How secure do you think the borders really are? Do you think our govt. is doing its job?

Question

securing the borders or do you feel they need improvement. And if so, why do you think the borders aren't really secure and what do you think the govt.'s reasons for this is? What could possibly be the reason?

Do you feel the govt.will eventually want to have an open border policy with the America's, like what happen in Europe with the EU? I personally feel that is where this govt. is going. An open border policy and keep in mind the Europeans NEVER imagined it would happen to them! This is a question we must really look hard at, that our govt. would do such a thing and that the Americans would approve of something like this. I honestly see this happening in 20 years....Thanks in advance!

"The true danger is when liberty is nibbled away, for expedience, and by parts"

-- Edmund Burke, letter, April 3, 1777, to the Sheriffs of Bristol.

"They that can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety deserve neither liberty nor safety"

--- Benjamin Franklin, Historical Review of Pennsylvania, 1759.

This is not really even an immigration issue. Its an issue of our liberties. Don't bury your head in the sand.....

Answer 1

The borders are actually very secure. The real problem there is smugglers, whether of drugs, other goods, or people. They are very creative, and always have been. Here in the northwest corner of Washington we are fortunate in that all the border agencies, the DEA, local police and the Royal Canadian Mounted Police have an unheard-of level of cooperation.

For instance, Canadian authorities were watching certain suspicious characters and learned that they were digging a tunnel under the border (a short distance from a border crossing!) and placed a simple phone call to our side. They were allowed to complete the tunnel; we bugged it with electronic devices, and once the DEA had identifed the smugglers' contacts, swooped down and arrested them all. In another incident, Border Patrol cameras spotted three men exiting a van and walking across the border. They called the RCMP and the Mounties caught the three men, who were carrying diamonds, $100,000 cash and some 41 handguns. We picked up the van and its driver.

And the one terrorist who tried the border here thought a sleepy ferry crossing was just the ticket. He fooled nobody and was arrested after a short chase. (This was that Ressam character.) He is still in prison.

Before 9/11 the United States had been working toward borders that were open to most of the world. We were even letting people from certain countries like the U.K. come in with basic identification, not even visas. And of course the borders with Canada and Mexico had been unpatrolled by the military for decades (bases on the border were from older eras, particularly those on the Canadian border). In the Northeast there are many communities which straddle the border and people think nothing of going from one side to the other. Customs officials are not too concerned about small purchases by ordinary people, and NAFTA was sweeping away a lot of customs duties among the U.S., Canada and Mexico.

The only real difficulty with open borders here is the immigration problem with Mexico. The root of the problem is poverty and it is a regional problem (Mexico faces the same immigration difficulties on her southern border), requiring a regional solution. However, the Republican Party is traditionally loath to tackle poverty directly - they really are the party of the arrogant rich - and the Democrats rarely have workable solutions (the Marshall Plan is a major exception, and please note that George C. Marshall was not really a politician).

As for legal immigrants, I think they deserve some breaks, especially since a new amnesty program for illegals has been mooted.

I haven't said much about terrorists here. That is because they aren't exploiting the open borders. The borders may be open, but they are watched and guarded. No, terrorists are exploiting what isn't carefully watched, and that is "the rules." Every single one of the 9/11 terrorists, and the previous attackers of the World Trade Center too, had a vaild passport. All had obtained visas or green cards: where they got away with it was in avoiding the follow-up procedures. They, and half of all illegal immigrants besides, simply overstayed their visas and ignored the reporting requirements (I remember the government used to pay for TV messages advising aliens that they had to send in their address information every January 1). And they were allowed to get away with it! On the border, the government is doing its job. Once inside the border, the government isn't.

Most of the border security measures being proposed will have the effect of closing the open borders and stifling both trade and tourism, especially casual visits that generate a heck of a lot of money on both sides of either border. They will not have any effect on terrorists and little on smugglers and illegal immigrants. Increased vigilance helps, and improving cargo inspection methods will help too. But we need to be addressing the loopholes in rules and enforcement that terrorists exploit, and strive for increased cooperation among agencies. This can be done without stepping on basic civil rights. (The Bush administration does not care for the rights of individuals, and has used terrorism as an excuse to ignore or eliminate our rights. A vote for a Republican is a vote against America.)

