I recently received one of those anonymous right-wing spam emails (much like their counterpart, those anonymous left-wing spam emails), which listed, albeit with numerous inaccuracies, the supposed "penalties" for crossing national borders illegally. Although the details were political puffery, the concept was hard to argue with, and the conclusion was right on. When it comes to dealing with illegal immigration, Americans are world-class wimps.
Just peruse the news over the past few years...
November 14, 2009. The Christian Science Monitor - Egyptian border guards have shot and killed at least 15 migrants since May, prompting an outcry from human rights watchers. African immigrants increasingly use a path into Israel that goes through Egypt. Hundreds of others are in detention, in what analysts believe is the result of a migration spike from Eritrea and a clampdown on an alternative route into Europe. The Egyptian government has defended its policy of firing on border-crossers as a matter of national security.
August 25, 2008. Thaindian News - As many as 59 people have been shot dead while trying to cross the India-Bangladesh border illegally during the past six months, a senior Border Security Force (BSF) official said. Of the 59 people, 34 were Bangladeshi nationals and 21 Indians, while the others remain unidentified, the official said after a routine meeting between the BSF and Bangladesh Rifles (BDR) in Dhaka. India and Bangladesh share a 4,096-km border, of which 2,979 kms cover land, and 1,117 km are rivers. India has so far erected barbed wire fencing along 2,600 km of its border with Bangladesh and decided to undertake flood lighting of the entire frontier stretch to check trans-border movement of militants, infiltration and border crimes.
July 3, 2008. Australia News - Human rights group Amnesty International has condemned the reported public execution of 15 North Koreans for illegally entering neighbouring China in search of food. The South Korean aid group Good Friends, which works in North Korea, reported 13 women and two men were shot on a bridge in the northeastern town of Onseong on February 20 as local residents watched. Good Friends said the victims had been arrested for illegally crossing the border into China or for helping others to do so, largely to get economic help from relatives there. Unauthorised border crossings are normally punishable with jail terms, and early last year Pyongyang raised that penalty from three to seven years. Amnesty International has called on Pyongyang to end its policy of summary executions, and urged China and Japan to set an example by following a UN moratorium on the death penalty.
Aug. 20, 2009. ABC News - The families of three Americans who have been detained in Iran since late last month after a hiking trip gone wrong say the trio were typically very careful and aware of their surroundings. And they're eager to hear word from their loved ones, as Iran has disclosed little information about the hikers' status since their July 31 detainment. Shane Bauer, 27, Sarah Shourd, 30, and Joshua Fattal, 27, were taken into custody while hiking in the mountains along the border of Iraqi Kurdistan, Iraq's self-ruled Kurdish region in the north, and Iran. They were surrounded by armed Iranian guards and taken into custody after they strayed across the border into Iran. They have been accused of ignoring border patrols, and possibly spying, but the Iranian government has not disclosed the charges against the Americans nor allowed anyone to visit them.
September 27, 2006. The Washington Post - Saudi Arabia is pushing ahead with plans to build a fence to block terrorists from crossing its 560-mile border with Iraq, another sign of growing alarm that Sunni-Shiite strife could spill over and drag Iraq's neighbors into its civil conflict. The barrier is part of a $12 billion package of measures including electronic sensors, security bases and physical barriers to protect the oil-rich kingdom from external threats, said Nawaf Obaid, head of the Saudi National Security Assessment Project, an independent research institute that advises the Saudi government. The ambitious project reflects not only concern over terrorism, but also growing alarm over the situation in Iraq, where U.S. forces are struggling to prevent sectarian violence from escalating to full-scale civil war between that nation's Shiite majority and Sunni minority.
June 16, 2009. ABC News - U.S. journalists Laura Ling and Euna Lee, who were sentenced to 12 years in a North Korean labor camp last week, were reportedly filming video while entering the country illegally, which, according to North Korean media sources, prompted their arrest. In a rare report today describing the incident and the trial process, North Korea claimed that the two journalists admitted to illegal entry, and accepted their sentences to 12 years in a labor camp.
June 10, 2007. The Miami Herald - Efforts to stem illegal immigrants from neighboring countries are increasing in parts of Latin America because of concerns, similar to those in the United States, that they drive down salaries and bring crime and violence with them. Ecuador, Chile and Venezuela are discussing whether to restrict illegal migrants while Costa Rica recently tightened barriers. Peru is studying whether to tighten its southern border with Bolivia. Driving the changes are concerns echoed in the current U.S. immigration debate: that undocumented workers take jobs from locals, raise the crime rate and drain tax dollars through their use of public school and health systems. In the same vein, business groups in the region have been opposing new laws that might limit uneducated, low-cost laborers from migrating to countries that need them - just as in the United States. Governments throughout the region report almost three million immigrants, according to the U.N. Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean. A majority is believed to lack proper documentation.
June 10, 2008. USA Today - Rome's new mayor has vowed to bulldoze 20 immigrant shantytowns in the city. Giovanni Alemanno - the first right-wing leader to serve as Rome's mayor since fascist Benito Mussolini ruled Italy during World War II - also has promised to expel 20,000 immigrants with criminal records. In a debate reminiscent of one occurring in the USA, many European leaders are under public pressure to tighten their borders and stop the rising crime and social strain caused by a tide of illegal immigrants. French President Nicolas Sarkozy, who becomes the European Union's president July 1, is making a hard-line immigration policy the centerpiece of his six-month rotation to lead the 27-nation bloc. The EU already is considering rules to allow illegal immigrants to be detained up to 18 months - longer than currently allowed in two-thirds of the member countries. In Italy, Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi campaigned to crack down on illegal immigrants, describing them as part of "an army of evil".
IF YOU CROSS THE U.S. BORDER ILLEGALLY, YOU CAN GET A JOB, DRIVERS LICENSE, SOCIAL SECURITY CARD, WELFARE, FOOD STAMPS, CREDIT CARDS, FREE EDUCATION, FREE HEALTH CARE, A LOBBYIST IN WASHINGTON, BILLIONS OF DOLLARS WORTH OF PUBLIC DOCUMENTS PRINTED IN YOUR LANGUAGE, THE RIGHT TO CARRY YOUR COUNTRY'S FLAG WHILE YOU PROTEST THAT YOU DON'T GET ENOUGH RESPECT, AND, IN SOME INSTANCES, THE RIGHT TO VOTE.
Our tax dollars at work.