No president since Eisenhower ( a true statesman & soldier) was as ardent a supporter of the "middle class"....
Bill Chambers, who worked for a combined 33 years for the Border Patrol and the then-called US Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS), says politically powerful people are still fueling the flow of illegals.
In 1954, Ike appointed retired Gen. Joseph "Jumpin' Joe" Swing, a former West Point classmate and veteran of the 101st Airborne, as the new INS commissioner.Influential politicians, including Sen. Lyndon B. Johnson (D) of Texas and Sen. Pat McCarran (D) of Nevada, favored open borders, and were dead set against strong border enforcement, Brownell said. But General Swing's close connections to the president shielded him - and the Border Patrol - from meddling by powerful political and corporate interests.
One of Swing's first decisive acts was to transfer certain entrenched immigration officials out of the border area to other regions of the country where their political connections with people such as Senator Johnson would have no effect.
Then on June 17, 1954, what was called "Operation Wetback" began. Because political resistance was lower in California and Arizona, the roundup of aliens began there. Some 750 agents swept northward through agricultural areas with a goal of 1,000 apprehensions a day. By the end of July, over 50,000 aliens were caught in the two states. Another 488,000, fearing arrest, had fled the country.
By mid-July, the crackdown extended northward into Utah, Nevada, and Idaho, and eastward to Texas.
By September, 80,000 had been taken into custody in Texas, and an estimated 500,000 to 700,000 illegals had left the Lone Star State voluntarily.
Unlike today, Mexicans caught in the roundup were not simply released at the border, where they could easily reenter the US. To discourage their return, Swing arranged for buses and trains to take many aliens deep within Mexico before being set free.
Tens of thousands more were put aboard two hired ships, the Emancipation and the Mercurio. The ships ferried the aliens from Port Isabel, Texas, to Vera Cruz, Mexico, more than 500 miles south.
The sea voyage was "a rough trip, and they did not like it," says Don Coppock, who worked his way up from Border Patrolman in 1941 to eventually head the Border Patrol from 1960 to 1973.
Mr. Coppock says he "cannot understand why [President] Bush let [today's] problem get away from him as it has. I guess it was his compassionate conservatism, and trying to please [Mexican President] Vincente Fox."
There are now said to be 12 million to 20 million illegal aliens in the US. Of the Mexicans who live here, an estimated 85 percent are here illegally.
No president since Eisenhower was as ardent a supporter of the "middle class"....
Remember almost 50% of the illegals here now came legally (work, student/tourits visas) and just overstayed their time. You are going to have to take illegal pressure off the border in some way as you track down the one's who get here legally. Things have evoloved since the good-ol' days of yore and we need to keep up with the counterfeiters and the hardcore criminal gangs and minority employers who shamelessly profit from the "bounty" they transmit in. Right now our laws however well enforced are just not up to the task - thus the Rube Golberg bubblegum and bailing wire system we limp along with to the delight of the hard core gangs and the shameless employers.
DC - 3rd ward - milligansstew08@yahoo.com
http://milligansstew.blogspot.com
By September (in 6 months ) 1954, (using 750 agents) 80,000 had been taken into custody in Texas, and an estimated 500,000 to 700,000 illegals had left the Lone Star State voluntarily.
i'm thinking that's a pretty good return....
(heck, if we used the minutemen, the cost to enforce would be $ 0....)
Right now according to CBO and CRS, 200,000 illegals are tracked down and returned to their home countries. Also 200,000 illegals it is estimated return totheir home countries on their own accord. 400,000 of the 800,000 illegals per year coming into the U.S. remain here in the shadows for longer than a year. Quite a lucrative market for the counterfeiters!!
DC - 3rd ward - milligansstew08@yahoo.com
http://milligansstew.blogspot.com
i'm thinking minutemen could remedy that issue in short order..........
Yep! That'll be a real symbol and endear us to the world. Wouldn't stem the flow at all but would make us think we are doing something and make some of us us feel good!
DC - 3rd ward - milligansstew08@yahoo.com
http://milligansstew.blogspot.com
yes, caring about my country does make me feel good........thanks
and yes, trying to do something ........is kinda good, ain't it.
enforcing the laws-of-land are a good thing;
perhaps, being law-abiding would mean something....
and hopefully, reinforce the idea that: being a USA citizen is something valuable.
Germ, it is not and "either-or" thingy. Put the guns away and lets use our noggins and effectively address the problem rather that spouting "feel-goods"!!
DC - 3rd ward - milligansstew08@yahoo.com
http://milligansstew.blogspot.com
I thought i was addressing (exploring) the problem.......hmmmm..........
