Point of view from afar, Northeast. Not sure how far the walls will solve the issue if not followed up with enforcing the laws for current immigrants, illegal or legal. If the existing laws are unenforceable then they should be modified to suit the reality and enforced. It sets a bad example to ignore the law on one aspect at the politician's discretion and expect the citizens to follow the rest.

There is always a sad side that can be highlighted involving other events too. Kids get penalized or a broken family is left behind due to their parents indiscretion/crime. Well, that's life.

That's the whole point. You, an Anglo aren't bothered by the Border Patrol, because you aren't their target. People who look more brownish have another opinion. I'm Anglo also, but I've had the Border Patrol roust me. I can well understand why they don't like being harassed. Border Patrol's attitude changes in direct proportion to the persons skin tone. Of course Border Patrol is going to be pleasant to the local white citizens.

Maybe because those same white people don't shoot at them, and they aren't trying to get across the border to Mexico, ya think pkj?

I live a couple hours from you, but I cross that border at least twice a year for vacations in Mexico.

The people I encounter in northern Mexico are not involved in the drug trade and are not interested in illegally crossing that border. My question to you is what do you think we should do about the illegals and border security? It is as much a problem for Mexico as it is for us. In AZ, it is common knowledge that most of these illegals come from far further south than the border region. They are not the Mexicans who profit from the tourist business or NAFTA, they are not even always Mexican, but are often poor immigrants from Guatemala or other central American countries.

Do we grant some of them work visas, or do we further militarize the border and just say no? I'm just asking, because no matter what we do, they just keep on coming. Political wishful thinking will not make this issue go away..

Sandi, I agree with you 100%. I live exactly 6 blocks from the border. It is probable that we are talking about the same area if all the streets in town going East to West are numerical going from 1st to 24th Street and the main drag is named after a letter of the alphabet. I have never had a problem with the Border Patrol.

Pkj, just for your info I am of Hispanic descent, so your theory does not hold much water. I support the presence of the wall completely. In this area, as Sandi said above, there is very little problem with harassment of residents, Hispanic or otherwise. What many people do not comprehend is that the the Border Patrol agents here are a part of the community and interact off duty on a regular basis. They live here. Their kids go to school here. And another item for your info. A good many of the agents assigned here are Hispanic themselves and many are from this area to begin with. The majority are hardworking peole just trying to do their jobs. Sadly, there are always going to be a few bad apples in the bunch that tarnish the whole just like any other organization. I for one appreciate the job that they try to do.

as the world is facing dwindling resources; those who have less, will always invade the area where those who have more; Mexico, Central America, rich in natural resources, fertile lands , but because of a failed political system, the power people, have not spent the money (taxes), to develop their land; they want and encourage their poor population to more to the North American bread basket, so they do not have to deal with the problem; lack of conservation, in the fishing industry the western gulf was a bonanza, it is now fished out, so the Mexican fisherman are in North American waters, they catch everything, some of their nets are 10 miles long, they will soon fish out the central gulf waters, Mexican officials due not give a damn, they even encourage the actions, to get rid of a population that could cause a problem for them; remember no nation is more than three meals from a revolution; complete the fence we are being run over, take care of our citizens first, that is what we pay such high taxes for .

pkl - A lot of the Border Patrol agents themselves have brown skin. I have to disagree with you. The border patrol agents are doing what has to be done to protect the sovereignty of the US. I don't think its very difficult to distinguish an American hispanic in the area just going about their business, from an illegal who has been traveling by foot across the desert near the border. The discrimination card is tired and worn out. Too many cycles through the left washing machine.

If the federal government would do their dang job, we wouldn't even be having this debate. The federal government has become nothing but a bunch of greedy self-serving politicians, who have failed the American people.

Only question left -

When are they gonna finish it??!!!

Amen. The army shouldn't be in Iraq, they should be shoulder to shoulder on the borders... both sides and shoot if they try to INVADE! Get out! You are not welcomed here. No education for your anchor babies, no more NO SPEAKY ENGLISH! Sick freaks. Come here legally or are you too stupid to know what that is?

Reba, its obvious that you are ignorant of the whole situation the fact that you would even call an other human being a "sick freak" for trying to better ones well being its offensive to just about anyone.

Now do I agree on finishing it? Yes. I my self am hispanic born and raced in Illinois. It would end this politcal disput and save thousands of innocent lives , but what of the American border patoral once its built? Not all immigrants need to jump the border or cross some river. They also go through the american border patoral, how? paying them. Can you still call that an invasion? From what I know invade means to enter by force in order to conquer or pillage even harm. There not some kind of disease out to get you. And its not just Mexicans that are illegal I live in Connecticut there are thousands of asians, africans, canadians,italians,polands, that live here illegally and did they hop over some wall to get here. No.

