By:
Carl Braun
National Leader and Co-Founder
Border Patrol Auxiliary
Senior Analyst, Homeland Security Policy Institute Group
Revised June 1, 2009
Copyright 2009 Carl Braun.
All Rights Reserved. Permission is hereby granted to reprint in whole or in part provided no fee is charged and proper attribution is given to the author. The opinions expressed are those of the author and in no way represent the opinions of the Homeland Security Policy Institute Group and Border Patrol Auxiliary.
Introduction:
In 2009, Americans might fully expect that poverty, crime and disease are concentrated in certain urban areas around the country’s largest cities, the hills of Appalachia or the rolling cotton fields of Mississippi. Few would know that the poorest, the most violent, the most disease ridden section of the United States are the twenty-four counties residing along our southern border with Mexico.
In 2006, a report was published by the US/Mexico Border Counties Coalition wherein the 24 counties along the Mexican border were collectively referred to as a 51st state. This report will take that concept a bit further. Here, for the sake of continuity and brevity let’s call that State: Amexica. This paper contains data from that report and others as well as published accounts and anecdotal observations. The numbers, where possible, have been updated.
The purpose of this paper is to illustrate the serious challenges facing our fellow Americans in the border region. It’s easy perhaps for the rest of the country to think that these border counties are just like their counterparts in Nebraska or New Hampshire or even Montana. Nothing could be further from the truth. These residents face a reality unlike any other in the nation. Theirs is a socio-economic nightmare.
The Curious Case of San Diego:
It would be unfair to represent that all is doom and gloom in Amexica. It is not. However the economic sunshine seems to fall upon one county in the 51st State and one county alone: San Diego. This skews the numbers so dramatically it is necessary to first discuss the prosperous county as without it, Amexica is indeed in serious trouble.
One of the largest in America, San Diego reports income greater than the collective incomes of the remaining 23 southwest border counties combined, making it an anomaly amongst US border counties. In fact, San Diego County’s per capita income is greater than 45 other states by themselves.
Yet nineteen of the twenty-three other border counties have per capita income of less than $21,000. Average per capita income ranges from $13,744 in Maverick County (TX) to $35,841 in San Diego. Without San Diego, Amexica is the poorest state, beating Mississippi for the dubious honor by $11,707 (US Census Bureau 2008 estimates). Even that income is suspect, as more than 21 percent of the region’s personal income, not including San Diego is comprised of transfer receipts, such as government assistance like welfare and food stamps. This ranks Amexica #2 amongst all states in recipients of these benefits. Further, more than half a million, or 27.2 percent, of Amexica’s children and youth ages 0 through 17 live in poverty. This by itself, is a startling statistic.
One would think that given the size and economic prowess of San Diego County, it would drag the other counties in Amexica to statistical prosperity right along with it and in some cases it does. Most often however, the economic might of San Diego only serves to underscore the severity of the situation in the rest of Amexica for without this county, the State would be in such a deplorable condition it would be rendered a disaster area by current standards.
San Diego has the lion’s share of Amexica’s population: 3,001,072 (2008) or 42.8%. It is larger in land area than the States of Rhode Island and Delaware combined with roughly 400 square miles left over. Still most of the county is undeveloped. Having San Diego County is a double-edged sword, as we will see. Though a leader in income and population; crime, drugs and illegal immigration in the prosperous county are staggering and pull the numbers sharply in the wrong direction. Where possible, I will note the ranking with and without San Diego to add perspective though nearly all of the stats include it, as it is after all a border county and home to the fictional capital of Amexica; the city of San Diego.
Amexica Population and Land Area:
Formerly located in the states of California, Arizona, Texas and New Mexico, the 51st state of Amexica covers 79,109 square miles of US territory making it slightly larger than Nebraska and the 16th largest State in the Union. It is home to nearly 7 million residents. And would rank 13th in population (legal residents only).
Since 1990, this region has experienced a growth rate of nearly 30 percent, which would rank it 15th in population change. Again though, the true numbers are hidden, as this represents the number of LEGAL residents. Alone this growth and the subsequent lack of income places an enormous burden on an already struggling infrastructure. Add to it the hundreds of thousands to millions of those who are living in Amexica illegally on a permanent or transient basis and the growth rate increases precipitously.
Amexica would be the second youngest state with almost 29% of its population under the age of 18. It would have the third highest concentration of Hispanics of all states, almost 3.36 million, or more than 50 percent of its population.
Crime:
Amexica ranks #1 in crime in several areas when compared with the other fifty states. It is:
- #1 in felony crime
- #1 in crimes involving drugs
- #1 in federal crimes
- #1 in immigration crimes.
It is also ranked 16th nationally in violent crime, yet another hidden statistic.
In 2008, Sheriffs in Amexica testified that violent crime has dramatically increased. Brown on Brown or Immigrant on Immigrant violent crime as the Sheriffs suggested has grown markedly. The greatest challenge is that much of it goes unreported, which doesn’t mean that the crime is not committed but that the victims never file a complaint and the criminals are never brought to justice or that which is reported tends to be covered under the guise of immigration crimes as the victims and perpetrators are most often here illegally.
This level of unreported or misreported criminality suggests that Amexica is now a leader in violent crime as well, if not the most violent state in the US.
