Page 91 - Border Enforcement News Today

Pathway to citizenship. when you start looking in mexico, philippines, and other countries, you have a waiting period right now of over 18 years. thats just -- >> for legal. >> legal immigration. so theres no question that its a central issue. you have to look at you dont want to create a permanent underclass through this new -- >> and cut wages. >> i worked with someone who was once on a work visa. when youre working and you have kids, particularly a mortgage, getting fired is a cataclysmic thi...

Administration briefly flirted with supporting her proposals, which would have reduced illegal immigration and toughened enforcement. in the last decade, the face of restrictionism has been joe arpaio and that, i think, has produced much less favorable political conditions for what essentially in many respects could -- there are some liberal ends to a stronger immigration position. what youre seeing, a tighter labor market at the lower end of the income scale would benefit an american working cl...

Constituted with the number of staff and immigration courts. immigration courts, by the way, america, go to an immigration court. its a total disaster. ive done some reporting from immigration courts, the whole system seems totally overwhelmed and totally dysfunctional and totally broken. if you take the overwhelmed, dysfunctional, broken system as it currently is and say these 11 million people you need to enter into this system. the idea is everybody gets in the same line. if the line is now y...

For the reason the guest just said, which is as the economy improves, then we may see an uptick in individuals who are crossing the border illegally, and that is not what we want from a good immigration policy that works. we want a process where its legal. look, we are a nation of immigrants and laws, and we need people to follow our laws, but we need a law that works, and thats why we need comprehensive immigration reform. >> so one of the things id like to ask you is, if this emphasis on borde...

That the notion of securing the border is a laudable goal, but the enforcement first mentality has a host of consequences not to mention human costs. it ignores so much about the realities of migration in the 21st century. joining us on the table is elisio medina and aaron pena, a former member of the texas house of representatives, foupder of the hispanic republican conference of texas, now senior vice president of firm crosswinds communications. aaron, i want to start with you because you are ...

That has control over its borders. it seems almost a precondition for what we think of as sovereignty. you can say who can come in and who can come out. you have borders that are defensible. within those borders, you have a democratic policy or whatever kind of regime you have. the state has a monopoly. this is all constituent pillars of what it means to be a country. when you say there are these negative costs to defending that border, making that border impenetrable or defensible, i think ther...

Weve seen a place that was always contesteded, always tense, turn into a much, much darker and scarier place. and its all part of this culture of punitive enforcement really that the emphasis has been purely on that for years and years and years. and for this new legislation, for the debate to start with talking about the first talking point to be more enforcement before we get to a path towards legalization, to me, is really the wrong place to start. >> okay. but youre talking about the negativ...

Exploited, and then turn our border enforcement into chasing criminals, not nannies and farm workers. >> i think thats what adds to the hypocrisy of those on the other side who advocate for a guest worker program who also say they stand for family values. i believe our immigration policy should keep families together. they should promote the parents taking care of their kids and kids being able to pursue their education and career goals and serving in the military. >> i agree. you could do both....

And were talking about the border which has become a flash point in the nations immigration discussion, and were talking about whats been happening on the border, which is a tremendous amount of enforcement. which if youre not down there, it doesnt matter. it doesnt affect your daily life, but in that region of the country, its been really a tectonic shift. the question before we went to break, if the way that weve gone, more enforcement, more boots on the ground, higher fences, drones, et ceter...

Instead, we have created increasingly a forced choice. the more that weve ramped up border enforcement, the harder it is to go back. the more it means, okay, im going to say good-bye to my family and not see them for 12 years or 14 years. i talked to a family of a woman from the west indies this week in reporting i was coidoing, an she hasnt seen her family in 25 years because its too risky to go back. thats a big part of this. ruben martinez, author of "desert america." medina of the restaurant...