Too big to jail
A common theme put forward by a few of the presidential candidates at the last Republican debate was that, gosh darnit, you just couldn’t deport all those people who were breaking the law because it was impractical or impossible. Because there’s so many of them. The numbers tossed out were 3, 9, and 11 million, IIRC.
You see, it’s not possible or practical to enforce the law as it is written, so they should ignore it or let it slide or change the law. I welcome this precedent. How about 3, 9 or 11 million of us stop paying taxes? How about 3, 9 or 11 million of us ignore NFA laws? How about 3, 9 or 11 million of us start smoking marijuana? Or whatever anyone’s pet issue.
In two of three of my examples, I’m guessing the reaction wouldn’t be “gosh, that’s impossible”.
November 17th, 2015 at 7:03 pm
they don’t seem to think that 200 million firearms (or more whatever number there is they want to quote) is too many to implement confiscation or outlawing do they?
November 17th, 2015 at 7:58 pm
The 11 million figure is from 2005. It is the number of Illegal Aliens the Gov estimated were in the country then.
The real number is thought to be somewhere in the 30 million range.
If someone uses the 11 million figure, they are trying to make you think that the problem is smaller than it really is. You should probably also think to yourself, the person providing the figure is an asshole.
November 17th, 2015 at 8:24 pm
They’ll thank you for providing an abbondanza to the prisoner industry. If some people get scared and stop doing it, i.e. the crime rate drops, they’ll increase the sentences for those who still do it to keep the prisons full and the guards and wardens employed.
November 17th, 2015 at 8:32 pm
Yes, it seems our government doesn’t have a problem putting citizens in jail and ” breaking up families” for other crimes committed by citizens. But then, when it comes to illegal immigration, our government is allowing it and then appeasing and accommodating the invaders at the expense of citizens and LEGAL immigrants.
November 17th, 2015 at 11:33 pm
Your last example is not hypothetical.
If re-allocated, the money and manpower expended to enforce pot laws alone would more than provide what is needed to expel and repel the invaders.
November 18th, 2015 at 12:07 am
We don’t have to round up all 3/9/11/30 million of them one at a time. Start picking them up, mark them so anyone here illegally is ineligible for life to reenter, and deport. Fine any business employing illegals hard enough that it’s cheaper not to hire them.
Build the wall; it may not be perfect, but it’ll help. Heck, use the illegals as labor to build it before deporting them. Cut off all .gov benefits to anyone illegal. Make bilingual signs illegal. Keep picking them up and deporting them no questions asked. If the benefits of staying dry up, most of them will self deport.
November 18th, 2015 at 10:12 am
Given the declining birth rate in the native-born working population, the federal government needs to cram as many people from high-birth-rate cultures into this country as possible. That’s all in the hope that a high enough percentage of them and their offspring will become tax-paying workers so as to cover the debts that have been run up by the very same government.
Couple that with the benefits reaped by both major parties. One party gets voters and the other gets laborers. Both maintain the appearance of disagreement on the issue of immigration, thereby maintaining the increasingly vague distinction between them. As such, no one in a position of power has any interest in changing anything any time soon.
It won’t stop until this place looks like India, to the point where you can’t turn around without bumping into other people.
November 18th, 2015 at 10:50 am
Opportunities for graft and corruption really decrease if the government eliminates those areas of criminal and civil law where selective prosecution is not just possible, but designed into the legal code.
Laws for thee but not for me (and my allies) are a potent political weapon.
If the vast majority of 11 to 30 million undocumented Hispanic immigrants were going to vote Republican upon gaining legal status, do you think their presence in the US would be so tolerated and encouraged by the current administration?
November 18th, 2015 at 12:12 pm
The NFA laws? Once you realize that (for example, hypothetically) and half-way literate person could build a working suppressor in their garage in the space of a Saturday morning, assuming basic tools, you know that particular statute is hogwash.
When laws are ignored by the people who are temporarily in power, they beget a nation of scofflaws.
November 18th, 2015 at 3:51 pm
I’ve long maintained that pot could be quickly made effectively legal in nearly any jurisdiction in roughly 6 months, with a little organization and willingness to take risks.
What do you think would happen if all those smoking pot showed up at the sheriff’s door, carrying their pot, and demanded to be arrested? And then each and every one of them demand a jury trial (in my jurisdiction, given that even misdemeanor tiny amounts are punishable by up to a year, that is their right)?
How long before the system ground to a halt? About 6 months, I’d guess.
That said, the illegal immigration debate isn’t based on rational thinking; it’s based on fear-mongering and pandering. A wall at the border? What a massive piece of crony graft that would be – and they would poke holes in, around, and under it faster than you can build it. It’s one of the stupidest ideas I’ve ever head. Typical for a blowhard moron like Trump.
