Secure Borders?

Column for week of February 2, 2015

     Many people are concerned the U.S. borders are not
secure.  Some demand that the borders be secure before even
considering reform of immigration laws.  What is a secure
border?  How can a border be secured?

     Is a border secure only if it can't be crossed?  Does
secure only mean that people and goods must have permission
to cross?  Perhaps secure means something else.

     The biggest concerns about border crossings seem to be
terrorists, certain mind altering substances, general immigration,
and foreign made goods.  Most probably agree that keeping out
terrorists is a good idea.  Not many are likely to be too upset
about keeping out various mind altering substances.

     Opinions differ widely on immigrants and importing of
goods.  Some want to keep them all out,  Others would let
them all in.  What people want and what they can do are often
two different things.

     At the moment focus is on the border with Mexico. 
That is only a small part of the U.S. border.  There are also the
borders with Canada, two oceans, and the Gulf of Mexico. 
These make thousands of miles of borders to secure.  Decades
of effort and hundreds of millions of dollars spent have failed
to secure these borders sufficiency to create a shortage of
imported illegal drugs in this country.

     Also, there are supposedly  million foreigners in this
country illegally.  I find it interesting that the branch of
government that counts them can find them but the branch that
deports them can't.

     Supposedly one third of those illegal immigrants came
in with permission but "forgot" to go home.  Securing the
borders won't stop that.  Should we ban everyone to keep out
those who won't voluntarily go home?  Should we build and
maintain a concrete wall on the entire border to keep out the
rest?

     Should we also ban swimming and boating off the
coast?  Foreigners might mix in and come ashore.  I suppose
we could build that wall along the shore and require swimmers
and boaters to show their passports when coming ashore.

     That security will need to apply to the Great Lakes too. 
I have some experience with that one.  My first illegal border
crossing was into Canada by canoe.  My second was when I
paddled back.

     Using border security to keep out terrorists is a lost
cause.  Anyone with some resources and determination has a
good shot at making it in, even with a wall.  Forged and stolen
documents still work.  Catching 50 percent would only increase
the cost of terrorism.  Determined terrorists will spend
whatever it takes.

     Current border security is less than a bad joke.  A man
in Maine regularly went to Sunday mass in Canada.  The U.S.
then "closed" the border crossing on weekends.  The man drove
around the gate, went to mass, and drove around the gate on
his way home.  He was arrested the next day for the illegal
entry.  If he had been a terrorist, What are the chances anyone
could have found him to arrest him the next day?

     Getting even close to controlling all border crossings is
as much a fantasy as eradication of cold viruses and
mosquitoes.  Rather than throwing resources at the impossible
dream, we will be far better off if we use those resources
wisely in a realistic way.

     If we allow people who want to come and work to do
it, we would have more resources left to spend solving real
problems.  This could also eliminate another serious problem,
the creation of a gray zone culture of illegal immigrants.  We
already have those 11 million illegal immigrants.  The political
and economic realities are that most of them aren't going back,
no matter how much some may wish.

     Immigrants who work also consume.  They don't reduce
the number of jobs available for citizens.  Someone has to
produce what immigrants consume.  Government, not
immigrants, reduces the number of productive jobs.  That is
one thing government is good at.

aldmccallum@gmail.com
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Copyright 2015
Albert D. McCallum