And aside of the immigrants issues how much is it costing us the people who are busting are ass's working going to school and paying bills for the american people who don't. We pay for there food there houseing there medical needs even there monthly cell phones Obama phones as they like to call them. These are americans doing this we are bringing our selves down to @!$%#. So my question to you is who is really invadeing this country and sucking it dry?

I don't think Reba is the ignorant one; your response is full of grammer, spelling, and punctuation errors.

Chris, nice try at playing spell check police. The problem is that you could not even spell grammar properly, so where does that leave you?

"intelligent and generous" doesn't include getting ripped off and taken advantage of but illegal aliens. if you feel that badly for them then send your pay check to them but leave mine alone.

Boy, are you easily "humiliated".

Personally, I am glad it is there, ESPECIALLY with what is going on down there right now. It may not stop everyone, but it sure stops some of the bad stuff, bad people, and simple illegals from flowing over the border totally unchecked.

You want to know how to explain it in 50 years? First, WHO do we owe any explanation to? Well, if you really want an explanation, you can say this: Many people in Mexico did not respect our sovereign borders, so we had to secure them, and this was cheaper than human labor. Pretty simple really.

Try owning an orchard next to the border as a former colleague of mine does. Illegals pass through, leave litter, defecate, destroy trees, steal fruit, and ruin his irrigation setup. If they knock on his door and ask for water, he usually gives permission. Another friend of mine, a rancher, found an illegal on his property a little further from the border, hungry and thirsty. He gave him food, $20, and water. Both men have strong opinions about illegal immigrants, but they're good people, and offer desperate people help within reason. If the U.S. government would take a stronger political stand, people from Mexico wouldn't look to the U.S. as some kind of savior - maybe pressure their own government for reforms. At least we're sending as many as possible back.

Unless "rplatt1" does manual labor for a living I dont think he has to be worried about getting ripped off or his paycheck taken. These migrants do the jobs that most Americans (white, black) do not want to do. If you are threated by a migrant taking your job, then I guess it is time to get a skill or go back to school to get a better education. These are the things that we as Americans have the opportunity of doing, but yet most do not. So instead of complaining about a human being trying to make a living and provide for his/her family by doing the jobs that most do not want, how about investing your time to better yourself. This way you will not be so ignorant to the facts of economics.

On the border, Illegal migrant workers are here illegally and that should be the issue. Making excuses for ignoring our laws is just another form of ignorance as long as you've brought it up. It should be up to our government to provide a legal way for migrant workers to enter this country for work. How many other US laws would you choose to ignore?

The term migrant was used specifically inidicating them, not illegal migrants...

Glad to hear you are for migrant workers in this country only if they are here legally. So am I.

Meanwhile, the Democrats are destroying American cities with their followers:
OWS is receiving support, financial contributions, advice and/or counsel from: George Soros, Van Jones, SEIU, Teachers' Unions, Media Matters, Moveon.org, ACORN, ACLU, AFSCME, Rebuildthedream.com, Progressive Democrats of America, Congressional Black Caucus, Jesse Jackson, Al Sharpton, Communication Workers of America, NY Communities for Change, PowerPac.org, et al.

Heck, no fence will stop illegal migrants while the laws of the federal government are not enforced, and the states that pass their own laws are countermanded by said federals. Very strange, says I.

100% right on. The other thing is how much will we have to pay to remove it someday when reasonable people are in control. It is an eyesore at best. The US couldn't look worse in the eyes of the world, except not much of the world is watching since it is a local issue. I was thinking (hoping) that President O would take on the border problems right away because of all the problems we have this should be the easiest to fix using a simpler version of a guest worker program. But that didn't happen. What will we do if we have to do anything hard?

Believe me we will very soon become a Third World Country.....we cant take care of everybody...old immigrants came documented them self (legally) and were not getting everything free....(welfare food stamps etc)

On the Border by the Sea......I agree that these workers take jobs that most Americans do not want.....However, the burden on all social programs desiged to help US citizens and legal US residents is overwhelming. Those programs are funded by tax payer dollars that are PAID by persons with social security numbers....illiegal immigrants can not receive a social security number nor a tax ID number, therefore can not pay taxes. The majority of their income is sent to a foreign country and is not spent here helping this country's economy. If you check the Gross Domestic Product(GDP) of those countries whose immigrants we are employing, you will find that INCOME received from family members in the US is closer to the top of the list than the actual goods and services produced in those countries. In reference to returning to school to better educate themselves, a person making $17,000 per year or more can not receive a Board of Governor's fee waiver at a school in Southern California, but an illegal immigrant can get a college education for free. So, how is that for ECONOMICS? Perhaps, you should look at an issue from both angles before voicing your obviously uneducated opinion about it!!!