Interviews of local residents indicates they have become so accustomed to the destruction of their persons and property by transient illegal immigrants and criminal elements that reporting it to law enforcement seems a waste of time. It only results in inconvenient paperwork and the criminals run free. They have long ago ceased reporting the damage to insurance companies for fear they will lose their coverage so they don’t file reports or claims instead opting to absorb the losses themselves. The level of frustration is exceedingly high amongst ranchers and native residents. “Seventy-two percent of the law enforcement resources are expended on drug and immigration crime masking the lower level property crimes and violent crimes.” According to the Border Coalition report.
According to USLAW.com, auto thefts abound: “Cam Simpson of the Wall Street Journal has written an article about the large amount of auto theft in states that border Mexico. Seven out of the twenty US cities with the largest numbers of auto thefts are close to the Mexican border. These cities include Laredo, San Diego, Albuquerque, Tucson, El Centro, El Paso and Phoenix. Laredo and El Paso have drastically jumped in ranking. There has been a 47% increase of auto theft in Laredo since 2005. In 2005, El Paso was ranked #81 out of 100 and has since climbed to #17.
Officials say that the Mexican drug cartel isn’t responsible for each individual stolen vehicle, but their need for vehicles and money to pay people to take them are important factors.” Illegal aliens again perpetrate most of these thefts.
Amexica is certainly the gateway to the United States for felons illegally entering the country. While Phoenix AZ (Maricopa County) is not a border county per se’, it ranks second in the world in kidnappings behind Mexico City, Mexico. The spillover from Mexico reaches far beyond the international boundary and often Amexica is caught in the middle. In 2006, when some estimates put illegal entrants at as many as 15,000 per day, Amexica was importing approximately 3,000 new criminals daily and exporting the vast majority to neighboring states as they left a trail of crimes in their path.
Consider this excerpt from the INS/FBI Statistical Report on “Undocumented Immigrants” published in Q1 2006:
- 95% of warrants for murder in Los Angeles are for illegal aliens.
- 83% of warrants for murder in Phoenix are for illegal aliens.
- 86% of warrants for murder in Albuquerque are for illegal aliens.
- 75% of those on the most wanted list in Los Angeles, Phoenix and Albuquerque are illegal aliens.
- 24.9% of all inmates in California detention centers are Mexican nationals here illegally
- 40.1% of all inmates in Arizona detention centers are Mexican nationals here illegally
- 48.2% of all inmates in New Mexico detention centers are Mexican nationals here illegally
- 29% (630,000) convicted illegal alien felons fill our state and federal prisons at a cost of $1.6 billion annually
- 53% plus of all investigated burglaries reported in California, New Mexico, Nevada, Arizona and Texas are perpetrated by illegal aliens.
- 50% plus of all gang members in Los Angeles are illegal aliens from south of the border.
- 71% plus of all apprehended cars stolen in 2005 in Texas, New Mexico, Arizona, Nevada and California were stolen by Illegal aliens or “transport coyotes”.
- 47% of cited/stopped drivers in California have no license, no insurance and no registration for the vehicle. Of that 47%, 92% are illegal aliens.
- 63% of cited/stopped drivers in Arizona have no license, no insurance and no registration for the vehicle. Of that 63%, 97% are illegal aliens
- 66% of cited/stopped drivers in New Mexico have no license, no insurance and no registration for the vehicle. Of that 66% 98% are illegal aliens.
Clearly, the borders of our 51st state are merely inconvenient speed bumps for all kinds of illegal activities extending into all 50 remaining States. It is estimated that 20% of all illegal aliens apprehended in Amexica are known felons, a percentage that is surprisingly increasing in 2009 according to Border Patrol Field Agents as enforcement efforts expand while overall illegal immigration rapidly declines. Prior to 2008, Amexica and indeed the entire United States, was a release valve for Mexico’s impoverished and it’s criminals. Today, those same criminals are finding it more difficult to enter the United States and more are being apprehended in Amexica before they can make it to other parts of the country. This has increased levels of reported transient crime in the 51st state and is a leading factor in the increased violence in Mexico as more and more gang members and criminal elements find their journey to El Norte stalled by increased vigilance along the border.
Lack of funding, manpower and resources face the non-federal agencies (Amexica law enforcement) tasked with cleaning up the criminal mess from illegal immigration.
It is a dangerous place to be sure. Living in Amexica however can be harmful to your health from more than just violence and crime.
Health and Healthcare:
According to the Center for Disease Control, Multi-drug Resistant Tuberculosis, once eradicated in the US, now infects approximately 13,000 persons in the country each year with the largest concentration occurring in Amexica, where it ranks #1 and #2 depending on the report and year cited. Amexica has twice the national rate for TB infected individuals. Amexica ranks 3rd in hepatitis related deaths and 5th in diabetes related deaths, the latter no doubt due to the inordinately high occurrence of diabetes in Native American and Hispanic communities; a major portion of the Amexica population.
Incidents of Leprosy, now known as Hansen’s disease, have doubled in the US since 2000. In the 40 years prior there were only 900 cases of Leprosy in the entire United States or about 22 per year. Between 2002 and 2005 that number went to 7,000 (2300+ per year) with most of the infected coming from Latin America illegally through Amexica.
