For all of the liberal complaining (and I'm among the complainers!) about health care reform, we could have a fully state-funded health care system for less than the cost of fighting one of the major wars. Whether or not we should, and to what degree, is an entirely other debate, but the money would be there.
Believe me, I'm aware of the security that requires me to use a passport or some other form of authenticated documentation to get in and out of the US/Canadian border crossings. It's actually more of an annoyance than anything else, and I don't think it works so well. Especially because the border crossing in northern NY has a gaping hole in the form of a cross-border Indian reservation where the members of the tribe hold dual citizenship. Water always flows where it can get through, they say.
If we can stigmatize hiring illegal aliens with harsh sanctions for doing so, we've solved a lot of the problem right there. Having police be immigration authorities isn't the way to do this - especially because they have not been trained in this regard and thus assuredly will mess it up, badly, and repeatedly. If someone wants to get in, they can, but if we can make it so they really can't do much while here, their presence will reveal itself fairly quickly, and they can be dealt with accordingly.
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Believe me, I'm aware of the security that requires me to use a passport or some other form of authenticated documentation to get in and out of the US/Canadian border crossings. It's actually more of an annoyance than anything else, and I don't think it works so well. Especially because the border crossing in northern NY has a gaping hole in the form of a cross-border Indian reservation where the members of the tribe hold dual citizenship. Water always flows where it can get through, they say.
If we can stigmatize hiring illegal aliens with harsh sanctions for doing so, we've solved a lot of the problem right there. Having police be immigration authorities isn't the way to do this - especially because they have not been trained in this regard and thus assuredly will mess it up, badly, and repeatedly. If someone wants to get in, they can, but if we can make it so they really can't do much while here, their presence will reveal itself fairly quickly, and they can be dealt with accordingly.