Nogales Is Not Falluja
By LAWRENCE DOWNES
The Times is reporting that a deal has been struck to keep comprehensive immigration reform moving forward in the Senate, by addressing Republican objections that the bill is too weak on border enforcement.
The plan, hatched by two Republican senators, Bob Corker of Tennessee and John Hoeven of North Dakota, would, among other things, nearly double the Border Patrol, to 40,000 agents from 21,000, and complete 700 miles of border fencing, all at a cost of about $30 billion.
It’s being called the “border surge.” This obviously calls to mind similar surges in harsh desert regions where the United States is deploying troops and drones.
Except this surge is not designed to protect the homeland from bands of well-organized extremists armed with rocket-propelled grenades, roadside bombs and a suicidal urge to kill as many Americans as possible.
Except this surge is not designed to protect the homeland from bands of well-organized extremists armed with rocket-propelled grenades, roadside bombs and a suicidal urge to kill as many Americans as possible.
No, it’s meant to repel an army of nannies, fruit-and-vegetable harvesters, hotel maids, landscapers, mothers with children and other parched, star-crossed economic migrants whose life-or-death mission is to earn a living wage, to support their families, to fill the many yawning gaps in the country’s labor force, and to become American citizens, like the millions of hopeful foreigners who came before them.
No comments:
Post a Comment