Chagas disease, a nasty parasitic skin disorder almost exclusively found in Latin America, was virtually unknown in the US before 2000. Since then more than 500,000 people in the US have become infected with the disease and largely from illegal immigration according to the National Institute of Health. Most of those infected either live or have travelled through Amexica making it both America’s leading importer and exporter of communicable diseases.
Again, according to the Border Counties Coalition Report of 2006, when compared with the other 50 states, Amexica ranks 50th in health insurance coverage for adults and children and 51st in the number of health care professionals; dead last. Uncompensated medical costs for uninsured citizens and illegal immigrants reached $831,564,000 in 2006 up from $200,000,000 in 2000. This is fully 3% of all uncompensated medical costs for the entire United States according to the American Hospital Association.
The combined incidences’ of low income, lack of health insurance and uncompensated medical costs has a chilling effect on quality of life in Amexica and cements it’s position amongst the other fifty states as a place where you absolutely do not want to get sick.
Environmental and Fire:
Amexica is home to some of the largest undeclared garbage dumps in the United States. Millions of illegal aliens have left thousands of tons in trash behind scattered across the deserts and mountains of the 51st state. Border Patrol spokesman Mike Scioli of the Tucson Sector said this in the Sierra Vista Herald Newspaper:
“The average illegal immigrant carries 8 pounds of trash. If that is multiplied merely by the ones who are caught — 317,000 in fiscal year 2008, which ended Sept. 30 — then that adds up to more than 1,200 tons of trash.”
Considering Border Patrol arrests approximately 1 in 3 or 4 of those who cross, a number that is thankfully increasing, this means that approximately 1 million make the trek north each year carrying 8 million pounds of trash. With twelve to twenty million illegal aliens estimated in the United States, it is a safe assumption that there is 96 million (48,000 tons) to 160 million pounds (80,000 tons) of trash accumulating and decomposing (or not) in the environmentally sensitive areas of Amexica.
According to the Arizona Department of Environmental Quality Undocumented Waste Management Project:
“The consequences of UDM waste in Arizona are well documented, and shown to seriously affect human health, environmental quality and economic well-being. Impacts include trash accumulation, illegal trails and paths, erosion and watershed degradation, damaged infrastructure and property, loss of vegetation and wildlife, campfires and escaped fires, abandoned vehicles and bicycles, vandalism, graffiti and site damage (historical, archaeological), and occurrence of bio-hazardous waste. Some reports exist on occurrences of infectious and communicable diseases.”
Trash is only part of the environmental impact of a neighboring country run amok. The most polluted river in North America flows from Mexico north through Calexico, Amexica and into the Salton Sea. Seventy percent of the water is agriculture waste (fertilizer and animal feces) and raw human sewage pumped daily into the river from cesspool cleaning trucks in Mexico. Twenty percent is municipal waste and ten percent industrial waste. There is almost not enough room in the river for pure H2O. The threshold reading for pollution in parts per 100-mille liter’s is 260. The New River’s pollution ranges from 100,000 to 16,000,000 the highest reading available on current measuring devices. The river is full of diseases like typhoid, malaria, polio and hepatitis and each day some 70 illegal aliens are pulled from the river attempting to cross into the United States. It is unknown how many actually make it but safe to say they are all unknowingly carrying diseases into Amexica and beyond.
The Border Agency Fire Council, formed in 1996 as a joint effort of 38 US and Mexican agencies is tasked with the responsibility of preventing, mitigating and controlling wildfires in part of Amexica. Other State and Federal Agencies conduct other efforts to manage wildfires. In San Diego County alone during the period 1996 to 2007 there were 6,561 fires caused by illegal immigrants, which developed into 247 wildfires and destroyed more than 1 million acres of land and thousands of homes and structures. In just one year, 2007, the total cost of these wildfires was nearly half a billion dollars.
Travel throughout Amexica and you will see hundreds to thousands of acres burned from illegal campfires. To combat this the BAFC is running millions of dollars in radio, television, multimedia and bus advertising to teach illegal aliens the proper way to set and extinguish fires in Amexica. This advertising is running exclusively in Mexico. They claim this has reduced illegal campfires dramatically from a few hundred to a few dozen each year. Still, is it the best use of resources to teach illegal aliens proper campfire etiquette or to ensure they never become illegal aliens in the first place by spending those dollars on better border security? This is a classic example of how compartmentalized government acts in it’s own interest without benefit or appreciation of the bigger picture. This is not a slam on the individuals themselves who are doing what they believe to be the right thing within the framework of their agencies, but more an indictment on the macro inefficiencies of bureaucracy as by it’s very nature one hand does not know or care what the other is doing. This is perhaps best exemplified nationally within the framework of education.
Education:
On average, 73% of Amexica residents over the age of 25 have completed high school. This of course includes San Diego. As we’ll see though, this statistic can be very misleading on a county-by-county basis. For example, comparing that with the US average of 80.4% the 51st state ranks 50th beating only Mississippi in high school graduates. However again, if we remove San Diego, the folks in Mississippi look like rocket scientists.
This translates into low numbers of college graduates. Without San Diego, Amexica ranks 48th in 4 year college degrees (26th otherwise).
