I am sure there is some other thread and many posts concerning Trump's wall but frankly I didn't do a very hard search for one so......... I did some math and the payment method will be relatively easy and yes, Mexico will pay for the majority of the expenses via tolls and tax. Let's start with the fact that there are 48 legal entries into the U.S. The Nogales entry at Morley (pedestrian) brags of nearly 10,000 crossings from Mexico per day. Of note is another fact and that is the Nogales pedestrian entry is not the largest entry but for now, let's just stick to the 10,000 number at Nogales. If a buck were charged for each entry, that would come to $10,000 (dollars) a day. Multiply that times 48 legal entries) and we have 480,000 beans a day coming from Mexico. (pun unintended) NOTE: I haven't included the rail tolls, product taxation, or vehicular crossing, just the pedestrian. Now, Trump has already said that the wall should only cost about 8 billion bucks so do the math. At 480,000 dollars a day, the wall should be paid for (by pedestrians alone) in about 17-18 years. If we include taxation on products, captured and impounded assets from drug movement, rail fees and vehicular fees the wall should be paid for in uh.......about 10 years give or take a couple after the extra expenses like salaries, utilities, compounds, repairs and equipment. Let's talk after the wall is paid for shall we? What will 480,000 dollars a day pay for in the U.S.? A bigger and better border patrol? Legal immigrant education? Things that our present tax money will no longer have to pay for...............wow! Well, I can dream can't I?
He recently mentioned using drug seizures to help pay for the wall as well. I will assume that he's talking about selling the tangible assets of people caught with drugs, such as cars, property, cash, and bank accounts, and not that he plans on selling the drugs seized, although I don't doubt the media will make the latter assumption.
Yeah, I caught that as well. I guess I should have written "sans drugs" when I posted my thread for most certainly there are those who might perchance come upon the thread and say, "oh goody"! Actually, to think about it, if the product seized was pot then the "good properties" could be lifted and used in medical marijuana throughout the U.S.A. in a sort of bank as it were. There, it could be sold by the fed if they ever decide to legalize the stuff. Cocaine can also be used in the med banks so maybe seizure of drugs CAN be beneficial. http://www.entnet.org/content/medical-use-cocaine
It's a good plan, Bobby. I've heard people say though that if people want in, a wall won't stop them. I really have nothing against Mexicans and would do whatever it takes to make them legal. The problem is that we just can't support the illegal ones. Mexicans aren't the terrorists, the worst ones are probably in gangs and the rest are really hard workers. The ones I know and have dealt with anyway. The workers who came to install my AC yesterday were Mexican and legal I'm sure. They did a great job, worked hard all day and were sweating. Can you imagine my attic with no AC in this heat? I sure wouldn't want the job. I felt comfortable with them having access to my house and I didn't watch where they were or what they were doing. I stayed in a closed room because of Pickles.
Since mankind is imperfect it is impossible for mankind to build or even think in the terms of perfection. There are always going to be flaws. Even the dreaded Berlin Wall or the Great Wall of China did not insure that no one would be able to cross the border. The point of the wall(s) is that at the present time there are THOUSANDS pouring into the country illegally on a weekly basis which has to be curtailed by at least 90% or more. I lived in Mexico for two years and worked with Mexicans both on the south side of the border and the American side and have no complaints about their ability to work nor their vast amount of ingenuity. The problem that most Americans have is that when they come here illegally they do absolutely take jobs because of their wage demands and do not pay into the general fund via taxation. I can show folks a few thousand restaurants where a citizen has to have proof of citizenship in order to work (obvious American citizens) but the illegals do not and are paid cash. The practice is prevelant not only in restaurants but farms and construction work also. Many people believe that Mexicans will do work that Americans will not but the fact is that there was no problem until it was discovered how cheaply the Mexican nationals are willing to do a job. Now, so far as letting someone into your home I only have one thing to say. If I were a lone woman, I would not invite ANY man into my home unless I was well protected (side arm) and ready to defend myself. Note: I didn't say Mexican men, I wrote ANY man! This world is NOT Mr. Rogers neighborhood any longer and some people do not just want to be friends or do their jobs.
Since I don't have a gun, I have no choice. That's the only way they could install my AC unit. They had to go in the attic and also the hallway to install a new thermostat.
Not only do they take jobs from Americans but they lower our standard of living. Most hurt are Mexican-Americans who are here legally, I think. Being illegal and coming from a country where they would earn less if they could find a job, they are willing to work for less than most Americans could live on, thus forcing Americans to compete for jobs in an unfair work environment. I have a friend who left California because he was a contractor and couldn't compete with construction companies using illegal Mexican labor. Unfortunately, he moved his business to Colorado and is having the same problem there now. Construction work used to be a very good job for Americans, and one that didn't require a college education. Many people worked their entire career for the same construction company, while others went into business for themselves. Now, in many parts of the country, construction company owners have to compete for bids with companies that can afford to bid lower because they hire illegals, so they have to do the same. This is true throughout the workforce. If illegal labor were not available, buildings would still be built, laundry would still be done, and crops would still be picked -- only employers would have to compete for labor, the result being that wages would go up, benefits would be offered, and working conditions would improve. Costs would also go up but a healthier economy would be able to afford it, particularly since we would be supporting so many people who aren't working. On a related topic, for the first time, more people in the United States are employed in the public sector than in the private sector. That is also unsustainable.
