Dina Horwedel
Jan 27, 2008, 22:30

As the presidential race heats up, a segment of the non-voting population as well as voters on both sides of the debate to help undocumented students access college will be watching to see where the candidates stand on the DREAM Act (Development, Relief, and Education for Alien Minors Act).

This failed federal legislation would have provided permanent legal residency for undocumented immigrants who were brought to the United States as children, under the age 16, by their parents. Under the latest version, they would need to complete two years of college or enroll in the armed forces and would need to have lived in the U.S. for five years before applying for such status. The law would have also made it easier for undocumented students to access in-state tuition, rather than the higher out-of-state tuition that keeps many students from fulfilling their higher education dreams.

Because the U.S. Congress failed to pass the law, the DREAM Act has been a distant dream, and a crazy quilt of laws remain at the state level. In Arizona this month, voter-approved Proposition 300 took effect, and nearly 4,000 students at universities and community colleges were denied in-state tuition after failing to prove legal residency, according to the state’s Joint Legislative Budget Committee report.

Although undocumented residents can’t vote, citizen on both sides of the debate are considering where the parties stand on immigration. Fifty-seven percent of Latinos, the nation’s largest and fastest growing minority group, according to the U.S. Census Bureau, self-identify as Democrats or are leading towards the Democratic Party, according to a newly released nationwide survey conducted by the Pew Hispanic Center. The center states that although Latinos only comprise approximately 9 percent of voters nationwide, their votes could swing the presidential election because of their numbers in states that are expected to be hotly contested, including Colorado, Florida, Nevada and New Mexico.

Following are the presidential candidates and their positions on the DREAM Act.

Democratic Candidates

Sen. Hillary Clinton

Sen. Hillary Clinton of New York supports the DREAM Act, according to her official Web site. Clinton notes that U.S. immigration laws are inadequate and poorly reflect national values of respect and compassion. She advocates a strict but fair immigration policy that provides a way for undocumented residents to obtain legal residency while working towards citizenship. As part of that policy, Clinton “strongly” supports the DREAM Act, which she says “provides a path to citizenship through military service or higher education for children who were brought to the U.S. by their parents.”

Clinton also provided the Hispanic Association of Colleges and Universities (HACU) with a statement voicing her support of the DREAM Act: “I will continue to strongly support the DREAM Act, which enables undocumented students to pursue higher education, attend college legally, and pursue legal residency. Access to college is part of the American dream and we have to make it easier for all individuals to get there, and to graduate… As President, I will work even harder to build a stronger America for everyone. I am committed to a diverse administration that reflects America. Diversity is not a campaign slogan or a catchy phrase… it is a commitment to government that reflects the people it serves,” she says.

Sen. John Edwards

Sen. Edwards’ camp released this prepared statement to Diverse, made in October 2007, about Edwards’ support for the DREAM Act. “Immigration is central to the story of America, but today our immigration system needs a fundamental overhaul. Our security is threatened by borders we cannot control. Our economy is harmed by an underground economy featuring a large and unprotected labor force. And our values are violated when 12 million people live in the shadows of our society, vulnerable to abuse and fearful of deportation,” he said.

“We need to overhaul our immigration laws and that should include giving children who grew up here the opportunity to build a better life. I co-sponsored the DREAM Act when I was in the Senate to give young people who consider the United States their home, have worked hard in school, and have stayed out of trouble, the chance to go to college and pursue their dreams.

“And it simply should not even be a matter for debate that young men and women who proudly wear our nation’s uniform, who demonstrate their willingness to fight and die for this country, should receive all the opportunity that America has to offer,” Edwards said.

Sen. Barack Obama

Sen. Barack Obama of Illinois supports the DREAM Act. Obama’s campaign headquarters provided the following quote from a statement about his support for the DREAM Act to HACU: “Our immigration policy should be legal, orderly, humane, and safe. And we should give immigrant children the chance to attend college. I supported and helped pass the Illinois state version of the DREAM Act, and I have worked hard with Senator Durbin to move the federal version of the bill through the Senate. I believe that all students, regardless of national origin, deserve an equal opportunity to a high quality public education. Under current law, students who were brought to the United States years ago as undocumented immigrant children and who have stayed and excelled in and out of school have no hope of attending college with affordable in-state tuition.”