Considering the 51st State ranks 2nd in the percentage of students under the age of 18, it’s lack of educational institutions and educational rankings show little promise for the future. Per the Border Counties report though:
“A young population alone does not imply low education or income levels; Utah, for example, exceeds the United States for both the percentage of the population over 25 with a high school diploma (87.7%) and the percentage over 25 with a college degree (26.1%), all while having 32.2 percent of its population below age 18. “
Students in Amexica, compared to their counterparts in the rest of the country, disproportionately face the choice between education and work based on family and personal income needs. Amexica will continue to lag behind the rest of the country in education, graduation rates and test scores because of this.
Amexica leads the nation in the percentage of high school dropouts vs. high school graduates. In some counties like Starr County (TX) the percentage of high school dropouts 65.3% vs. graduates 16.9% is astounding. Of the twenty-four counties in Amexica the number of high school dropouts exceeds the number of graduates in twenty of them.
In parts of Amexica, educational districts are compensated based on the total number of students attending regardless of the immigration status or country of citizenship. Because of this, cross-border students, that is students who live in and are residents of Mexico, actually illegally cross the border each day to catch the bus to school. These students largely have ESL (English as a Second Language) needs that require the school district to apply additional resources that otherwise would go to resident students. This practice is pervasive across Amexica. In fact the Calexico School District, lost 300 students after a recent crackdown, causing it to lose more than $2 million dollars in State aid.
Meanwhile, so many schoolchildren come through the El Paso border, that officials created a special pedestrian lane for them. The Houston Chronicle reported that about 1,200 used the lane during a single morning in 2007.
Schools in Amexica for all practical purposes are not under US control and here, the value of the Peso plays as much a role in affordability of education as does the dollar.
Conclusions:
For many it will be comforting to know that the 51st State of Amexica does not exist at least in name…yet. But the realities of life for these American citizens are harsh and unyielding. They have largely been ignored or forgotten by the United States Government. They live in a third world nation within the borders of the richest nation on earth, left to fend for themselves, against the economic onslaught of an increasingly hostile neighbor.
These border counties lead the nation in felony crime, crimes involving drugs and crimes involving children. Yet a vast portion of the crimes committed never even get reported meaning that the statistics herein are only the tip of the iceberg. We can only begin to estimate just how dangerous life in the border counties is for its residents and visitors.
I have lived in Amexica for six years and spent thousands of hours working to secure its borders. I have researched the varied impacts on numerous border counties and seen first hand the seamy underbelly of the criminal element and its path of destruction.
Sadly, there isn’t a quick fix but there are bold steps that can be taken to help these border counties recover. I have listed them here roughly in the order of their implementation. Some may be done concurrently while others must wait until the former are well underway or completed before attempting them.
- Secure The Border. Little else can be accomplished until the United States border with the Republic of Mexico is secured. Despite the gallant efforts of an outnumbered, outgunned and out funded US Border Patrol, hundreds to thousands of illegal invaders make it past our defenses into Amexica and beyond each day. With them they bring crime, drugs, murder, mayhem and previously conquered diseases into our country. This cannot be denied. The facts are the facts. Border Patrol must receive the manpower, funding, physical resources and support to secure our nation from ALL threats including terrorist. As a nation we are willing to expend trillions of dollars on programs to satisfy special interest groups but one of the biggest special interest groups in the nation, the seven million citizens of Amexica, are left in the dark to fend for themselves. At no time in our nation’s history have we allowed another nation to trample upon the rights of Americans for the sake of political pandering and personal gain. It is unconscionable and a crime in itself. Illegal immigration and all its negative impact must be stopped at once by securing the border and providing the permanent funding necessary to ensure it stays secure.
- Temporarily Halt Unnecessary Legal Immigration. Replacement level immigration each year in then United States, that is replacing those people who have left (births over deaths), is approximately 200,000 people. Since the mid 1960’s we have allowed many times that number to immigrate to the US legally each year. This has placed a tremendous burden on the taxpayer and an unbearable strain on the nation and Amexica’s infrastructure. Yes, we are a nation of immigrants. Virtually every nation on earth is. Yes, many of these immigrants have and do make valuable contributions to our society. Becoming an American at one time though meant something to immigrants. It is why they came here. Today it is an economic means to an end. According to the DHS Office of Immigration Statistics, in 2002 alone 1,063,732 individuals became permanent residents of the US. Each year that number hovers around 1 million. Yet these are not new citizens, they are individuals who choose to live here while retaining their country of citizenship and often the benefits of both. In 2004 50,084 came here according to a program now known as the diversity lottery. Do we not have enough diversity in America today? 7,121 of the 946,142 new permanent residents in 2004 were parolees. That’s right,criminals under the control of a Parole Officer. Do we not have enough criminals in the US that we have to extend permanent residence and all the benefits it brings with it to newly minted criminals and residents?
Until we know how many people we have in this country, what their skill level is and at what level they can contribute to the common good of America, there is no rational reason to allow more to immigrate. Whether we as a nation bear some responsibility for the demise of Latin America or the rest of the third world is up for discussion. There can be no resolving these issues in Amexica or the United States, until we come to the conclusion that whatever responsibility we bear must be administered through aid in the country’s of their origin and not here.
