Sitting on the Fence
Commentaries on the Newly Proposed Border Wall
By Kevin Givan, Elizabeth Gonzalez, and David Madrid

Late last month, the US Senate authorized the building of a 700 mile fence along the Southern border of the United States. Three San Jose writers give their perspectives on the wall, the border, and the current political debate around immigration.

The Secure Fence Act is a Necessary, Yet Less Effective, Tool
By Kevin Givan

Amidst much debate, protests and controversy prevailing over the past few months, Congress passed its first wave of necessary immigration reforms. On September 14, 2006 Congress passed the Secure Fence Act (H.R. 6061). The new bill calls for, among other provisions, up to 20 years imprisonment for knowingly constructing or financing the construction of unauthorized tunnels at the US-Mexico border, gives state and local law enforcement jurisdiction to arrests suspected immigrants, increase border patrol agents and most controversially, calls for the construction of 700-miles of reinforced fencing along the southwest border. The wall includes cameras, ground sensors, and unmanned aerial vehicles to assist Homeland Security efforts to curtail illegal immigration.

The United States must secure its borders from illegal entry. The 700 miles of reinforced fencing is an aggressive and great step in confronting the issue of illegal immigration. However, the fence will not prevent illegal immigration but rather make it more challenging to enter the United States illegally. Immigrants entering America illegally are willfully fleeing their countries to America for the access to a better life. If the American government wants to prevent mass illegal immigration to America, our government must help address the pressing socioeconomic issues in third world Latin American countries. Only when the socio-economic issues are resolved in third world, underdeveloped countries, a 700-mile fence will not be necessary, and waves of immigrants will not be fleeing from their countries for job opportunities. Until then, 700-miles of reinforced fencing will be a tool in the illegal immigration conflict, but a less effective tool in stopping a desperate and willful people from having access to the wealthiest nation on the planet and an even less effective one in patrolling over 2000-miles of US-Mexico border.

A Wall Only Keeps Needed Workers Out
By Elizabeth Gonzalez

We have too many walls already—the ones around our homes, around fields, around almost anything you can think of to keep others out, to keep some in, and they all have one thing in common: a false sense of security.

The United States with all its might as the “leader of the free world” has resorted to an archaic method of control, as if one tiny part of this big castle needed to be surrounded by a structure that would only cause more damage and destruction without providing a real solution for either side of the immigration debate.  

With the messages that have been coming out about immigration and especially the imagined idea that our only border is the one we share with Mexico, the US is showing its true colors of being an uncaring nation that will exploit others to its advantage.  

Refusing to see the contributions, refusing to recognize immigrants as benefits to our country we despise and characterize them as an enemy to the country. The leaders of this country who refuse to do any real thinking about this issue have forced the typical American to accept ideas that the only people that this country needs to watch out for are the poor Mexican and Central Americans who risk their lives to get here to work and live at the lowest level in this society. Yes, keep workers willing to do hard work out! They are dangerous and might set an example for the people of this country that seem to think they are above hard work.  

In this whole debate the thing that gets me the most, is how people can narrow down “immigrant” to “Mexican.” We live in one of the most diverse places in the world, with immigrants from all over the world, and when immigration comes up no one seems to mention that. We have long coasts, we have a whole other country to the north of us with   border security that does not compare to the war zone that is in place at the south, yet these rarely come into the immigration conversation.  

Building this wall only creates a deadlier barrier for people to cross and the people trying to put it in place are well aware of it. Already thousands have died crossing the border and they are paid no mind. The US allows it, and yet still informs us of every American death around the world and in Iraq, but those unworthy of note that die on our borders die an unnecessary and unmentioned death. There is more attention given to the fact that animals will be put at risk because of the wall than people's very lives.    

Even if we never see the wall erected, the fact that we approve the building of it is astonishing because it shows that we are a nation that is unmoved by the plight of people who do everything to reach our borders. So how can we stand with our heads held high above other nations that commit injustices when we ignore our own so blatantly?

Let's Get Real – Both Sides are Fronting
By David Madrid

I'm a Mexican American and I'm tired of the “immigration debate”   to tell you the truth,   I see the flaws on both sides of the issue.  

On one side you have the anti-immigrant position,   which is pushing for measures to deport all these “illegals” and feel that a 700 mile stretch of fence along the mexican border will do the trick to help secure our border.  

And on the other side you have the pro-immigrant position which speaks of all these immigrants who just come to this country to work and are an asset to our country.

Come on, lets keep it real. First of all, I think it's a little too late to start deporting folks now, like it or not they are here and established. What are you gonna do, bus half the population of the south western states back to Mexico? I dont think so, not without a fight anyway. And a 700 mile fence, are you serious? That's nothing more then a big hurdle, if people want to get in this country, they will. And if this fence is just some kind of political statement, hell I want my tax dollars to go to something more productive.

And as far as the pro-immigrant position, I'm tired of the pretty picture they paint of the hard working immigrant. Now I'm not saying that immigrants are not hard working,   but we can't front like they are all upstanding model immigrants. You know that there are some rotten apples in every bunch. Not to say that the mass majority of the immigrants are criminals and thugs, but hey, it's an issue that cannot be ignored if we want to push for legal immigration.  

Lets face it, this immgrant issue is a problem for eveyone, no matter what side of the debate you might side with. I just think its time that we all come together and come clean and push the politics aside. Once we do that, the immigrant issue will truly be addressed.

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