Republican Candidates

Mayor Rudolph Giuliani

When it comes to immigration, former New York City mayor Rudy Giuliani states on his official Web site: “Real immigration reform must put security first because border security and homeland security are inseparable in the Terrorists’ War on Us. The first responsibility of the federal government is to protect our citizens by controlling America’s borders, while ending illegal immigration and identifying every non-citizen in our nation. We must restore integrity, accountability and the rule of law to our immigration system to regain the faith of the American people.”

Giuliani does not state on the site where he stands on the DREAM Act, and his team did not return calls to Diverse.

Gov. Mike Huckabee

Mike Huckabee, the former Arkansas governor, has a hard-line stance regarding the DREAM Act and any other immigration policy that would allow undocumented students to pay in-state college tuition.

Huckabee states on his official Web site: “I oppose and will never allow amnesty. I opposed the amnesty President Bush and Senator McCain tried to ram through Congress this summer, and opposed the misnamed DREAM Act, which was a nightmare because it would have put us on the slippery slope to amnesty for all. Because once we open that door even a crack, we’ll never get it closed again.”

Sen. John McCain

Arizona Sen. John McCain is on the front lines of immigration reform in his home state. McCain has served as an advocate for educating undocumented students and allowing students in good standing to obtain a college education while paying in-state tuition.

McCain was a co-sponsor of The DREAM Act of 2007, and an earlier
Senate bill that provided for comprehensive immigration reform, including the DREAM Act of 2006. McCain was a co-sponsor of the DREAM Act of 2005.

Gov. Mitt Romney

On his official Web site, former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney accuses fellow candidates Giuliani and Huckabee, and Democratic candidate Hillary Clinton, for being soft on immigration. His record as governor of Massachusetts includes vetoing a plan that would have permitted undocumented students to pay in-state tuition rates at public colleges and universities.

Yet, Romney advocates immigration law reforms that would allow undocumented college graduates to remain legally in the United States. He says on his Web site that this would keep American globally competitive by providing for an educated workforce.

–Dina Horwedel

A Person’s Words

So, this is another editorial like the one yesterday. It poses someone else’s opinion because right now I’m too busy to post my own. This editorial also agrees with my views. I don’t know where it comes from though, maybe the NY Times but I don’t have a link. Sorry. I’m just saying that the following are not my words. I’ll try to write something of my own later on but I can’t make any promises. School is taking over.

EDITORIAL; Ain’t That America

Published: October 22, 2007

Think of America’s greatest historical shames. Most have involved the singling out of groups of people for abuse. Name a distinguishing feature — skin color, religion, nationality, language — and it’s likely that people here have suffered unjustly for it, either through the freelance hatred of citizens or as a matter of official government policy.

We are heading down this road again. The country needs to have a working immigration policy, one that corresponds to economic realities and is based on good sense and fairness. But it doesn’t. It has federal inertia and a rising immigrant tide, and a national mood of frustration and anxiety that is slipping, as it has so many times before, into hatred and fear. Hostility for illegal immigrants falls disproportionately on an entire population of people, documented or not, who speak Spanish and are working-class or poor. By blinding the country to solutions, it has harmed us all.

The evidence can be seen in any state or town that has passed constitutionally dubious laws to deny undocumented immigrants the basics of living, like housing or the right to gather or to seek work. It’s in hot lines for citizens to turn in neighbors. It’s on talk radio and blogs. It’s on the campaign trail, where candidates are pressed to disown moderate positions. And it can be heard nearly every night on CNN, in the nativist drumming of Lou Dobbs, for whom immigration is an obsessive cause.

In New York, Gov. Eliot Spitzer has proposed allowing illegal immigrants to earn driver’s licenses. It is a good, practical idea, designed to replace anonymous drivers with registered competent ones. In show after show, Mr. Dobbs has trained his biggest guns on Mr. Spitzer, branding him with puerile epithets like ‘’spoiled, rich-kid brat” and depicting his policy as some sort of sanctuary program for the 9/11 hijackers. Someday there may be a calm debate, in Albany and nationally, about immigrant drivers. But with Mr. Dobbs at the megaphone, for now there is only histrionics and outrage.