Yep. Shoot first ask questions later - sounds like a President we know. My point - this is not the Wild West and there ARE better more doable, sustainable options that are true to our nation,s values and interests.
DC - 3rd ward - milligansstew08@yahoo.com
http://milligansstew.blogspot.com
i'm thinking i didn't say anything about "shooting"........hmmmm............
ain't it curious that the very thing that attracts immigrants to the usa;
are the very same things "some" immigrants want to change.....
I meant in metaphorically - sorry. And most legals that came here legally are the first to suggest that the present bubblegum and bailing wire Rube Golberg immigration shemas they had to negotiate in various ways in the last 20 years is long overdue for a major overhaul. They know of what they speak. They have been there and done that. WE have not!! But never mind, the "feel-good" lobbyist groups have prevailed at least for now.
DC - 3rd ward - milligansstew08@yahoo.com
http://milligansstew.blogspot.com
Germanicus I agree. What we really need is to enforce current laws across the board. Immigration graft and corruption and especially election law. We have know idea how many corpse voted last year for both parties.
Power to the people.
During the 1950s, however, this "Good Old Boy" system changed under Eisenhower - if only for about 10 years.
In 1954, Ike appointed retired Gen. Joseph "Jumpin' Joe" Swing, a former West Point classmate and veteran of the 101st Airborne, as the new INS commissioner.
Influential politicians, including Sen. Lyndon B. Johnson (D) of Texas and Sen. Pat McCarran (D) of Nevada, favored open borders, and were dead set against strong border enforcement, Brownell said. But General Swing's close connections to the president shielded him - and the Border Patrol - from meddling by powerful political and corporate interests.
I don't understand the mentality of everyone thinking the problem will just go away if we allow 12 million illegals to stay in this country. I say take away the incentatives that attract them here such as jobs, all the freebies including welfare, schooling and on and on Then they will self deport. If we continue with the idea that we can forgive some laws being broken, then I would like to be allowed to rob banks and not pay any income tax. I need some money. I am sure that we all can come up with some law we would like to suspend. It is nice of us to think that we can open our doors to everyone, but I can assure you that soon we won't even have a door as they will take that too.
NAFTA guranteed that million of Mexican would starve if they stayed in Mexico at the same time it guaranteed corporate growth for our largest corporations and dividends for stockholders. Your not going to get a simple mind resolution of this situation.
Bill"for what we are together"
bill713.unity08@sbcglobal.net
Please explain what you mean that NAFTA guaranteed that millions of Mexicans would starve if they stayed in Mexico.
Phil
Been to the Unity08 Delegate wiki lately? Join today!http://unity-usa.org
Lets uncorrupt our government!
US retailer and Agri business eliminated jobs by the millions in Mexico. Moving a massive middle class segment of the population into a poverty system with no safety net. They have no place to go for the price of corn meal to feed their children except north...to us. I was there before and after NAFTA and like so many government plans it just forgot about the transition impact on a country as poor as Mexico. At maturity NAFTA will increase the income of Mexican middle class and temper the income in the US, but on the way, their family store keepers and farmers almost instantly lost everything they had to support their families. People will not go 'home' to the distruction of their families. My point is...it ain't simple. Some of these folks seem to want a north american Darfar because that is exactly what you will get in a roundup of illegal immigrants.
Bill"for what we are together"
bill713.unity08@sbcglobal.net
We are constantly told that the long border and large disparity in income between the U.S. and Mexico makes it absolutely impossible for America to enforce its immigration laws.
A similar frontier exists within Europe: the 833 mile border between "Finland" (which has a higher per capita income than Germany, France, or Britain) and corrupt and dysfunctional Russia—the Mexico of Europe.
Even though Finland has the kind of Nordic welfare state that attracts immigrants (for example, 12 percent of neighboring Sweden's population is foreign-born), it still has one of the lowest percentages of immigrants of any Western European country: only two percent of its 5.2 million residents.
Finland maintains its borders and thus it can maintain a governmental and social system well suited to its unique population.
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So how does Finland do what supposedly can't be done—keep out unwanted immigrants?
Answer: the Finns simply make the effort required.
Finland is a well-ordered country. The Finns believe that having a well-ordered immigration system is crucial to keeping it that way. Therefore the Finns diligently execute the basic blocking and tackling of immigration enforcement.
It's very hard to get a job, an apartment, or welfare benefits without a valid ID showing you have the legal right to be in Finland. The frontier continues to be guarded seriously (although border-crossers don't have the White Death to worry about—he died peacefully in 2024 at age 96!)
Of course, with mass immigration having proven a disaster elsewhere on the continent, the rest of Europe is trying to bully Finland into making the same mistake they have all made.