In a study conducted by the non-partisan group NumbersUSA, founder Roy Beck concluded that there are 4.6 billion people on this earth with a standard of living less that of Mexico. No matter how many people we allow to enter the United States to achieve a better life each year, those people create another 80 million mouths to feed, births over deaths, while we were doing it. We can never catch up. The only way to help these people is to help them where THEY live. A plan for orderly immigration of people necessary to accommodate our needs, as a country must be enacted but not until the border is secure. This is not an anti-immigrant position. Quite frankly it is just a matter of survival.
Let’s take a look at the 13th largest economy in the world: Mexico. A third world country with a GDP larger than that of Australia yet retains it’s third world status largely because according to the World Bank, the bulk of the wealth (roughly 90%) his held by 10% of the people. 60% of the population live in poverty and 30% in what Mexico calls “middle class”, again keeping in mind that the average Mexican earns one tenth that of the average American.
Now let’s turn to the United States. The 2008 poverty line was set at an annual income of $10,400. 12.5% of LEGAL Americans or 37 million people live at or below that level. Median income in the US in 2008 is $50,253. While there is no definition for “middle class” in the US, it is generally considered to be one with an annual income of no less than $42,000 and no more than $75,000, with the former being roughly 400% of the poverty level. According to the US Census (2007) there are 183,784,000 LEGAL Americans earning less than $42,000 per year or 61.5% of the US population. Now add in approximately 20 million illegal aliens and that takes us to 68.2% earning less than the “middle class”. But it gets worse of course because not everyone in the US can work. Only 238,138,000 of the nearly 300 million legal residents are working which means that 77% of working Americans are in varying degrees of poverty earning less than the minimum for the middle class. Add in those ILLEGAL Aliens that work off the books and the number rises close to 80% of the US workforce. The poor or nearly poor outnumber the middle class to affluent in this country by a factor of more than 2:1 (68% to 32%.)
Forget the studies that project when the impoverished will exceed the middle class in the US; we’re there now. Just how far away are we from becoming a third world country ourselves? Can we really afford to allow additional poor people to immigrate into the US legally or illegally? Are we not creating, as they have in Mexico, a permanent worker class unable to help Americans or anyone else? Steps must be taken now to ensure this does not happen or very soon, perhaps in just a few years, the needs of Amexica will become academic as the rest of the nation will gradually mirror it and not the other way around.
- 3. Invest In Local Law Enforcement. Currently law enforcement in Amexica is largely reactive and that is mainly due to funding. This is in part because Amexica ranks #1 in drug crimes and there is no category for drug crimes in the federal crime index, which is how federal funding is calculated. For example: An estimated 44,892 drug arrests by local law enforcement in Amexica, or 15 percent of all local law enforcement arrests, were not included as part of the determination of allocations to southwest border counties law enforcement agencies for FY 2003. More state and local law enforcement activities go unfunded in Amexica than in other states. The disparities in funding create a huge burden for local law enforcement authorities in Amexica. Another challenge is the burden illegal immigration puts on local law enforcement and prosecutors. The Federal Government is not carrying it’s share of the load and since the Federal law enforcement presence in Amexica is so high due to immigration and drugs, local law enforcement is left with the challenge of housing and feeding detained criminals. The Federal Government (Obama Administration proposed budget) responds on May 11th 2009 by eliminating all funding for the State Criminal Alien Assistance Program (SCAAP), a clear indication it is clueless to the needs of Amexica. Perhaps a huge blunder if allowed to proceed. The Federal Government only reimbursed twenty-five percent of the costs as it was for housing criminal aliens in Amexica. This will place an already intolerable burden on Amexica into the realm of crisis. It is an absolute necessity that the Federal Government, charged with securing our nations borders, step up and pay for it and if it cannot secure the borders for a time, pay, in full, for the result of its inability to do so. If the borders were in fact secured, crimes like drugs, vandalism, human smuggling and other resource draining crimes would be reduced or eliminated allowing local law enforcement to protect the citizenry instead of reacting to crimes against it. A combined State, Federal and Local task force should be created and funded to clean up the gang bangers, drug dealers, murderers and other run of the mill criminals that currently inhabit Amexica. It can be done. For example: Mayor Rudolph Giuliani of New York City took the nations most violent city and turned it into the safest in a few short years. He did it through enforcement. He cleaned up 42nd Street, attacked organized crime and put every criminal on notice that it ends now. Our government needs to give enforcement a chance. There are entire communities in Amexica that are run by the drug cartels and gangs. Law Enforcement avoids confrontations because they do not have the resources or manpower to shut them down. This is a travesty in that in today’s day and age our Law Enforcement should be held in check by violent gangs simply for lack of political will to do something about it. It can be fixed and it must become an immediate priority.
4. Secure Education. It has been said that as education goes, so goes the economy. According to Robert M. Solow, Nobel Laureate in Economics:
“Education per worker accounts for 30 percent of the increase in output per worker and the advance of knowledge accounts for 64 percent…Thus [while] technology remains the dominant engine of growth…human capital investment [is] in second place.”
