[T]he increased security has divided communities, separated families, and, according to Cynta De Narvaez, a West Texas activist who lives in Terlingua, weakened cross border communication and made some border communities more susceptible to the corrupting influences of drug traffickersRelated story: Drop in illegal immigration opens door for real reform – Less than a decade ago, a half-million Mexicans were coming to the U.S. illegally every year, accounting for 60 percent of all illegal immigration. But last year, fewer than 100,000 Mexicans crossed the border illegally or overstayed their visas. And it appears that an even greater number of Mexican illegal immigrants left the U.S., resulting in a net reduction in the number of Mexican illegal immigrants living here.
The fence is intermittent, meaning migrants and drug traffickers just come through the gaps. About an hour west in Granjeno, now backed by a reinforced levee-wall, resident Gloria Garza said one such opening funnels migrants through at a rate that has neighbors terrified.
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By Jason Buch and Lynn Brezosky
San Antonio Express-News
jbuch@express-news.net
Saturday, September 10, 2011
Read the complete story
LAREDO — In the decade since the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, property owners along the Rio Grande have lost land to the border fence and those who live near gaps in the unfinished structure are in the mouth of a funnel for illegal immigration and smuggling.
Travelers can no longer gain entry into the U.S. simply by declaring “American citizen.” Instead, they're met with long lines, rifle-toting customs officers and an array of electronics to scan documents and vehicles.
Cross-border communities in West Texas have withered and died when the unofficial crossings they relied upon were closed. A privately run detention center holding thousands of immigrants went up in a flash near the border.
RFID scanners, X-ray and Gamma-ray machines, SENTRI passes and FAST lanes have become part of the border lexicon, the response to the terrorist attack that cost thousands of U.S. lives and the effort to prevent it from happening again.
10 comments:
This article fails to mention that the real deterrent to illegal immigration has been our poor economy of the last 3 or 4 years. Due to failed economic strategies and over-spending by the previous and present administrations, the jobs are no longer here to fuel the invasion. Good news/bad news, I guess.
Just a reminder to all who post about immigration: unless you are native American you are an immigrant!
I agree with Patricia M. and anon 2 and will add for anon 2, it is mostly good news.
What bothers me is the belief among the new breed of conservatives that they (and they alone) own the Constitution of the US of A and they alone own an Entitlement to American citizenship. Yet they fight tooth and nail to deny American entitlements to other Americans except the rich and the corporations.
If immigration wasn't such a political football, I'm sure reasonable minds could agree on reasonable solutions. Short of that, it seems the status quo is the best/only solution by default. Always has been.
What do you mean "so called Native Americans"1 We were here long before you "white eyes" came and threw us off our lands! Go back to Europe and leave us to our native lands.
On second thought you can keep this land. I don't want it back after you made such a mess of it.
Mexico is the result of US policies. We mandate a minimum wage (& SSI and Obamacare) we get people coming here willing to work for less. We prohibit dope and it drives the price up then Mexico becomes a haven for it. We train Mexican troops at the School of the Americas, then come home and realize that it is more profitable to be a Los Zeta. This country need to own up to the effects of it's policies, we are not living in a vacuum.
Ask yourself was AL CAPONE the cause of all the killings during prohibition or merely a symptom?
Anonymous says:
"Patricia M. makes a bone-headed statement saying that, 'unless you are native American you are an immigrant'."
The inference here is a nice validation of evolution, as the migration of asians to north america occurred long before the Creation Theory argument.
In other words, either Patricia is correct, or she is not and evolution is the only real truth.
Thanks "Great Emancipator"!
All of us are immigrants in one form or another. The theory of evolution states that we all may have evolved from Africa. I for one have no problem with that. We are one people under whatever greater power you choose to believe in. What we need to believe in is taking care of this earth and its people.
If you are native born, you are not an immigrant. There is a big difference between an illegal immigrant (law-breaking invader) and a naturalized citizen. Get it?
If your first act in this country is to violate our laws you do not deserve to stay here except in jail for a time and then be thrown back to your own miserable country.
The Roundup article title says:
"Terror attacks permanently altered life along the border."
After watching the two Republican presidential debates and listening to the hateful Tea Party crowd at the last debate, I must say:
OSAMA BIN LADEN HAS ACHIEVED WHAT HE SET OUT OT ACHIEVE.
I see that Anonymous 5:27am does not like immigrants.
Maybe they came across without legal sanction but consider maybe they could not obtain a legal visa to enter this country because they were on a death list or they did not have the money to pay the bribes to get a legal visa. If they are not criminals then why not give them a green card and see what happens. I have friends and family members that came here that way in order to live. Do not judge lest ye be judged.
I will not sign my name because I do not want the death squads to know where my family lives.
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