My, my, how interesting - The Link. We'll see how this works out - it may be symbolic or it may stem some of the traffic. At any rate, it sends the message to Obama that action is required - and thus far, Obama has not stepped up to the problem. HHD
So, y'all realize this isn't putting more soldiers standing on the border right? An expert more than any of us here says this is a political statement, without any practical impact. If this were a Democrat governor leveraging state tax resources to send an expensive political message then do you think you'd have the same reaction?
I am not sure I think this is good and it will cost us Texans a ton BUT it might force other states to step up and it will force some media to cover it. it did force the sruirrely little press sec to comment on it even though he looked like a fool. At the very least it will get the illegals turned over to Border agents faster and as we are seeing BO is shiipping them all over the country and out of Texas. Even to Seattle.
texas_exe2000: And what was your role then? Your current role? Are you claiming to be an "expert" on border security or immigration issues? What have you published on the matter? You are obviously bright and I generally enjoy your contrary opinion. I've worked with some very bright people from some prestigious well known companies in influential roles. Does that make me an expert that they may be? There is a Holiday Inn Express joke there somewhere.
This is going to cost Texas taxpayers a lot of money. This may not have a huge preventive impact on illegal crossings and the crisis (I happen to think it's worth a shot). But to make an argument, as this wonk does, that we should automatically default our opinion of this action as a political move by Perry is plain stupid. I'm not a Perry fan at all. But a) the guy is not heartless, and b) as the Governor of the State in the middle of this crisis, the obvious simple answer that's also generally consistent with his position on immigration is that he's just trying to figure out how to deal with the overwhelming numbers of immigrants without relief from the feds. He's a politician, and politicians are always politicians. But he also has to be the Governor.
This all reminds me of the argue meant against a spending cut that "it is so small in the grand scheme that it has no impact" and so it doesn't get done. For the love of Pete, just do SOMETHING! Everything starts somewhere small. I'm not a Perry fan either but I'll take action over our typical do nothing Feds.
Some of you are making this more complicated than it is. Payan probably is biased, as are all people who are paid to study policy issues. However, what are not biased are campaign contributions. Anyone with a brain starts with a very strong presumption that politicians do not act against the interests of their large campaign contributors, and that counts double if they're seeking higher office and are therefore likely to hit up those interests for more cash in the near future, as Rick Fairy obviously is. People on the Right wisely make that connection when we're talking about teacher organizations, labor unions, or pro-abortion PACs, but for some reason, they think that rule doesn't apply or applies less to homebuilders and construction companies. Not sure why. I repeat this point over and over again, and I'll keep doing it until people start using their brains on this issue. Rick Perry is bankrolled by and owes his political career to some of the biggest beneficiaries of illegal immigrant labor in the United States. That means that everything he says or does on the issue of illegal immigration is inherently suspect. It's no different than if Obama said he was doing something to crack down on unions. If anything, it's worse, because Perry is far more reliant on these interest that benefit from illegal immigrant labor than Obama is on unions. If Obama didn't have union support, he'd still have deep campaign coffers. If Perry didn't have the support of groups that benefit from illegal immigrant labor, he'd just be a loser Aggie without a job. He probably would never have gotten elected to the Legislature, and he sure as hell would never have become governor. Sending national guardsmen to the border is fine, but they don't have the power to enforce immigration laws. Furthermore, there's no legal authority for the State of Texas to to pursue its own penalties against illegal immigration, and Perry doesn't want one. It's a political stunt all the way around.
The thought of another Perry presidential campaign is laughable. It's so ridiculous that even Perry, the aggie he is, knows it. He is not going to run for the White House. The spin that this is 100% a political stunt ignores too many factors. The guy, like most Texans, is fed up (no pun intended). Maybe the industries that contribute to Perry benefit from illegal immigration, but quantifiably, how important are they compared to other groups? And if they are preeminently important, sending 1,000 troops to the border (secretly hoping they won't make a difference and thereby upsetting his deep pocketed donors) is hardly a way to cultivate that support regardless of the optics argument to appease the conservative base. Deez, this argument elevates Perry to the Joe Kennedy boss level of political Mortal Combat. Again, this is Perry we're talking about...the guy who on a nationally televised debate couldn't name the cabinet departments. Deez, you have a good take on the potential effectiveness of the Guard down there. I happen to think that additional manpower, even if they aren't law enforcement can be beneficial. The military assists the DEA and the Coast Guard all the time. Simply the announcement might provide some form of deterrence. The fact is, we don't know what the concept of operations will be for this deployment, so any take on the effectiveness is just pure speculation (certainly in the case of Payan who has zero credentials in joint military/law enforcement operations) and most likely biased one way or the other. Maybe Perry is just dumb when it comes to decision making? That's never a bad answer when talking about governor hairdo. It's not always about politics.