Literally no societal or cultural gains can be made in Amexica until the there is a focus on education across the 51st state and not just in cities like San Diego where there is twice the rate of college graduates than other counties in Amexica. Cross-border attendance in schools is a major contributing factor in inordinately high drop out rates for Amexica as are language acquisition challenges faced by these students. Given that a college graduate can earn as much as a million dollars more over the course of a lifetime than their high school graduate counterparts, the economy of Amexica will suffer from the lack of education and it’s byproduct: earning ability. Again, it comes down to the border. The drain in resources by people who are not citizens washes out any gains made. But assuming the border is secured and non-citizen students are removed from the ranks, the school systems are still in trouble. Many are funded by the number of students attending each day, and some will lose thousands to millions of dollars each year. Funding issues take center stage and must be fixed. There is something inherently wrong with an educational system that promotes violating federal law in order to make its budget. A complete investigation is required to ensure this never happens again and any and all funding for non-citizen education must stop immediately. It is not the responsibility of the United States, Amexica or the American taxpayer to fund education for a foreign nation within our own borders. Were these counties to exist anywhere else but along the border, their educational ranking would instantly improve.
- Environmental and Fire: Once again, secure the border and we see an instant improvement in the degradation of our natural resources. Coordinate a one-time effort to clean up the deserts and mountains and they will respond in kind. It really is that simple and it can be done largely through the use of volunteers and prisoners. I say, make the illegal alien felons responsible for cleaning up the mess. My sense is, there is a Sheriff or two that would relish the opportunity to put these criminals to work. As for troubled waters like “The New River” the challenge becomes that much greater. It is being polluted in Mexico. We can erect a wastewater treatment facility on our side of the border and we probably should though local funding is problematic. It would need to be a federal effort. Pressure on the Mexican government is required to stop the source of the pollution in the first place. We can then work on cleaning up our side. It’s been done before. Lake Erie, once a giant cesspool became on of our nations finest lakes in a few short years after pollutants were stopped from entering it. There however, we did not have a foreign nation turning a blind eye to human and industrial waste being poured into it on a daily basis in Mexicali. Mexico must be made to stop the pollution and to pay for the damage in the spirit of cross border cooperation. This type of effort already occurs within the Border Agency Fire Council though the dollars appear to only go in one direction: south. Cooperation is one thing, paying for it is another. Perhaps some of the dollars currently expended on multi-media campaigns to teach illegal border crossers how to properly construct campfires could be spent on cleaning up the New River once the border is secured. While that campaign seems to have had an impact on the reduction of wildfires in the US, it seems to me that if you stop the illegal border crossers in the first place, teaching them proper campfire etiquette becomes unnecessary.
Additionally, the private sector could and should do more for the environment. Organizations like the Sierra Club have a long history of environmental intervention yet when it comes to illegal immigration it seems their politics gets in the way. Perhaps the Sierra Club, as an example, should return their focus on the environment in Amexica instead of making excuses for how the American government is ultimately responsible for it because of oppressive NAFTA and CAFTA initiatives. Consider this email sent to me from this organization in 2006 in response to my request for assistance in cleaning up the border area.
From: Rob Smith [mailto:rob.smith@sierraclub.org]
Sent: Thursday, May 04, 2006 9:27 AM
To: cfbraun@earthlink.net
Subject: Trash on the border
Dear Mr. Braun,
Thanks for contacting the Sierra Club about trash left behind by the migrants along our southern border.
I’ve organized clean up trips myself for Sierra Club volunteers and staff to pick up this stuff, and there can be quite a lot. Our view is that the flood of migrants coming across the border has root causes in lack of jobs in Mexico and other Central and South American countries. This has been aggravated by recent trade
Agreements, such as the North American Free Trade Agreement and others like it, that have allowed U.S. products to be dumped on the Mexican market, running rural people there out of a living. We’re continuing to work for fairer trade policies, which don’t put people out of work and trash the environment.
I appreciate your interest in this problem.
Rob Smith
Sierra Club Southwest Office
202 E. McDowell Rd. #277
Phoenix, AZ 85004
602-254-9330
Subsequent calls to Mr. Smith went unreturned. The responsibility does indeed lie with the US and Mexican governments but using our trade policies as an excuse for doing little or nothing is no excuse at all. This is classic misdirection. While, a non-profit and preserving their right to do what they want and when, it appears the Sierra Club has become a political organization running for political cover when the politics doesn’t coincide with their view of the environment. This is a shame as many of us have relied upon them to do the right thing in this regard and press the government to clean up after themselves. Even if they should convince the Federal government that NAFTA and CAFTA are bad and should be repealed, there will still be 40,000 to 80,000 tons or more of trash in the deserts left by illegal immigrants.
To their credit though, on the water pollution front, the Sierra Club has lobbied both governments for the cleanup of the New River going back many years. In 2001, Executive Director Carl Pope said in a letter to then Presidents Bush and Fox:
“For far too long our two countries have failed to resolve the pollution problems affecting the New River. A lack of financial commitment and regulatory will on the U.S. side of the border, combined with insufficient institutional capacity on the Mexican side, have left the peoples of the Mexicali Valley, Calexico and the Imperial Valley exposed to almost unimaginable levels of toxic pollution.”
In a New York Times Article dated January 26,1997:
“After nearly 50 years of promising improvements, the United States and Mexican Governments are spending $5 million on ”quick fixes” to improve the sewage system in Mexicali. Construction on a $70 million treatment plant, with possible financing from both countries, could begin in a few years.”
Legislation is again pending to finally do something about the most polluted river in El Norte. The Calexico New River Committee following a meeting with the CaliforniaMexico Border Relations Council in late April 2009 announced there was “good momentum on the issue.”