Let’s concede an indisputable point: people should not be in the country illegally. But forget about the border for a moment — let’s talk about the 12 million who are already here. What should be done about them?

A. Deport them all.

B. Find out who they are. Distinguish between criminals and people who just want to work. Get them on the books. Make them pay what they owe — not just the income, Social Security, sales and property taxes they already pay, but all their taxes, and a fine. Get a smooth legal flow of immigrants going, and then concentrate on catching and deporting bad people.

C. Catch the few you can, and harass and frighten the rest. Treat the entire group as a de facto class of criminals, and disrupt or shout down anyone or any plan seen as abetting their evildoing.

Forget A. Congress tried a version of B, but it was flattened by outrage.

And so here we are at C. It’s a policy that can’t work; it’s too small-bore, too petty, too narrow. And all the while it’s not working, it can only lead to the festering of hate. Americans are a practical and generous people, with a tolerant streak a mile wide. But there is a combustible strain of nativism in this country, and it takes only a handful of match tossers to ignite it.

The new demagogues are united in their zeal to uproot the illegal population. They do not discriminate between criminals and the much larger group of ambitious strivers. They champion misguided policies, like a mythically airtight border fence and a reckless campaign of home invasions. And they summon the worst of America’s past by treating a hidden group of vulnerable people as an enemy to be hated and vanquished, not as part of a problem to be managed

Love of Star Wars

“Do or do not. There is no try.” Master Yoda, truer words have never been spoken.

My love of Star Wars stems back to my days in Mexico. I watched them there and fell in love with them. I don’t know what it is about those movies that makes me like them. It probably has to do with nostalgia. I know I’m not alone because people most like them as it is a multi-million super franchise. I watched all three in one sitting. And now, god knows how many years, me being 19, I still love them. My favorite character is Yoda as well, ever since seeing him in episode 5. Now thanks to the wonders of technology, I’ve seen him fight as well as be a wise old alien. So, is there any explanation behind my love of the movies? I don’t know but they are damn fun and anyone who says otherwise is an idiot. That’s right, I went there. I said it. As to why I decided to post this, I thought it was time.

What part of illegal don’t you understand?

This is an editorial from the NY Times that I really liked. It is kind of old though, but it is still a good read. The link to the paper is here.

By LAWRENCE DOWNES

Published: October 28, 2007

I am a human pileup of illegality. I am an illegal driver and an illegal parker and even an illegal walker, having at various times stretched or broken various laws and regulations that govern those parts of life. The offenses were trivial, and I feel sure I could endure the punishments - penalties and fines - and get on with my life. Nobody would deny me the chance to rehabilitate myself. Look at Martha Stewart, illegal stock trader, and George Steinbrenner, illegal campaign donor, to name two illegals whose crimes exceeded mine.

Good thing I am not an illegal immigrant. There is no way out of that trap. It’s the crime you can’t make amends for. Nothing short of deportation will free you from it, such is the mood of the country today. And that is a problem.

America has a big problem with illegal immigration, but a big part of it stems from the word “illegal.” It pollutes the debate. It blocks solutions. Used dispassionately and technically, there is nothing wrong with it. Used as an irreducible modifier for a large and largely decent group of people, it is badly damaging. And as a code word for racial and ethnic hatred, it is detestable.

“Illegal” is accurate insofar as it describes a person’s immigration status. About 60 percent of the people it applies to entered the country unlawfully. The rest are those who entered legally but did not leave when they were supposed to. The statutory penalties associated with their misdeeds are not insignificant, but neither are they criminal. You get caught, you get sent home.

Since the word modifies not the crime but the whole person, it goes too far. It spreads, like a stain that cannot wash out. It leaves its target diminished as a human, a lifetime member of a presumptive criminal class. People are often surprised to learn that illegal immigrants have rights. Really? Constitutional rights? But aren’t they illegal? Of course they have rights: they have the presumption of innocence and the civil liberties that the Constitution wisely bestows on all people, not just citizens.

Many people object to the alternate word “undocumented” as a politically correct euphemism, and they have a point. Someone who sneaked over the border and faked a Social Security number has little right to say: “Oops, I’m undocumented. I’m sure I have my papers here somewhere.”