I am an american born us citizen, grandson, son and father of veterans and a veteran myself.....When I see whole communites in the US that you need to speak spanish in order to get by something is wrong....Whemn you go to the social service programs, their are young spanish women with a baby in the carriage , one in her stomach , and asking for somewone to speak spanish to get US help.....Truthfully we cannot support south america's, india's, africa's, china's....poor...There are enough poor US citizens right here...We need the Military on our borders...With the inability of the corrupt mexican government to control it's borders, and the insane politics of the us government concerning drugs..we need to deploy of resources where it helps us....We have given our blood , our sons and daughters, our fathers and grandfathers whenever our government called, wrong or right...It is time for now to protect home at home4

Are you an illegal? Only illegals would take this standpoint.

Wow, trooper1953....Africa India and Chinas poor? Are you sure you know what you're talking about?

Hmmmm.........tired of "illeagal aliens"& "non citizens" maybe u should go talk to the Indians : )....

You know the funny thing about this comment is; guess who will be the ones to build it...

There goes on the border again with more nonsense. If illegals were to build it, the contractors that hire them would be breaking the law. Most government contracts, and I'm sure the building of border fences would be a government job, require contractors to hire skilled workers that are paid wages equal to the local prevailing wage based on union pay scale. You'd get plenty of Americans flocking for those jobs. These jobs aren't picking tomatoes at $5.00 a bushel. You were calling others ignorant for comments not much different from yours.

I beleive that the border is shared along two of the biggest non-union states in the U.S., Texas and California...I have worked with the union in Colorado and guess who were the other 75% of the workers (people of Mexican descent, legal)...I'd imagine that since the fence is made of metal there would probablly be alot of welders needed. These wall is being built by the same people you want to keep out, period.

Any government contract awarded in California is bound by prevailing wage requirements. A contractor does not necessarily have to hire a union worker, but they must pay union (prevailing wages) wages. I'm a ubion general contractor here in Hawaii and our laws are exactly like that. I can guarantee you that federal contracts for work in Texas is also bound by prevailing wage requirements. It's a federal law that does not exempt any state when it comes to federal contracts. And by the way, California is as union as you can get. That does not mean that you must be in a union to work in California, but you do have to be paid prevailing wages for state and federal contract work. My God, California is a blue as a state as you can be. Democrats across this country have done all they can to force our state and federal governments to pay top dollar for any government project. That's one reason their budgets are in such bad shape. I'm not complaining, just telling you the facts. My union employees are very thankful for the pay they make and as long as we're discussing it, we'd like to thank the taxpayers for their generous support.

Ron, you are correct about California, I meant to say Arizona and Texas. The term non-union state is refering to states that practice the Right-to-work-law. This is a subsidy of the the Taft-Hartley Act.

The Taft–Hartley Act outlawed the closed shop. The union shop rule, which required all new employees to join the union after a minimum period after their hire, is also illegal. As such, it is illegal for any employer to force an employee to join a union.

I am not against any union however the fact remains that Arizona and Texas are Right-to-work states.

Even in those two states, federal government contracts require prevailing wages be paid to any worker, even if he or she is not in a union. We are off the subject now. The article was about the wall that was put up to keep illegals from entering this country. It was never intended to keep Mexican Americans or migrant workers here legally out of the USA. Here in Hawaii, we don't have a whole lot of Mexican Americans. We have plenty of Japanese Americans, Chinese Americans, Korean Americans, Filipino Americans, and a thorough mix of all because this state has been welcoming immigrants for more than a century. Our border with Mexico is 2,500 miles of the Pacific Ocean between us and that makes it a bit easier to prevent the influx of illegals. Again, it boils down to being in this country legally.

Fences make GOOD NEIGHBORS. we cross at Ports of Entry so build a fence on the Northern border also. Its is time the Congress takes care of U.S. citizens, and see to it that yours, and my kids have a better life that was the promise of this country to it's citizens. Let the other countries take care of their own citizens. It is not the duty of the United States, or it's citizens to make life in the nations that surround us better.

If any other race wrote a article for it then they would be labeled as racist. This is the easiest way to point a finger.

watch this.....the law that needs to be addressed and changed in this country is the birth right law, if your illegal and you have a child in this country should not automatically make that newborn child an American citizen. This is costing American taxpayers money, and they qualify for medicaid.

Yep. I believe the document that reads We the people of the United States... There is no clause to add, by the way, other people from other countries here are "we the people" NOT. It should read We the Citizens of the United States. No citizenship, no rights, AT ALL. No education, jobs, housing, clothing, no legal representation. NOTHING. I am so sure Americans would get ALL these benefits if we jump to Mexico. The benefits we would get would be shot by drug lords. The Mexican President is probably the Godfather. Why we do trade or even care about that country is beyond me.

Electrified fence powered by solar panels...that would be priceless. Jobs, green power..hey Obama, are you listening? LOL The fence would be off the grid. Heck, it could maybe even supply locals with green power.

