Quote: (02-28-2017 02:27 AM)stugatz Wrote:
How in the hell did we ever let it get this bad? I'm glad we're stopping the problem now, but this "no human being is illegal" horseshit has been screwing this country over ever since Reagan's 1986 amnesty bill. Hell, I'm sure it was well before that - what are the numbers on immigration from Ted Kennedy's 1965 abomination through 1986? (Or post-Operation Wetback - Eisenhower's mass deportations - through 1965?)
I am happy we caught it, but I'm beginning to think that there is going to be absolutely no peaceful way to solve this, and we're going to end up making Mexico and Mexicans hostile. For the record, I'm not worried about our army versus theirs - I'm worried about Mexican gangs and criminals targeting whites. I'd be getting very antsy right now if I were in the southwest.
You are not that far off in that it was when the 60's is when this started. I used to live in the Southwest so I know some of the less known history, and I have heard stories from family who lived during the time. Illegal Immigration was not a big problem until the Southwest was developed and connected with interstate highways. I believe that it is the "Grapes of Wrath" where people from the dust-bowl area of the planes were sold on great jobs in California only to sold on picking fruit for a living on slave wages during the 1930's. As this booked was based on reality, my point is that Illegal Immigration was non-existent during the depression and that included a time when Roosevelt was price fixing everything, including wages.
I would contend that living in the Southwest was economically equal as living in Mexico. No one wants to work in the AZ heat now or back then. The difference now is that Air Conditioning makes working indoors in the Southwest a viable option for office dwellers. Likewise getting to any places that are reasonable like NorCal, or near the Grand Canyon, was a hard hike that was several hundreds of miles. There was no real roadways in the area. That is until WWII made the Southwest more developed and viable.
During WWII California had unprecedented development in infrastructure and population and continued on in the 50's. Illegal Immigration was allowed during WWII as there was an obvious lack of manpower, but as stated, Eisenhower deported them en-mass in the 50's when illegal labor is no longer needed. Any Mexicans who crossed the border in the 40's and 50's did not really have a place to work at other than what was in California, South Texas, and Tucson. Likewise they could not travel to the rest of the country that easily as there was no interstate highway travel and the railroad companies tend to not like squatters on their freight. Illegal Immigration was localized during this time.
When the Interstates came in during the 60's to the area that connected the rest of the country easier to the Southwest, then is when the problems started. Now everyone can travel the country easier in private and that included illegals being smuggled in paneled vans all over the country in a day or two. After that the laws to allow what we had today was created as well as the unholy alliance between big business for cheap labor and the government for new and pliant citizens that we have today. Without all three, I contend that Illegal Immigration would not be a high priority. If there was no way to travel the country within 48 hours, a business environment that breaking the law to save money is allowed, and an appeasing government, then we would not have what we have now. California is now a Minority Majority state where it used to not be the case.
Fun fact: Ernesto Miranda from Miranda v. Arizona, the guy that your Miranda rights are named after, was an illegal alien who admitted to his crime after 2 hours of interrogation. He just did not know that he could have an attorney present during the interrogation to negotiate a better sentence.