“The key issue appears to be finding a way to utilize funds that are already available for addressing the polluted New River. Congress has allocated $14 million for the cleanup, but accessing those funds requires contributions from other entities. “The challenge has always been that at the state level … agencies have not come together to identify state dollars (for the project),” According to Assemblyman Pérez.
The thing is, The Calexico New River Committee is really only focused on mitigating the issue as it affects them locally. One of the proposals is to “ enclose” the river where it passes through Calexico so the residents do not have to put up with the stench and disease. Whatever happens with the river outside of Calexico is …well it is someone else’s problem. While I can understand their immediate local concern, State and federal authorities should have addressed this decades ago. Were this river in New York State or in New England I am quite certain it would have been cleaned up already. We know this because places like Love Canal and the Aberjona River (A Civil Action) WERE addressed. But the New River is located in Amexica, land of the lost. It will take EPA involvement on a grand scale to resolve this issue.
- Health and Healthcare: Speak with any emergency room worker, anywhere in Amexica and you will hear a horrifying tale of the impact of Multi-drug Resistant Tuberculosis and other diseases. This is an American problem as Amexica is just the “transient zone” for the bulk of illegal aliens carrying infectious diseases. Trouble is, these diseases don’t discriminate. There is a way to deal with the future importing of these maladies and that is of course to secure the border. In a recent pandemic flu scare, the government came close to shutting down the ports of entry though it was clear right from the start this was not pandemic material. Someone pushed the panic button and mobilized an entire army of scientists, doctors and politicians. One lone air traveler with TB became a national story for weeks. Yet each day dozens to hundreds of cases of this disease and others walk or swim over the border with relative impunity. We need that panic button pusher in Amexica, as it is a health disaster in the making. In fact, it may be too late. Like the swine flu, America’s next pandemic will likely come from south of the border and we are not ready for it.
One thing is perfectly clear. The 51st state is incapable of handling even the smallest outbreak let alone a pandemic. San Diego has some of the finest health facilities in the world yet if an epidemic were to occur the emergency rooms would be overwhelmed quickly and care would only go to the sickest amongst us. During the recent flu scare my wife got ill. I took her to the emergency room at a local hospital in Escondido (her healthcare provider/family doctor refused to see her. They were already overwhelmed.) The ER held over 100 people at 10:00 AM. More than half of the individuals in this room spoke little to no English and needed interpreters. Anecdotally, the technician told me most were illegal aliens and would only receive minimal care before being sent to the county hospital. Most only needed minimal care. “We are their family doctor,” she said. One young Hispanic woman threw a tantrum in the ER because her daughter wasn’t being cared for quick enough. My wife and I spent almost six hours waiting for care. She was treated on a chair in a hallway marked with a letter and number as if it were an actual room. Before she was released she had to pay a $100 deductible over her insurance and another $60 for medication. The accounts receivable clerk hovered over her for a credit card, as they administered “respiratory therapy”through an oxygen mask, to be sure she didn’t sneak out a side door. Paying customers in the hospitals these days are at a premium in Amexica. Better grab their wallets before they leave. In fact, we just received the hospital bill for her six hours of waiting, an EKG and respiratory “therapy”. The total: $2,895.10. Somebody is paying the bills in these hospitals and it is not illegal aliens.
Largely, the rest of the room was pleading poverty. It is little wonder more than eighty hospitals have closed their doors in the last ten years in Amexica. They went bankrupt providing services for people who shouldn’t have been there in the first place. When the law-abiding taxpayers of Amexica need medical care, it will not be available to them. This system like social security and Medicare is bankrupt because it serves people who should not be receiving benefits. In California in the 1990’s, voters eliminated these and other social services benefits to illegal aliens under Prop 187 and an activist court reinstated them. Today California has an annual deficit of more than fifteen billion dollars ($15,000,000,000). Eleven to fourteen billion of that is in medical and social services benefits to illegal aliens. California sends millions per month alone to Mexico in “Aid For Dependent Children” (AFDC) and WIC for Mexican mothers who have given birth to children in the US and moved back to Mexico to collect their checks. The lunacy of these policies is almost beyond belief. Secure the borders and enforce existing immigration laws. Over time some semblance of order will be returned to our communities and healthcare system.
Summary: Each day, politicians and officials across Amexica violate US law and their oaths of office by refusing to do what they were sworn to do: represent the LEGAL citizens of their districts. This has got to stop. Politicians, cities and bureaucrats must be held accountable. Federal funding to sanctuary cities must cease immediately until they come to their senses and place rule of law ahead of personal interest. Corrupt politicians and activist judges who place politics over the law should be jailed. Those politicos’ that insist on pandering to special interest groups at the expense of the governed should be turned out en masse.
A national state of emergency should be declared making possible funding for education and environmental interdictions for places like Starr County (TX), Calexico and it’s New River. Healthcare providers should be offered State and Federal incentives for setting up shop in the border counties.
