Wouldn't take very many of those, before the border traffic completely stopped. 100%.
i think you are mistaken its that bad down there that folks come knowing they might die. i think thats a major failing when americans try to understand folks from other countries mindset from their air conditioned flat screen world
Bah, relative to America, Mexico is a shiitehole, yes. But, the average Mexican is richer than 5 billion other people on the planet. Check the numbers in the CIA Factbook. Mexico is in the top quintile of nations, prosperity-wise.
As in earlier crackdowns, the vast majority of illegals leave on their own, once it becomes too difficult to stay in the USA. The ratio was over 10:1 for Operation Wetback, IIRC.
I think many of these jobs could be phased out in large part by the use of automated equipment. Many more than you might first think.
Most of these jobs simply aren't worth the prices Americans would expect to be paid for the work.
To the extent that you are correct, that is a Good Thing
TM and nothing but upside. The tomato growers cried like babies during Operation Wetback. Wailing how they will go out of business if they are unable to break federal law by hiring illegals and screw over their neighbors by privatizing the profits and socializing the costs (medical, education, welfare, police, etc.).
What happened was that some enterprising soul developed a mechanized tomato picker that did the work of a whole crew of illegals which required only one American to run it. Yes, some tomato growers went tits up. Well, if your business model requires breaking federal law and burdening your neighbors with the costs, you business ought to go under.
Also, the contribution illegals make to the economy is ridiculously small relative to their numbers. The proportion of the GDP attributable to illegal alien labor is lost in rounding errors. This is because they are for the most part illiterate(0), no or low-skilled labor. I recall a study done to determine the illegal alien labor component of a head of iceberg lettuce. It worked out to be a a few cents at most. Doubling the labor cost to the grower did not result in doubling the price to the consumer, it resulted in something like less than a nickel increase per head of lettuce.
The cost of some goods & services would go up. But not as much as the doomsayers say. In some cases, if American ingenuity managed to replace unskilled labor with capital investment, the end-user price could very well
drop.
Lots of good ways to keep illegals out and those already here on the road back home. An Israeli Gaza-style fence is the first step.
I would include a Joe Arpaio-inspired "Penalty Box" to any illegals caught. We all have read about the illegal caught crossing the border who is deported and comes back over the next day. Make it cost them by building a tent city holding facility in the middle of the desert and keeping them there "in process" for 6+ months. Use Arpaio's cost-saving measures and methods to keep the cost down: tents, not structures. Cold meals. Pink underwear fo rthe guys.
If these illegals have no money to pay a fine, take what they do have: time.
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