Trump and the president of Mexico will never see eye to eye on this one. And I suspect, because of that, the wall will never be built and it will be business as usual.
Most of the Mexicans working I see are legal but they are all Mexicans. Any job you have done around here chances are it will be done by Mexicans...half the population is Mexican in Fresno. The ones yesterday were probably born here because they spoke perfect English...the ones that don't might be the illegals. My previous Dr. Actually a NP was Mexican, he was good too, I liked him but he left to work elsewhere. All the pharmacists at my Walgreens are Mexican or Asian. So I guess they have the blue collar and white collar jobs. There are more legal Mexicans doing work than you would think, @Ken Anderson. The hygienists and assistants at my Son in law's dental practice are mostly Mexican. He pays the same wage wether they are white or not...it's just that that's the way it works out, not saying he doesn't have any white employees but the majority are Mexican. It's different in my son's dental practice in Illinois....most are white, don't think he has any Mexicans working for him.
There is a difference between Mexicans and Mexican-Americans. Many of the families who live in the Rio Grande Valley of Texas have been there for generations, even before Texas became a state. They have every right to be here, and their presence shouldn't be considered a threat to anyone. As for legality and illegality, we shouldn't be giving work VISAs for jobs that Americans are able to fill. I know we do, particularly during the past four decades, but we should be putting the needs of the American people and the good of the country ahead of that of those who aren't from here. When we think of jobs that Americans won't do, we shouldn't be thinking of jobs that Americans won't do for the amount of money companies are willing to pay, at least not until we have first secured the borders. Please understand that when I am talking about Americans, I am not referring to white people, but those who were born here or have attained citizenship. I don't so much care what nation a person is from but that which he or she is a part of. No one is entitled to be a citizen of the United States unless s/he was born here. We shouldn't grant citizenship on the basis of whether or not there is a specific reason for exclusion, but based on the needs of the country and its people. Sure, hotels and motels like to be able to hire illegals to clean rooms and do laundry because they will work for far less than American workers will but, without the availability of cheap labor from Mexico, they'd pay more and there will be jobs for uneducated Americans who would otherwise be on welfare. Many construction companies like to be able to hire slave labor from Mexico but if there were penalties involves, they'd hire American labor and there would be good jobs available for Americans who have attained only a high school education. I can't think of very many jobs that Americans wouldn't do for the right price. Traditionally, these jobs have been farm labor jobs, and there might be a legitimate reason to issue temporary work VISAs for farm labor, largely because these jobs are temporary in nature, and nomadic, which doesn't work out well for most American families. Even then, I grew up in a farming community and there was only one summer when they brought in migrant labor, and that was because everyone chose to grow potatoes in the same year, for some reason. Otherwise. local people were hired during harvest time, many of them being of high school and college age.
Did you say that "no one is entitled to be a citizen unless they were born here"? Guess that leaves me out, also my brother. My 2 sisters were born here though.
On the subject of *penalties*, since the 80's there are huge fines already in place for hiring illegals but they are not enforced. The law reads that if someone cannot fully fill out an I-9 form then they cannot be hired under a penalty of not less than $3000.00 PER employee. In other words, when ICE walks through the door there had best be a completed I-9 form for every employee on the premises or else. If there's an odd man without one on file then the business suffers a minimum of a $3000.00 fine (for each odd person) no matter what the reasoning might be. The crazy part is that even if the odd man was a bonafide, red white and blue flag waving, whistling the battle hymn of the Republic American citizen who simply lost his ID, ........ no I-9, no job. Hence the paradox: No ID, no job, no job, no money, no money no ID.
I just don't see anybody wanting to do the work the Mexicans do and do it for minimum wage. I drive past them all the time...it's pretty pitiful to see them bent over in the fields all day. In Fresno add hot temps to the mix. Also, if employers have to pay more for american workers, you're going to pay more for your produce...that's a given. Also, looking at all the high schoolers here I can bet you not one would take that job for minimum wage. They'd rather work fast food. Times have changed, they all have iPhones...they're not going to pick crops. Maybe one or two but that's not enough.
Why do you read negatives into everything? Saying that no one is entitled to become a citizen does mean that no one should be allowed to become a citizen. What I said was that people who come here from another country are not entitled to citizenship. They cannot claim a right to become a United States citizen. That doesn't mean that no one can become a United States citizen. My parents were born in Sweden, but the United States actively recruited farmers and loggers to come from Sweden to the United States. When we have high employment and a large percentage of our own population on government aid, we shouldn't be bringing in additional people unless they offer something that we need.
I didn't read negatives into anything. I read what you posted. If you deported all the illegals right now and paid minimum wage to pick crops, how many applicants do you think there would be for the jobs? Also, kids are in school now so forget them. I'm not going to argue about this anymore. I live here NOW and I see how it is. You're thinking back to other generations....this is a different world. Unless you live on a farm and own it, you won't get kids to pick crops all day. They are bent over the whole friggin day. Just picture the teens that walk around pants down around their knees listening to Rap picking strawberries.