But at least “undocumented” - and an even better word, “unauthorized” - contain the possibility of reparation and atonement, and allow for a sensible reaction proportional to the offense. The paralysis in Congress and the country over fixing our immigration laws stems from our inability to get our heads around the wrenching change involved in making an illegal person legal. Think of doing that with a crime, like cocaine dealing or arson. Unthinkable!

So people who want to enact sensible immigration policies to help everybody - to make the roads safer, as Gov. Eliot Spitzer would with his driver’s license plan, or to allow immigrants’ children to go to college or serve in the military - face the inevitable incredulity and outrage. How dare you! They’re illegal.

Meanwhile, out on the edges of the debate - edges that are coming closer to the mainstream every day - bigots pour all their loathing of Spanish-speaking people into the word. Rant about “illegals” - call them congenital criminals, lepers, thieves, unclean - and people will nod and applaud. They will send money to your Web site and heed your calls to deluge lawmakers with phone calls and faxes. Your TV ratings will go way up.

This is not only ugly, it is counterproductive, paralyzing any effort toward immigration reform. Comprehensive legislation in Congress and sensible policies at the state and local level have all been stymied and will be forever, as long as anything positive can be branded as “amnesty for illegals.”

We are stuck with a bogus, deceptive strategy - a 700-mile fence on a 2,000-mile border to stop a fraction of border crossers who are only 60 percent of the problem anyway, and scattershot raids to capture a few thousand members of a group of 12 million.

None of those enforcement policies have a trace of honesty or realism. At least they don’t reward illegals, and that, for now, is all this country wants.

Not about to give up…

My cause is getting attacked on all sides by various voices. By various people, from all levels of life, from Internet bloggers to US Senators. They want to quiet me and others who they think are ignorant. They have made this into a long bloody struggle. And even with everything they call me, vermin, leech, parasite, cockroach, and much more, I’m not going to give up. I’ve met challenges head in the past, through stubbornness, blind courage, or sheer stupidity. I’m not going quietly into that good night, not by a long shot. And neither should anyone who is speaking for this cause, even if sacrifices have to be made. Do not go quietly into that good night.

DO NOT GO GENTLE INTO THAT GOOD NIGHT

Do not go gentle into that good night,
Old age should burn and rave at close of day;
Rage, rage against the dying of the light.

Though wise men at their end know dark is right,
Because their words had forked no lightning they
Do not go gentle into that good night.

Good men, the last wave by, crying how bright
Their frail deeds might have danced in a green bay,
Rage, rage against the dying of the light.

Wild men who caught and sang the sun in flight,
And learn, too late, they grieved it on its way,
Do not go gentle into that good night.

Grave men, near death, who see with blinding sight
Blind eyes could blaze like meteors and be gay,
Rage, rage against the dying of the light.

And you, my father, there on the sad height,
Curse, bless me now with your fierce tears, I pray.
Do not go gentle into that good night.
Rage, rage against the dying of the light.

By Dylan Thomas

Hate Speech

Another video from Prince William county telling us about how words like anchor baby dehumanizes an entire population of people. Yes, it is another video. I can’t help but to put videos up, I like them.

The Irony of the Wall

Another editorial of what would really happen if the wall was built. Nothing. Nothing would happen. Once again I am using another editorial by Jorge Ramos, the best news anchor in the Hispanic network of Univision. Also, at the end I will post once again the video from Penn and Teller that shows the the wall in fact only causes a delay of three minutes to undocumented immigrants in their journey here. The wall alone is not a solution. It is a simple and ignorant solution to a complex problem, and complex problems require complex thinking, compromise and ultimately, a complex thought out answer. Here is the editorial, translated from Spanish to English by me.

The Wall: Three minutes of delay
Hunger stronger than fear

By Jorge Ramos Avalos

There are presents that are not wanted. They are uncomfortable, and far from being good for those who get them, they are things that are only enjoyed by those who give them away. This is the case of the wall between Mexico and the US.

A gift not wanted

Bush’s government is giving away a very expensive wall to different border town, but the problem is that the cities don’t want accept that gift.

It is true. The mayors of the border towns like Eagle Pass and Del Rio, both from Texas, don’t want a wall.

“The way to protect the border is not with the wall” Efrain Valdez told me, the mayor of Del Rio. The undocumented ” will just take 3 more minutes to cross over, but either way, he is going to come here.”

