One huge step....if you hire illegals....you are prosecuted.
"Take the sugar off the table and they won't come to the picnic."
Over 40 years ago, shortly after our marriage, we visited her family down in Phoenix and Nogales. Subject was illegals and the problems they cause.
Everyone knew locals were hiring them, but no one seemed to care. I suggested punishing those hiring illegals. That went over like a lead balloon. Some of these inlaws were in local law-enforcement. Well here we are. Nothing changed.
edit to add "except it's worse now."
It's been going on for a lot longer than 40 years or so:
"The first, between
1917 and 1921, left the Mexican government dissatisfied because many Braceros experienced discrimination in the US, and some wound up with few savings because of charges they incurred at farmer-owned stores."
"A Chamber of Commerce spokesperson summed up these arguments in
testimony to Congress in 1926: "We, gentlemen, are just as anxious as you are not to build the civilization of California or any other western district upon a Mexican foundation. We take him because there is nothing else available. We have gone east, west, north, and south and he is the only man-power available to us." The Farm Bureau asserted that "California's specialized agriculture [requires] a kind of labor able to meet the requirements of hard, stoop, hand labor, and to work under the sometimes less advantageous conditions of heat, sun, dust, winds, and isolation."" (my highlighting)
From this article:
https://migration.ucdavis.edu/rmn/more.php?id=1112Loads of interesting stuff there and on other sites. Like this from the same article, regarding penalties for hiring illegals:
"However, growers had the upper hand in Congress, which in 1951 approved PL-78, the Mexican Farm Labor Program. In 1952, the Immigration and Nationality Act was enacted and, while it made harboring illegal aliens a felony punishable by a $2,000 fine and a prison term of five years,
it also included the so-called Texas proviso,
which asserted that employing an illegal alien is not harboring. Thus, there were no penalties on US employers who knowingly hired illegal workers." (notice it wasn't the "California" proviso"
)
A quick search:
https://duckduckgo.com/?q=bracero+program&t=ffsb&ia=aboutThis history might help some of those members in other areas of the country that haven't heard about how the situation came about and how it
actually continues.
Now, the smuggling issue is somewhat different.
Anything, I repeat
Anything in demand, illegal, and somewhat unavailable thru native sources will be smuggled into the country. Make screws illegal (used brads and nails people) and screws will get smuggled in. Make green tea illegal, and green tea will be smuggled in.
It's actually a very capitalist idea, based on supply and demand and risk taking to make a profit.
Do I support making drugs legal? mmmmmmm, good question. I'd have to study up on that one, but one thing's for sure, the way it is now we sure are financing a large part of the Mexican economy (a stimulus program of a different sort?)
Hope the links help answer some questions for "inquiring minds"
Geno