The only way the borders will be both open and secure is if we take the country back from the rabid conservatives currently in power and look for some practical solutions to the causes of the problem, not merely the symptoms.

(Conservatives are always America's enemies. The terrorists are conservatives, too: they seek a regressive, repressive society and want to kill Americans so we won't be inclined to stop them. I equate the Bush administration, and the Reagan administration before it, and all their supporters, with al-Qaida. They are all evil. May God bless America by destroying terrorists and all other conservatives.)

Answer 2

I don't think the borders are secure. Why? Look at the illegal immigrants coming into our country through Texas, Arizona, California from Mexico. Also, I think our ports are the biggest open threat that terrorist could come in through or to send a dirty bomb into via a cargo transport. There are not enough securitiy detections in our ports for nuclear materials that could effect many port workers and surrounding communities. However, this is the price we pay for freedom. I also believe that if we are going to be attacked it will be from within. Many of these terrorists are schooled in our country at Universities, well regarded Universties. They obtain engineering degrees, assimilate to American culture and then WHAM, we will be attacked. I think the subway systems in major cities will definitely be target for terrrorists. Look at the home grown Muslim terrorists just arrested in Florida last week. It's not just our borders that are an issue, but the very thing we most pride of country with that threaten us.....FREEDOM! But that is the price and risk we pay for everyday freedom.

I personally don't forsee open borders though.

Answer 3

Hi Colortx,
The borders are NOT secure...in fact, at this point, why even bother? It's a joke.
Why? Too many parties, speeches, and arguments in Wash.DC
and don't forget fund raisers and back slapping. The powers-that-be, are apparently too far removed from the problem and don't give a **** unless it would effect their pocket book directly. They aren't even good at trying to close the barn door after the horse got out!!

Answer 4

as the world's super power they will never have open borders. if anything, they will get tighter. the mexican border is 700 miles along us south. even with security and fences, they tunnel under them, as they keep finding more not only from the drug cartels, but the aliens. the canadian border is to long to protect. many terrorist cells are operating out of canada. its easier to get over. its impossible to guard the distance north and south of us. its like a guy on 100,000 acre's of land hunting for deer. you can have a thousand deer on that much land and never see them in a day. just in a tiny village in iraq, it takes battalons of tanks, gunships and over 15,000 plus men to surround it and secure it to look for insurgents. the average in a wooded or shrubbed line along the guarding is 300 yards. in flat open, its a 1/4 mile. at night its down to a feaction of those even with night vision. you would need twice the manpower we have in ieaq to guard the both borders.

Answer 5

I do think that is where some want to head. I am very concerned that the government seems to think it is OK to decide on such a major change to our government and create such dramatic burdens on our services without airing the concept and getting at least conceptual buy in.

Answer 6

The government is in works to have an American Union, there are already over a dozen committess working on it in the US.
There are plans for an "amero" to replace the US money.

Our borders are not secure at all, anyone can pass though them anytime they want to

Answer 7

There is nothing to fear from the North..... you are getting sleepy....... there is a 12 foot wall of snow immediately at the Canadian border so no security is needed........ hee hee hee.


SERIOUSLY what next? Gonna lock yourself in your room for the rest of your life? Fear begets hate, hate begets war. More openess and less close (mindedness) is required here.

Answer 8

Honest;y dose it matter that the borders are so secure when we latinos find another way.. Theirs no point because if their is a out of trouble surely their will be a way in...

Answer 9

You poor misinformed little thing,are borders are wide open in places.We have no border security except where there are border crossing,thats where there are actually cities.Otherwise,wide open,peppered with minutemen and border patrol.

Answer 10

Dharma...hehe

I agree they are not secure, we could never have an open door policy, if we did Most of Cental America would be abandoned.