November 18th, 2015 at 4:12 pm
@GMC70:
So, a wall wouldn’t be a perfect shield, so don’t bother.
This type of attack on an idea is exactly what the socialists/liberals/Progressives do.
“That said, the illegal immigration debate isn’t based on rational thinking; it’s based on fear-mongering and pandering.”
Not paying attention at all, it seems. Hiding your head in the sand is just so liberal. Get a clue.
November 18th, 2015 at 5:19 pm
GMC70, so fuck the wall, just draw a line and monitor it with armed drones. Using your pot parallel, how long before the invaders came to a halt? About 6 deadly incursions, I’d guess. Talk about fear-mongering.
November 18th, 2015 at 6:18 pm
“So, a wall wouldn’t be a perfect shield, so don’t bother.”
Right, don’t bother. Super expensive “solutions” that are easily circumventible in the name of “we have to do something” is straight out of the gun control playbook.
November 18th, 2015 at 7:21 pm
Liberal, Will? Really? If you only knew . . . (I actually laughed out loud, not just LOL, on that one).
I don’t really care what you call a law. I just want a law to work. And this “wall” is a massively expensive boondoggle, that will be dripping with crony payoffs, that will accomplish next to nothing.
Armed drones, JTC? How long do you think that will last the first time the bodies of children attempting to cross the border are laced with .50 cal and appear on the national media? Get a clue. Not gonna happen.
I’ll deal with the real world, thanks, not fantasy land. “Armed drones” – yeesh.
November 18th, 2015 at 10:40 pm
Yeah, I was sarc’ing your pot law solution, that was the clue you didn’t get.
But if that was your “real world” solution to the WOSD, then I’m afraid that weed has blurred your real world/fantasy land perception. ;b
November 18th, 2015 at 11:12 pm
Walls work in Israel. They would work here assuming you man it.
November 19th, 2015 at 10:54 am
HL: You’ve seen a map of the US and its environs, I assume? does it look anything like Israel?
No? Hmmm.
A wall? Do you think Mexicans don’t know how a boat works? Or a shovel?
JTC: haven’t toked a single toke in over 40 years. And then it was a summer experiment. Sorry – thanks for playing.
November 19th, 2015 at 3:17 pm
SOoooooooooo…there was once this Operation, called Wetback, that was so effective, even The Donald mentioned it in a debate.
How did it work? From Wiki:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operation_Wetback
“Operation Wetback was a system of tactical control and cooperation within the U.S. Border Patrol and alongside the Mexican government.[33] Planning between the INS, led by Gen. Joseph Swing as appointed by President Eisenhower, and the Mexican government began in early 1954 while the program was formally announced in May 1954.[34] On May 17, command teams of 12 Border Patrol agents, buses, planes, and temporary processing stations began locating, processing, and deporting Mexicans who had illegally entered the United States. A total of 750 immigration and border patrol officers and investigators, 300 jeeps, cars and buses, and seven airplanes were allocated for the operation.[35] Teams were focused on quick processing and deportation, as planes were able to coordinate ground efforts more quickly and increase mobility.[36] Those deported were handed off to Mexican officials, who in turn deported them into central Mexico where there were many labor opportunities.[37] While the operation would include the cities of Los Angeles, San Francisco, and Chicago, its main targets were border areas in Texas and California.[38] Overall, there were 1,078,168 apprehensions made in the first year of Operation Wetback, with 170,000 being rounded up from May to July 1954.[39] The total number of apprehensions would fall to just 242,608 in 1955, and would continuously decline by year until 1962, when there was a slight rise in apprehended workers.[40] During the entirety of the Operation, border recruitment of illegal workers by American growers continued due largely to the inexpensiveness of illegal labor and the desire of growers to avoid the bureaucratic obstacles of the Bracero program; the continuation of illegal immigration despite the efforts of Operation Wetback was largely responsible for the failure of the program.[41] Despite the decline in apprehensions, the total number of Border Patrol agents more than doubled to 1,692 by 1962, and an additional plane was also added to the force.[42] In terms of apprehensions, Operation Wetback was immediately successful. However, this success would be short lived, as the program would fail to limit the number of workers entering the United States from Mexico illegally.[43] The program would also result in a more permanent, strategic border control presence along the Mexico-United States border.[44]”
November 19th, 2015 at 4:04 pm
GMC70, “a summer experiment” just a youthful indiscretion…hey, that you Slick Willie?
So your big plan for stoners to show up at the mayor’s door puts others at risk while you wait back at the hideout, yes? Dude maybe you should take up the ganja again, then your plan would at least *seem* to make sense, and you wouldn’t be such a flaming hypocrite.
November 19th, 2015 at 4:36 pm
GMC70:
No one is monolithic in their conservative/libertarian stance. It appears that border control/illegals is a soft spot of yours, judging by your comments.