From the Statesman front page report, a stated purpose of the move is backup to Border Patrol whose attention has been diverted ...
And it does send a very clear message to Obama - "Action is required, rhetoric is not getting it done." HHD
There are two types of people crossing the border. The first is this new influx of children that are crossing the border and immediately walking up to border control agents. Having more people on the border doesn't really stop this since they want to be "caught". So this move does nothing to stop the problem that is currently getting all the headlines. The thing that this could possibly help is to slow the number of adults coming over they way they always have. Although I respect these people, we just can't take anymore. However, perry likely disagrees with me and won't really do anything to stop the flow of these people. So, this is basically a publicity stunt and an expensive one. We could hire 2,880 more teachers next year for the same cost. Or we could save the taxpayers that money. Pretty much anything is better than spending your and my money on a stunt that gets us no closer to solving the issue. I think perry thinks it will get him one step closer to the White House though. If not, maybe Fox News has a nice gig lined up for him.
A stat that has been reported but ignored is that ONLY 20% of the recent illegals are minors. 20% Perry repeated this stat in he announcement on why he was sending the NG to the border. Somehow the enormity of this entire flooding of our border, our National border isn't yet dawning on enough people. Once it does it will likely be too later. Rep.. Henry Cuellar made an interesting point. He partnered with Sen.. Cornyn R to introduce lege to hasten the return of the children and other illegals. Cuellar has said he has been blasted by his felloe dems. Cuellar said he found it interesting that everyone says be bi partisan but when you do actually something bipartisan you get criticized. I guess Dems have a different definition from Cuellar of what bi partisan is.
I represent coyotes from time to time and travel into the valley often. YesterdaFy a friend went to McAllen for a hearing and says he saw at least 70 DPS units heading south. Flooding the area with uniforms is not a bad idea per se and can be helpful to the fed cops. My friend also said he saw groups of immigrants walking along the fencelines south of the Falfurrias checkpoint with their water bottles. Things are getting worse in the brush and something needs to be done. Fortunately, the one sane voice in this wilderness, mine, has spoken to the Gov and told him the cheap easy way to rid ourselves of this blight on the labor market----start arresting the employers and watch the other employers get rid of their cheaper help. Who knows, get rid of the cheap labor from the south and the construction companies, restaurants and hotel/motels in Houston might have to start hiring black men at living wages. Damn, I just spit coffee all over my computer screen.
Raising the minimum wage is an easier solution for financial illiterates to understand than the domino effect of removing the current supply of cheap labor leading to higher wages.
Mich, were you personally for it then or now? I would have been in favor and would be now. However, I think the best solution is to have laws that are enforceable and to then enforce them. It seems these children have found a loophole. I would like for the loophole to be less cost intensive for the USA taxpayers. Legal immigration is ok by me with whatever the congress/executive branch come up with. Get them on the books so they can pay taxes.
Mich? ' Seems the "crisis" was a bigger problem then if the more than twice the number of apprehensions indicates that a lot more were attempt to cross the border during that time period. " Could it be possible that the Border agents apprehended a lot more than got away? here is an interesting bit of history on how We, USA, stopped an influx of illegal Brazilians in 2004-05The Link As you read it the similarities including comments from Border agents, even coyote tactics to today are startling. Of course the offending countries were more cooperative . But a quick fix to the 2008 law and this policy could be used again.
This is an insult to our military, those serving now and getting kicked out and those who served that are being denied care.The Link " Hagel Authorizes More Housing for Children From Central America By Nick Simeone DoD News, Defense Media Activity WASHINGTON, July 23, 2014 – Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel has authorized more temporary housing to shelter an additional 5,000 unaccompanied alien children anticipated to arrive in the United States from Central America in the coming months. Pentagon spokesman Army Col. Steve Warren said Hagel approved the additional space last week and also extended through January what had been a four-month mission by the Defense Department to house children fleeing violence and crime in Central America. “Today, there are currently 2,500 children that we are assisting. We have not yet determined where these additional 5,000 spaces will come from,” Warren told reporters.:" Here is a thought, STOP them from coming in. Use the money we save to help our own.
