Comments - Latest Popular Stories, Instablogs Community by Agaric

Gaurav

Gaurav — Fri, 04 Apr 2008 00:00:00 +0000

It was a pitiful loss of time and the electrons that went into composing your piece especially the first half explaining the difference between a wall and a fence. After all, wastage of almost anything is an American specialty.

Now coming to your article, I don’t think that building a wall may only be the (undesirable) solution to check illegal immigrants. Porous, see through fences have proved to have done much better than one could expect when it came to stopping illegal immigrants and subversive elements from crossing across the border. Being an Indian I know good electrified fences work and the economic, financial and labour cost of building such fences is far less than that of building walls. They can be built even it mountainous terrains (though I agree Chinese made it possible to build fortified walls on razor-edged mountain tops). They have worked wonderfully well in the Indo-Pak border and Line of Control in Kashmir and the Indo-Bangladesh border. Even terrorists with all their tools find it extremely hard to penetrate or cut it. [Please check the image]

I agree when you say that a grand dimension of American nationalism has been about breaking down both physical and metaphorical barriers. However, don’t you think that the illegal immigrants are a problem for the US? Even drug mules use the same paths as the illegal immigrants do. It is a major problem that might look even bigger should the terrorists start using the US-Mexico border. Illegal immigrants pose thr

Sometimes one must analyze a situation and needs thereof a little more subjectively than to make a critical commentary.

Adam

Adam — Fri, 04 Apr 2008 00:00:00 +0000

a noble thought indeed. the problem is that america is becoming increasingly paranoid just as the chinese emperors who built the countless walls in china. but they had a real threat from mongol invadors. one can now argue that like china then the usa faces new challenges from terrorism, drug trafficking etc.

building physical barriers are like building mental barriers. sometimes these barriers might help in preventing people with evil designs from crossing over across the borders but the mental barrier that will build up doesn’t augur well for the future relations between peoples and nations.

Noha

Noha — Fri, 04 Apr 2008 00:00:00 +0000

What I know about the Mexico-US fence is that it’s gonna be a virtual hi-tech fence and not a physical fence. Pardon my ignorance if I am wrong, but last February the government gave approval of an electronic fence that will be made of radars and cameras installed at various points right along the border. That’s a great thing if it works.

Most of the surveillance and monitoring equipments that US makes are extremely reliable. Using cutting-edge technology the mental barrier that people are talking about can be take care of in the absence of a physical barrier. If this helps then I am sure the US would be able to market the tech in other countries.

What I am waiting for is the bringing down of the wall Israel has built cutting across Palestinian land. Israel should take a leaf of out of America’s book.

Evan

Evan — Fri, 04 Apr 2008 00:00:00 +0000

OK fine concept electronic surveillance all along the border giving continuous non-stop updates by data and image transfers to border patrols. But what happens while the border patrol from say point A moves to point B to arrest/intercept people they see on their gadgets? This may be used as tactics to sneak in to the other side from the vacant point A. Fine enough, because something is better than nothing. But again, what if the drug mules start shooting the cams and the sensors? I am confused. Guess, need real fence with real snipers.

Andrew

Andrew — Fri, 04 Apr 2008 00:00:00 +0000

No, the fence will also help Mexico. This will prevent the criminals from crossing across United States after committing crimes in Mexico. Petty to serious criminals have often done this. It then becomes next to impossible to bring them back for justice in Mexico. The United States is a colossal country that swamps such people without any trace.

Matt

Matt — Fri, 04 Apr 2008 00:00:00 +0000

Immigration is not a bad thing really. If you asked me, I’m actually pro immigration as I believe anyone who wants to work here should be allowed to. Some of the cleverest professionals and scientists are foreigners. The stories they tell about how difficult it is to come and work here is difficult to comprehend as an American.

Even the people who do menial work here and whom the Americans have got so used to are mostly immigrant workers. They work hard to make our lives a little easier at every level.

If someone wants to come here and work thus contributing to our luxury and economy, we shouldn’t be stopping them.

Alexis

Alexis — Fri, 04 Apr 2008 00:00:00 +0000

Illegal immigrants don’t pose as grave a threat as immigrants with impeccable records. Mohammad Atta was a student at the Technical University of Harburg in Germany where he created the Hamburg along with the 911 plotters. He was a student will all papers in proper place. He received a five-year B-1/B-2 (tourist/business) visa from the US embassy in Berlin. Because Atta had lived in Germany for approximately five years, along with his “strong record as a student”, he was treated more leniently and not scrutinized. [Source]

We all know what he did in the USA on a certain September morning in 2001. Tell me how many illegal immigrants from Mexico and elsewhere in Central and South America or even from countries like Africa or South Asia have been involved in very serious crimes. They have proved to be along the borderlines of being nuisance to the society than anything else.

The Americans seem to have lost their heads.

Chris

Chris — Fri, 04 Apr 2008 00:00:00 +0000

This is one of the number of signs that our country is collapsing just like superpowers before us did from Egyptians, the Greeks, the Romans and the British. America has has made a bad choices one after another in the three decades and they are adding up to the weight of a spiraling airplane nosediving to the land of ruination.

We are going to see almost eighty million people entering retirement over the next two decades and in a scenario where millions of illegals immigrants not paying taxes breaking the back of the system to a point of no return. The question is when, when will hardworking, tax paying citizens see their entire saving accounts abolished due to the irresponsible choices made by our government?

Janet

Janet — Fri, 04 Apr 2008 00:00:00 +0000

Imagine there’s no countries

It isn’t hard to do

Nothing to kill or die for

And no religion too

Imagine all the people

Living life in peace...

You may say I’m a dreamer

But I’m not the only one

I hope someday you’ll join us

And the world will be as one

- John Lenon.

As long there are countries, there would be borders, and as long as there are borders there would be crossovers, and as long as there are crossovers there would be illegal entries, and as long as there are illegal entries there would be fences.

Utopia exists in minds and a poet’s thoughts, not in real world.

Yinon

Yinon — Fri, 04 Apr 2008 00:00:00 +0000

Fence or no fence illegal immigrants will still be able to come to United States. The border with Mexico is too long and it will take 10s of 1000s of security forces and border patrols to mind it even if it is a real fence or a virtual fence.

Poor immigrants from Mexico and other South American countries are highly motivated to reach America given the opportunities the great nation provides. We must not forget that America after all has been built by immigrants and not the indigenous Americans.