What these Arizona voters see at the US-Mexico border that national politicians don’t

[j brown's body]

"The handmade boots at David’s Western Wear, a short walk from the Nogales pedestrian crossing, have for 44 years been a favorite of customers on both sides of the US-Mexico border. David Moore says about 99% of his customers were from Mexico before the Covid-19 border lockdown; about 70% now. “A lot of it is because it is harder to go back and forth across the border,” Moore told us in an interview at his store. “Wait times are, like I said, just ridiculous.”

Walk a bit down Morley Avenue toward the border and the last shop on the right is Kory’s Bridal. It is the first business you see if you come from Mexico to Arizona through the Nogales pedestrian border crossing. “We’ve always depended on our Mexican neighbors to support our local economy, and we’ve seen the ups and downs through the years,” Evan Kory said in an interview in a shop packed with white bridal gowns and bridesmaid dresses in every imaginable style and color. “Currently, we’re seeing a very difficult time where border crossing is more difficult and time consuming. So, we don’t see the same type of business that we’re used to.”

So the border and immigration conversation tends to be different from what your hear on cable news, from Trump and his hardline allies or from most of the former president’s liberal critics. It is more polite, more nuanced, and more focused on solutions than slogans.

Moore, for example, said the border wall works, wants more Border Patrol and other personnel to speed up legal crossings and attributes the higher number of border encounters during the Biden presidency to a broken asylum process. “I don’t know how that works – that people from Africa are coming in through Mexico, up through the Mexican border,” Moore said. “I would want them to regulate that a little more.” But Moore, a registered Republican, said he is almost certain to vote for Biden, as he did in 2020. Trump’s divisive language about the border and immigrants offends him and hurts his business. “My livelihood depends on the people coming across the border,” Moore said."

Link

A world Republican demagogues flocking to the border for photo ops don't see or care about.

 

[ttwtt78640]

I agree that legal entry to the US (at ports of entry) should be made as efficient as possible.

 

[Integrityrespec]

"The handmade boots at David’s Western Wear, a short walk from the Nogales pedestrian crossing, have for 44 years been a favorite of customers on both sides of the US-Mexico border. David Moore says about 99% of his customers were from Mexico before the Covid-19 border lockdown; about 70% now. “A lot of it is because it is harder to go back and forth across the border,” Moore told us in an interview at his store. “Wait times are, like I said, just ridiculous.”

Walk a bit down Morley Avenue toward the border and the last shop on the right is Kory’s Bridal. It is the first business you see if you come from Mexico to Arizona through the Nogales pedestrian border crossing. “We’ve always depended on our Mexican neighbors to support our local economy, and we’ve seen the ups and downs through the years,” Evan Kory said in an interview in a shop packed with white bridal gowns and bridesmaid dresses in every imaginable style and color. “Currently, we’re seeing a very difficult time where border crossing is more difficult and time consuming. So, we don’t see the same type of business that we’re used to.”

So the border and immigration conversation tends to be different from what your hear on cable news, from Trump and his hardline allies or from most of the former president’s liberal critics. It is more polite, more nuanced, and more focused on solutions than slogans.

Moore, for example, said the border wall works, wants more Border Patrol and other personnel to speed up legal crossings and attributes the higher number of border encounters during the Biden presidency to a broken asylum process. “I don’t know how that works – that people from Africa are coming in through Mexico, up through the Mexican border,” Moore said. “I would want them to regulate that a little more.” But Moore, a registered Republican, said he is almost certain to vote for Biden, as he did in 2020. Trump’s divisive language about the border and immigrants offends him and hurts his business. “My livelihood depends on the people coming across the border,” Moore said."

Link

A world Republican demagogues flocking to the border for photo ops don't see or care about.

More wall. How about nobody, nobody gets in without proper photo government issued ID.

 

[beefheart]

More wall. How about nobody, nobody gets in without proper photo government issued ID.

Have you ever driven across the border? I have, dozens of times.

Get some real world experience on this.

