::

Our tax dollars at work - a Border Patrol Agent at Burger King! Perhaps it’s a bit radical, perhaps a bit naà ¯ve, but I believe that the Immigration and Naturalization Service and the Border Patrol are institutions which are no longer practical, useful, or necessary in this country. First of all, what are they really accomplishing? The Border Patrol is specifically designed to keep "illegal" or "undocumented aliens" from coming into the US. Is it working? Hardly. Oh sure, they catch a few Mexicans running the desert now and then, but the numbers that are apprehended don’t come close to the numbers of those that make it through. And what about immigrants from other countries? Are our resources able to track those that fly in or arrive by boat? According to the Arizona Republic article "Dying to Work," "The INS strategy of blockading popular border routes with high-tech gizmos and nearly 10,000 agents has yet to measurably cut the flow of illegal immigrants." In fact, it is estimated that there could be as many as 8 million illegal immigrants in the US today. Would it be so bad to just let them in? Over 1100 Mexican nationals have died since 1997 just trying to get to El Norte. Is keeping them out really worth all the expense of the Anti-Immigration agencies and the death toll involved? I would like to examine some of the issues believed to be a problem in this situation†¦ Immigrants are taking American jobs. While in the case of educated immigrants taking skilled jobs this may be true, the numbers in this situation are very small. In fact, one problem that faces many immigrants coming to this country for work is that skills or certifications that they may have had in their home country won’t transfer to professional jobs here, or the language barrier prevents them from performing professional jobs. A good example of this is with Seini from Tonga. In her home country she was a nurse, but in the US could only be a nurse’s aide. Her husband Simi went from being a teacher in Tonga to a warehouse worker. Of more concern to Americans seems to be the throngs of unskilled laborers coming from "Third World" countries. These immigrants come to the US primarily to seek employment, true, but in general the jobs they take are those that are low paying and undesirable to Americans. In speaking with the owner of Hoe-Down Landscaping Services, I was told that in 8 years of business he had not had a single white American apply for a job.