Are your papers in order sir?

[Zeke]

I'm a Spanish-speaking brown guy with a Master's Degree in Public Affairs and an undergraduate in Criminal Justice. Some years back, I applied for the Border Patrol: and they hounded me -- with GREAT interest -- for years.

1. I did not want to live in Brownsville, TX.
2. They are too militarized.
3. Even THEY believe they're waging a losing battle.

Sum? The Border -- both North and South -- is too big to ever be managed, effectively. (Plus, who wants an orange to cost $4?)

There are answers, but Border Patrol isn't it.

[Boreas]

Originally Posted by piece-itpete

She has been convicted?

Her guilt is not in any doubt at all.

Besides, real cops have been tossed in jail too - should we disband them?

Real cops are part of duly constituted legal authority. The Minutemen are vigilantes.

Shawna Forde and her accomplices were acting within the framework of that organization, killing people they suspected of being illegal immigrant drug dealers so that they could steal their money so that they could kill more illegals so that they could steal their money so that they could kill more illegals.

The point is you said there have been no problems with the Minuteman movement other than Left Wing interference. You're wrong. It's that simple.

[piece-itpete]

Originally Posted by merrylander

I recall accessing the DHS website at the time, near as I could tell the only thing they had accomplished since their inception was to design a new shoulder patch for all the customs agents.

Thanks goodness, they're on the job!

Pete

[Sandy G]

Saw on History, Discovery, one of those a show about how the states got their shapes, & one place they went to was this teeny, tiny town in Vermont or New Hampshire where the US/Canadian border bisects the town...Before 9/11, the locals pretty much treated it as if it wasn't there, a curiosity at best. A wave of the hand was all that was required, but now its a Very Big Deal going back & forth. All the increased security seems to be, in that small corner of the world, akin to taking a sledgehammer to kill a mosquito. This one woman lived in the US side, & basically couldn't pop in to see her uncle, who lived 200 yards away, on the Canadian side...And of course, the Homeland Security types, in all their Smokey-Bear hatted glory, were stalwartly standing by to stop the Eeevil Canadians from threatening our wholesome Amurrican way of life...Kinda silly, if you ask me...Got the impression the locals thought so, too. They had a HUGE border crossing complex federal building, I bet there were more Smokey Bear types working there than were in the whole town...

[finnbow]

Originally Posted by Sandy G

Saw on History, Discovery, one of those a show about how the states got their shapes, & one place they went to was this teeny, tiny town in Vermont or New Hampshire where the US/Canadian border bisects the town...Before 9/11, the locals pretty much treated it as if it wasn't there, a curiosity at best. A wave of the hand was all that was required, but now its a Very Big Deal going back & forth. All the increased security seems to be, in that small corner of the world, akin to taking a sledgehammer to kill a mosquito. This one woman lived in the US side, & basically couldn't pop in to see her uncle, who lived 200 yards away, on the Canadian side...And of course, the Homeland Security types, in all their Smokey-Bear hatted glory, were stalwartly standing by to stop the Eeevil Canadians from threatening our wholesome Amurrican way of life...Kinda silly, if you ask me...Got the impression the locals thought so, too. They had a HUGE border crossing complex federal building, I bet there were more Smokey Bear types working there than were in the whole town...

I saw a similar feature about a small town in south Texas where it was pretty much the same. It was all "peace, love, harmony and intermarriage" on both sides of the border with the threat of a new border wall to screw up their idyllic existence. The story certainly ran counter to the narrative about crazed lawlessness along the border (which I'm sure is probably true elsewhere including El Paso/Juarez).

[merrylander]

Two that come to mind are Stanstead and Derby Line.

[Sandy G]

I think it was Derby Line. One got the feeling the locals wished the federales would just go away & leave 'em alone, but what fun is it being able to wear a Smokey Bear hat unless you can throw yr weight around ?!?

[merrylander]

Memory fails but was it not in Derby Line Vermont/Quebec that they built an opera hous or some such structure straddling the border as a sign of amity?

[rickr15]

Funny the Mexican Govt makes such a stink on this. Last time I got sent down to check the process at a maquiladora we did business with in Mexico we went through 20 some checkpoints each of which we were ordered out of the car by heavily armed and armored federales and had to show papers and were often searched anyway. Hypocrites for sure.

BTW look into how Mexico treats illegals from their Southern borders.

[Sandy G]

Originally Posted by merrylander

Memory fails but was it not in Derby Line Vermont/Quebec that they built an opera hous or some such structure straddling the border as a sign of amity?

Naw, it was their library. Anybody can go in there & look around, stay as long as they like, but when you leave, you're apparently sposed to go back to the country from whence you came..