 

[Grand Mal]

Have you ever driven across the border? I have, dozens of times.

Get some real world experience on this.

One crossing, San Ysidro near San Diego, gets about 70,000 northbound vehicles a day, and about 20,000 pedestrians. Every day. People cross the border to go shopping, to visit friends and family, to go on holiday or just a long weekend road trip.
Some people have no idea what they're talking about. Most illegal immigrants cross the border legally and just stay and no amount of government ID will prevent that. No amount of wall, either.

 

[Grand Mal]

More wall. How about nobody, nobody gets in without proper photo government issued ID.

The only bloody thing that will affect illegal immigration is cracking down on the Americans who lure them into the country. It's like the drug trade, lots of people without a clue what they're talking about just want to double-down on wasting resources doing what has never worked before and isn't ever going to work.

 

[ttwtt78640]

One crossing, San Ysidro near San Diego, gets about 70,000 northbound vehicles a day, and about 20,000 pedestrians. Every day. People cross the border to go shopping, to visit friends and family, to go on holiday or just a long weekend road trip.
Some people have no idea what they're talking about. Most illegal immigrants cross the border legally and just stay and no amount of government ID will prevent that. No amount of wall, either.

True, but an adequately enforced eVerify mandate would help a lot.

 

[DrewPaul]

I agree that legal entry to the US (at ports of entry) should be made as efficient as possible.

Would block all the illegal entries as efficiently as possible?

 

[Loulit01]

More wall. How about nobody, nobody gets in without proper photo government issued ID.

So people would get in with IDs issued by the governments of their respective countries? Or would they need a U.S. issued ID? And how would someone claiming political asylum for poltical prosecution in a foreign country get a U.S. issued ID?

 

[ttwtt78640]

So people would get in with IDs issued by the governments of their respective countries?

Yes.

Or would they need a U.S. issued ID? And how would someone claiming political asylum for poltical prosecution in a foreign country get a U.S. issued ID?

N/A

 

[Grand Mal]

True, but an adequately enforced eVerify mandate would help a lot.

At the point of hire? Definitely. What else would help is whoever did the hiring sitting on the back seat beside the illegal immigrant worker. And the business owner hearing a loud knock on the door.
Both parties love to point fingers depending on which one is in power but both parties privately know that they have wealthy supporters who make big bucks off cheap labour. Which is why both parties make a loud theatrical production out of measures they know won't change anything.

 

[Rogue Valley]

Closing ythe southern border would devastate US agriculture and beef/pork production.

I am100% in favor of reforming the asylum system. It is currently way too easy for literally anyone to claim home-country persecution and gain entrance into the US.

 

[beefheart]

One crossing, San Ysidro near San Diego, gets about 70,000 northbound vehicles a day, and about 20,000 pedestrians. Every day. People cross the border to go shopping, to visit friends and family, to go on holiday or just a long weekend road trip.
Some people have no idea what they're talking about. Most illegal immigrants cross the border legally and just stay and no amount of government ID will prevent that. No amount of wall, either.

I've been across that one, its a pain in the ass. Same with Nogales. I usually cross at Lukeville or Los Algodones or San Luis.

 

[j brown's body]

The only bloody thing that will affect illegal immigration is cracking down on the Americans who lure them into the country. It's like the drug trade, lots of people without a clue what they're talking about just want to double-down on wasting resources doing what has never worked before and isn't ever going to work.

Cheaper and more logical and effective to process them through.

 

[j brown's body]

Border wall put to good use.

 

[j brown's body]

Much like on the Brandon Scott DEI thread, None of the right-wing responses here seem to touch on the topic.

 

[Integrityrespec]

Have you ever driven across the border? I have, dozens of times.

Get some real world experience on this.

What exactly is you point here? Can I drive? Or have I been to the border? Or have I been to Mexico? Got a point, make it.

 

[samiam5211]

True, but an adequately enforced eVerify mandate would help a lot.

I 100% agree that E-verify should be a requirement.