Three minutes of delays. That is all. But either way all undocumented will still cross. With tunnels, ladders, hiding in vehicles, swimming and jumping. Hunger is stronger than fear.

Expensive wall

Last year 265 miles of the wall were constructed, according to the Secretary of Homeland Security Michael Chertoff own report. Y he hopes to get the total of almost 700 miles this year.

The price? Beyond the sky. Some 70 millions for every mile. And all of that to cause a delay of three minutes to undocumented.

“The wall will give everyone a false of security”, Chad Foster commented in an interview, the mayor of Eagle Pass. Why construct a wall?” asks Foster. “If we already have a natural division called Bravo River (or rio Grande, like it is called in the US.

They already have cameras

Effectively the river has divided the countries since 1848 some 1,254 miles of the border between Mexico and Texas. Also, Mayor Foster assures us, that there are already agents from the sheriff’s office, customs, the National Guard and ICE patrolling the border.

“We ask to protect the Texas border with more technology”, not with a wall, commented Foster.

Careful. It is not that either mayor, along with a lot of others from Texas, want open borders with Mexico. But they don’t believe that the border will do anything to deter the flow of immigrants minute by minute.

Why do they come?

The wall is forceful action against an economic problem. As long as there is hunger and unemployment in Latin America, and food, jobs, an education, and better opportunities for immigrants in the US, they will continue to risk everything and cross illegally.

Last year 400 immigrants died as they tried to cross. The number is lightly less than the year before. But the number is still terrible and important.

Nothing -no the wall, not the California fires, not the raids, not anymore agents at the border and the anti-immigrant sentiments in the rest of the country- is stopping undocumented.

Dry Land

It is important to find another solution. And it is a clear one: legalize those who are already here and give visas to the those who coming behind them (and the US needs them).

The wall is not working to stop undocumented, only delaying them or sending to pass through more difficult routes, there is another important matter: water.

“That worries us”, Mayor Valdez told me, “because the wall will take away our use of the rio Grande; it will take away the water.”

95 percents of those who share the river with Mexico are private owners. Those ranchers would not be able to take their animals to the river so they could drink water. And it would be more complicated for Texans who want to use the river rater to irrigate their crops, since there would be a wall dividing them.

Mexico would win

There is more. The mayors are afraid that the precise moment the wall starts getting built, the river will automatically belong to Mexico.

The international treaty between Mexico and US establishes that the border line is exactly in the middle of the river. But by constructing the wall in the American side, the mayors believe that the US would be giving away territory (and their part of the river) to Mexico, not on the legal sense but very much a physical one.

That is why, like Mayor Foster told me. “We are ready to fight until the very end so that there is no border wall in Texas.

A wall in the border between Mexico and Texas, like it is talked about in by the Bush administration, would affect commerce, the environment, distribution of war, the physical boundaries in between both countries and the most ironic of all, it won’t comply the promise of stopping undocumented in their tracks.

It will only delay them on their way three minutes. Three.

The following video contains profanity throughout the entire thing and nudity at the very end.

Fear Politics

This is what it is all about. Fear politics. I enjoy the quote.

How did we come to this?

How did we come to this? The death of a child because of fear. Fear of going to a hospital. Now that my friends, is very sad. Especially in this country of all places. A baby is dead because of the new law. Because the new law and its effect on the people. Why demonize immigrants? Why them, those who can’t defend themselves for fear of deportation? This law makes it a felony to harbor or transport immigrants now. Does that mean that friends can no longer give me rides anywhere? I can’t get on buses or the metro to the movies anymore? Is it bad that I’m living in a dorm now, is the university at fault? Such an impractical law, one that only makes the living of some people even worse than what they already face in a daily basis. It is not good to be attacked on a daily basis, to be considered vermin, a parasite to be squashed. Humanity for those less fortunate, where is it? Where was it when that child that died?

Where is the humanity in calling a kid an anchor baby? Where is the humanity in calling university students worthless rats?

As for those who say that those laws are right, it will all bog down to racial profiling. Because in the eyes of many, illegal immigrants=Latinos. And don’t tell me I’m wrong, because no one is seriously going to check a white or black American, the authorities are only going to check on Latinos. But of course, this happens every time there is a new wave of immigrants. It is a shame we don’t learn from our past.