Finally, some sanity on these boards.

"A good wall should be 20 feet high strung with barbed wire"

Razor wire would probably work better.

eric I agree. And electify it as well. The mines I had in mind are the claymors and bouncing Bettys, the types that are designed to castrate when stepped on. How about that.

Great point

I agree!!!!

And what would that be?

Just machine gun the invading pukes as they show their faces no matter what color. I'm tired of them I've come to despise the entire country both south, and north of us. Isolation is best, no more foreign wars just restock the nukes. our neighbors just want us for our bodies.

Dred44... alright! Someone who has the balls to say it. There are MANY of us who think it.

I am mad too, so are the ranchers in the northern border of Washington State (Whatcom County) that constantly deal with drones, border Patrol invading their private property, and setting up roadblocks in a state where it is illegal to do so (so much for conservative mantras for states rights). Sometimes I think they are building the wall to keep Americans in just as much as to keep the Latinos out. Just look at the new FATCA law taking effect in 2013. Capitol controls something fierce. They even have numerous sensors for Canada and in Vermont, they closed the access to Quebec. A police state in the making indeed. Finally a reminder, from 1/20/69 to 1/20/2009, republicans ran the presidency for 28 of those years, so don't blame liberals. Reagan had Amnesty. As for Obama betraying liberals on social issues, I vote in a non contested state, so I get to get a protest vote, and I am voting for Sam Kinnison, a great comedian while alive, to show my displeasure of the joke we live in called the USA. Does not matter who is in charge anymore, Republican or Democrat. I might write in Ron Paul's name because Liberterians need a chance.

Thank you for a well put argument. I'm also for changing the 14th amendment.

Bravo!!

Diana Diamond

"I am becoming sick at the bleeding hearts who advocate the open borders policy that Felipe Calderon keeps insisting the United States should allow"

Calderon is a hypocrite.

http://www.canadafreepress.com/index.php/article/28117

Good one, erictheredherring!

This was especially enlightening:

“Mexico has had it up to here with illegal aliens. So they’ve begun building a fence along the border. Not along its northern border with the United States, but along its southern border with Guatemala.

“According to the head of customs for Mexico’s tax administration, Raul Diaz, the Mexican border state of Chiapas is constructing a wall along the country’s southern border with Guatemala, along the river Suchiate which divides the countries. Diaz says the purpose of the wall is to prevent the passage of contraband, but admits, “It could also prevent the free passage of illegal immigrants.”

There are two ways to stop the flow of illegal immigrants to the US. Put up impenetrable barriers like the fence on the southern border, or remove the incentive that powers the migration - jobs. A barrier is only effective along the section of border where it exists, while a job for immigrant labor will attract workers from all directions. The obvious solution is to cut off all the jobs from any undocumented worker, with severe fines for employers who hire them.

The joke is that business wants these workers to be available. Documentation is easily forged, and the E-verify program that compares documents to a central database is VOLUNTARY. Employers also hire crews of illegal workers through labor contractors, thereby shifting the responsibility from their own farms and factories to the contractor, whose address may be a PO Box.

Instead of spending billions fortifying the southern border, use a fraction of that money to create and issue a national ID card, linked to a reliable and accurate database, that would be the ONLY document accepted as proof of a right to work in this country for any worker. Credit card transactions are authorized and checked for possible fraud millions of times a day from any point of sale in the world. Surely the technology is available to implement a check of a national ID in the same manner at hiring time, but it seems powerful forces would rather that this doesn't happen. They prefer you to concentrate on watching the southern border, building higher walls and deploying more deadly weapons systems instead.

Beans, crappy tacos, flour tortillas, and women with bellys as big as their rear. Yup, we are so Jealous! Oh and the social life of gangs, killings, and selling drugs. Hey everyone lets get onboard with Mexican culture.

All I can do is laugh at the thought that Americans are jealous of Hispanic culture. Keep on building that wall, just like Mexico is building theirs on their southern borders to keep the Guatemalans out. Does that make Mexico jealous of Guatemalan food, women, and social life? Bwahahahahahahahaaaaaaaaa!

Your people who get food stamps, wellfare, and wic are also getting government handouts. Point the finger in each direction.

Weak stupid Americans? How about uneducated brain dead Mexicans. Most who come here have less than a 3rd grade education and expect to get things from here? All they are worth is to pick strawberries and clean my house. They are just things, not people. Go home and clean up your own back yard.. oh sorry, you're to stupid ad lazy to do that. OH MY! Come here and sponge off of us. Don't want to upset the children in school? WTF? WHO CARES? GET THEM OUT! They grow up into stupid Mexicans or gang members.

Why? You want to get a disease that Ajax can't scrub off? I'm sure there are plenty of good Catholic senorita's from good homes, but they're not the ones selling themselves in the brothels.