Why do you think that hasn't happened yet? We've had Republican and Democratic administrations and Legislative Branches both fail to do this for some reason.

 

[Integrityrespec]

So people would get in with IDs issued by the governments of their respective countries? Or would they need a U.S. issued ID? And how would someone claiming political asylum for poltical prosecution in a foreign country get a U.S. issued ID?

I keep hearing reports on how the majority of those illegally crossing the border have no ID. So how are we vetting them? How do we know who they are? Why would we allow them to enter without ID? Seems careless and stupid.
When I travel outside the US, or get pulled over for a traffic offense, I get my ID checked. I present my ID, issued by the state or the US government. So either would do. But I have to have one to get into other countries.

 

[samiam5211]

I keep hearing reports on how the majority of those illegally crossing the border have no ID. So how are we vetting them? How do we know who they are? Why would we allow them to enter without ID? Seems careless and stupid.

Almost all of them have passports, birth certificates, or some other form of ID.

 

[ttwtt78640]

At the point of hire? Definitely. What else would help is whoever did the hiring sitting on the back seat beside the illegal immigrant worker. And the business owner hearing a loud knock on the door.
Both parties love to point fingers depending on which one is in power but both parties privately know that they have wealthy supporters who make big bucks off cheap labour. Which is why both parties make a loud theatrical production out of measures they know won't change anything.

IMHO, the eVerify (legal status) checking should be done by the IRS annually for all W-2 and 1099 employees. Change the FIT code to require employers to list the (100% deductible) direct labor costs for each employee, along with their name, address and SSN (or ITIN). Those claimed employees who pass the IRS eVerify check would have their individual direct labor cost remain 100% deductible (as a business expense), but any claimed employees who don’t pass the IRS eVerify check would have their (individual) direct labor cost deduction denied and would incur a $10K tax penalty.

 

[beefheart]

What exactly is you point here? Can I drive? Or have I been to the border? Or have I been to Mexico? Got a point, make it.

Really?

Have you ever crossed the border into/out of Mexico? On foot, by car, by plane?

 

[Grand Mal]

IMHO, the eVerify (legal status) checking should be done by the IRS annually for all W-2 and 1099 employees. Change the FIT code to require employers to list the (100% deductible) direct labor costs for each employee, along with their name, address and SSN (or ITIN). Those claimed employees who pass the IRS eVerify check would have their individual direct labor cost remain 100% deductible (as a business expense), but any claimed employees who don’t pass the IRS eVerify check would have their (individual) direct labor cost deduction denied and would incur a $10K tax penalty.

Some unfamiliar numbers and acronyms in there but it sounds good. If illegal immigration is the problem then illegal employment is the source of the problem. People who are legal when they cross the border become illegal immigrants when they get hired.
I bet every border crossing is lined up today, in both directions, with people going on long-weekend road trips and because there's jobs available some of those Mexican tourists will just keep going north.

 

[Grand Mal]

I keep hearing reports on how the majority of those illegally crossing the border have no ID.

Crossing illegally? As in sneaking across between entry points? Who knows they have no ID? They must be being caught, right?

So how are we vetting them? How do we know who they are? Why would we allow them to enter without ID?

Vetting people who cross illegally? What are you talking about? If they're being vetted they're crossing legally.

Seems careless and stupid.
When I travel outside the US, or get pulled over for a traffic offense, I get my ID checked. I present my ID, issued by the state or the US government. So either would do. But I have to have one to get into other countries.

 

[ttwtt78640]

Some unfamiliar numbers and acronyms in there but it sounds good.

US federal income tax (FIT) law can be confusing, but especially for non-US residents.

If illegal immigration is the problem then illegal employment is the source of the problem.

Exactly.

People who are legal when they cross the border become illegal immigrants when they get hired.

That depends on the type of visa they have.

I bet every border crossing is lined up today, in both directions, with people going on long-weekend road trips and because there's jobs available some of those Mexican tourists will just keep going north.

Yep, but far more than Mexicans are crossing the border (or overstaying their ‘temporary’ visas) seeking US employment.