It is not the responsibility of the United States Government or it’s people to care for the impoverished of the world at the expense of it’s own citizens. For many in Amexica, they might as well be in Mexico already for as much as their own government cares for them. It is high time the US and State governments along our southwest border step up and do the right thing: particularly the federal government. The long list of promises broken and bills left unpaid is an embarrassment to our once great nation. Mexico too must do its part. It calls illegal immigrants “heroes” and encourages those that stay in the United States illegally to “reclaim” the land that was once theirs and lost. As long as Mexico continues to support and even encourage illegal activity, the least we can do as a nation is to protect, to the best of our ability, the residents of Amexica from its lawless neighbor. Just as it is the responsibility of every American to help tornado victims in Tennessee, flood victims in Fargo or hurricane survivors in New Orleans (another grave failure of Federal and State government), it is our collective responsibility to ensure that government, whatever it looks like, does whatever it will take to secure our fellow citizens in Amexica and beyond until they can do it for themselves.
About the author:
Carl Braun is a senior analyst with the Homeland Security Policy Institute Group, a not-for-profit, non-political “think tank” dedicated to building lines of communications between the public and private sectors. He is one of the co-founders of the Border Patrol Auxiliary www.BPAUX.org, an organization focused on secure borders, safer communities and disaster preparedness headquartered in San Diego. Carl has logged nearly 5,000 hours of volunteer border watch duty working in the immediate border areas of California and Arizona. He is the author of six books including the 2007 non-fiction book Above All Else and the military thriller novels Border War and Two Seconds. In July of 2008, Carl lectured to faculty on the citizen effort to secure America at the Center for Homeland Defense and Security at the Naval Post Graduate School in Monterey. He can be reached at carl.braun@BPAUX.org and is available to present to public and private groups on The State of Amexica and Border Insecurity.
About the Homeland Security Policy Institute Group:
Formed in 2004 and in response to National Security Directives, the non-profit Homeland Security Policy Institute Group www.HSPIG.org works to facilitate information sharing between the private and public sectors on Homeland Security issues. It is one of the few private organizations authorized to display the Department of Homeland Security Logo. Periodically it produces “white papers’ on a wide range of issues relating to national security.
The Border Patrol Auxiliary is sponsored by the Homeland Security Policy Institute Group, a tax deductible 501-C3 . It does not receive funding from the US government and exists solely on the donations and benevolence of members and supporters. To learn more about joining BPAUX or to donate to this vital effort to secure America please visit: http://www.BPAUX.org
Acknowledgements:
Many thanks to all of the Border Patrol Agents and Customs Officials who tirelessly watch over our borders, particularly to the agents and leadership of the Boulevard, Campo and El Cajon stations: San Diego and Tucson Sectors. To the educators and healthcare professionals doing yeoman’s work with precious few resources. To the California Fire, US Forestry Service and other state and local fire prevention agencies that protect us from a plethora of fire related dangers. To the local law enforcement of Amexica who put their lives on the line daily for our safety. And finally, to the citizens of the twenty-four border counties that neighbor Mexico many of whom volunteer their efforts along with other Americans to bring some sanity and order back to our communities. Hope is on the way.
Please pass this report on to anyone and everyone you know so that others may become aware of your (our) plight.
Carl Braun
San Diego, Amexica
May 26, 2009
Sources used for this report:
http://www.nationsencyclopedia.com/economies/Americas/Mexico-POVERTY-AND-WEALTH.html
WorldBank World Development Indicators 2000
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_GDP_(nominal)
2000 US Census updated 2008
At The Crossroads: US Mexico Border Counties in Transition Border Counties Coalition Reports 2003 and 2006.
Sierra Vista Herald March 11 2009 “Large Illegal Alien Trash Site Found In The Huachuca’s.
California Connected short film on the New River. Http://www.calexiconewriver.org
Border Agency Fire Council 2007 Annual Report.
Border schools get tough on Mexican students May. 22, 2008
Christian Science Monitor
Obama Budget Nixes Aid For Jailing Immigrants http://www.corrections.com/news/article/21546 May 11th 2009
Solow, R. M. Prize Lecture to the memory of Alfred Nobel, December 8, 1987.
US Census 2000-2003 on Educational Attainment
Immigration Gumballs by Roy Beck http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n7WJeqxuOfQ
Despite Agreements, Cleanups Are Slow to Come to the Border, New York Times Published: Sunday, January 26, 1997
http://www.uslaw.com/library/Consumer_Law/Auto_Thefts_Abound_Border_States.php?item=463815
http://finance.yahoo.com/banking-budgeting/article/106927/Auto-Thefts-Plague-Border-Region
http://www.dhs.gov/xlibrary/assets/statistics/publications/FlowReportLegalPermResidents2004.pdf
Definition of Middle Class:
U.S. Census Bureau. 2006 American Community Survey. Income tables, accessed 23 Jan. 2008.
NPR, the Kaiser Family Foundation, and the Harvard School of Public Health. Survey: Public Views on SCHIP Reauthorization. Survey conducted Oct. 8-13, 2007. 17 Oct. 2007.
Survey by CBS News, April 9-April 12, 2007. Retrieved 23 Jan. 2008 from the iPOLL Databank, The Roper Center for Public Opinion Research, University of Connecticut.
Survey by USA Today and Gallup Organization, May 5-May 7, 2006. Retrieved 23 Jan. 2008 from the iPOLL Databank, The Roper Center for Public Opinion Research, University of Connecticut.
Baker, Chris. “What is middle class?; Income isn’t necessarily sole measure.” The Washington Times, 30 Nov. 2003.
